World Cup format to bite international RL on the ass

[Kurt Angle]

For the life of me, to this day I still can not figure out why the RLIF elected for the knock 4 out of the super pool, and allow Pool B & C to compete for the 4th semi-final spot' format.

It would have been a lot more gratifying for every party involved that teams 3 and 4 both play the pool winners.

From the outset it looked as if PNG would be the sacrificial lamb to the slaughter, as it initially looked they were the weakest team, even weaker than the apparent 'real' 4th seeded country, France.

However, a weakened PNG team has drawn with the Australia PM's XIII. The PM's XIII is by any measure a vastly superior team to anything England will be able to field.

The 2nd game of the tournament will be PNG vs England and will basically set the theme for the semi-finals, onwards.

This game is very likely to see England basically eliminated from any meaningful progress in the tournament, only being able to hope for 5th place at best. At least with a 3 & 4 vs the pool winners playing off for further progress, England would receive a 2nd chance.

England coming 5th.. we may as well engrave that on the trophy now, but the real question is how will this affect RL in the UK?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

ooooh cheekay

 

[deluded pom?]

Is Pom bashing the second most popular pastime in Australia behind whinging?

 

[screeny]

In all honesty the notion of Super Pool teams 3 + 4 playing Pool B and C winners for the two semi finals spots is an excellent one. First time I've heard it but it's great, meaning much more tension and much more exciting football, plus it gives a bit more credibility to the Super Pool concept as two of the nations face the risk of elimination pre-semi finals.

If we had that, plus one cross Pool game, meaning each of those six non-Super Pool teams had three meaningful matches rather than two plus one stupid 'rankings' match, the World Cup would be a much better prospect.

We can still get the bloody rankings after all the results are collated but the RLIF has robbed us of meaningful matches that would have a bearing on the semi finals of the World Cup. f**k me they're sh*t.....

 

[roughyedspud]

i wondered how long it would take for a "PNG will beat england because PNG drew with the pm13 side " thread


the simple fact is australia don't have the strength in depth they think they have....the AUS v NZ game in a couple of weeks should be interesting because both team will be without the "stars" no lockyer,thurston & stacey jones rendering both teams fairly ordinary....


the question you should be asking is what will it do to rugby league in australia when the hosts don't make the final....

 

[roopy]

the 3rd and 4th v pool winners sounds very good to me.

the same number of games because it removes the playoff game between the pool winners - and replaces it with a marketable game like England V Samoa or Tonga.

The only reason i can think of for not doing it is that England don't want to get bashed the week before the semi against Aus or NZ.

 

[screeny]

In all seriousness, England could beat Australia or NZ. I expect some silly comments in response but I think anything can happen, so this new format maintains maximum interest.

I don't know if Kurt serendipitously stumbled on this format or whether it is by design but it's excellent, the best format I've seen by far and it gives credibility and worth to the Sup Pool format. Now, rather than one team assuming it's a sacrificial lamb all four teams are playing for position, an automatic berth and a rest prior to the semis.

Plus, the other two pools will be scrapping it out for two spots, not a measly one, so the balance of the tournament is far more acceptable.

Once finalists 8-10 are known this November the RLIF can write the draw so Pool B teams have cross code matches v their similar seeds in Pool C, so each team in the WC has three group matches.

For example, If France, Fiji and Wales are in one group France is top seed, followed by Wales and then Fiji. So France plays top seed in other Pool, Wales plays second seed in other pool, and Fiji the third seed, so it's fair and, again, every team in the WC has three meaningful group matches. Alternatively the RLIF can do a blind draw for the three cross code matches.

The rankings match is so sh*t and robs fans of meaningful WC contests. Can't they see that we'll have rankings just by collating the results?!! For the love of god!

How can the RLIF f**k it up so badly?! I like the Super Pool but the format surrounding it is poor.

 

[Kurt Angle]

I made the 3 & 4 vs pool winners statement very soon after the draw came out.

http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/showpost.php?p=3326621&postcount=49

20th April 2007

Reading your words there, it even adds more weight.

1 through to 4 are all playing for something, not just 'aviod being knocked at at number 4', and 3 vs 4 get a second chance. ALso with that in mind, 4 could have been france, instead of PNG... France should be in the super pool, but they aren't because they won't be sacrificed.

Then call them 'elimination qualifiers';

3 vs Pool A winner ... say seeded as England vs Wales...
4 vs Pool B winner.. say seededFrance vs PNG.

I realise it's even the same number of games... replace pool winners to determine 4th spot with the second elimination game.

Absolutely perfect format (within the 4,3,3 pool format, I would have prefered 2 pools of 5 myself)

 

[screeny]

Does yakstorm send such things to the powers that be?

What am I talking crazy for!!!!???? They'll never dream of changing it now (even though nowt's really been announced).

The Sup Pool 3 and 4 v winner A and winner B makes the Super Pool much more competitive too; it makes it a positive contest, not a negative contest as, as Kurt says, the teams are playing to see who doesn't get knocked out. I am creaming my pants it's so good. It's an epiphany, a eureka moment for me concerning the world cup and the factor that tilts 4-3-3 in favour of 5-5 IMO.

Yakstorm, I beg you - at least pass it on, it's genius. sh*t, there's that crazy talk again.....

 

[Big-Hitter]

Agreed. It still aint perfect. But this 'tweak' would certainly make things more interesting for all concerned.

 

[bartman]

Seriously, are we expecting PNG will beat England, based on performance against a training run for a PM XIII?

Sadly I think PNG will still be eliminated from the Supergroup, with no chance to redeem against other contenders for the 4th semi finals spot.

 

[screeny]

Seriously, are we expecting PNG will beat England, based on performance against a training run for a PM XIII?

Sadly I think PNG will still be eliminated from the Supergroup, with no chance to redeem against other contenders for the 4th semi finals spot.

Exactly. With 3rd and 4th v winners Pools A and B you take away the 'sacrificial lamb' tag handed to PNG and make the WC a real contest.

 

[Kurt Angle]

The (potential) downside is you make the tournament 1 week long if you're looking to allow for 5+ days recovery and make maruqee games on weekends

 

[International RL]

I think that this is the best compromise between the 'purist' vision of the world cup and one for the broadcasters.

I think it is ridiculous that 6 teams are fighting for 1 semis spot. I've actually come around to the super pool idea a bit, but I would really love to see teams like fiji, Tonga and France have a better chance at getting to the play offs. At this stage, one loss means death for those teams.

Top 2 from the super group automatically progress and the bottom 2 play the winners of the pools. sounds good to me.

 

[nqboy]

Is Pom bashing the second most popular pastime in Australia behind whinging?

:lol: :lol: :lol: A pommie bagging an Aussie for whinging. Oh, stop it.

 

[deluded pom?]

Jeez you're slow too nqboy. I posted that a week ago.

 

[Kurt Angle]

Actually, thats a quick response time for a North Queenslander.

 

[Kurt Angle]

Screeny, a graphical representation of the LU proposed world cup format.

It even looks nice as a diagram.

 

[screeny]

damn that's a good format and even supercedes 5 + 5 IMO

 

[The Tank]

Screeny, a graphical representation of the LU proposed world cup format.

It even looks nice as a diagram.

Wow Kurt that's an awesome format. Wish we were going with that.