This weekend, the Rugby League World Cup finally moves out of the group stages and into the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean we’re going to be privy to any of the big games just yet. Due to the relatively small scope of rugby league on an international scale compared with many other sports, only three of the 14 countries competing in the World Cup – Australia, New Zealand and England – have any chance of actually winning the thing.
Sure, most sports have only a limited number of genuine chances when it comes to their own World Cups but at least football springs the occasional genuine surprise – remember when Greece stunned everyone by winning Euro 2004. That won’t be happening here (nor would it in Rugby Union).
It’s a real shame because this writer has been covering rugby league for the best part of 15 years and counts it as his single favorite sport among many loves, but I’ve never been able to fall in love with the Rugby League World Cup.
Why? Well, let’s look at what we’ve got coming up in the quarter-finals of this year’s tournament. Tournament favourites Australia have strolled through the group stages and have earned a quarter-final meeting with the Unites States, which they will win easily. Likewise, New Zealand’s meeting with Scotland won’t live too long in the memory. The Kiwis are reigning world champions and the only question here is how much they will win by.
England, who will play either France or Samoa in the quarter-finals depending on the winner of tonight’s final group game, will beat whichever one it happens to be and face New Zealand in one semi-final. Fiji should down whichever of France or Samoa they play to set up a semi-final against Australia, which again they have no hope of winning.
And so the tournament has played out as everyone knew it would. Australia will reach the final without ever breaking a sweat where they will meet either England or New Zealand to fight it out for the title. The good news is that those last two matches – England v the Kiwis and the winner of that game v Australia – promise to be cracking games but whether they are worth the five week wait to get there is another thing altogether.
