Rugby League World Cup 2017

Began this Morning with the hosts Australia facing England. Was looking to post prior to the tournament, but for some reason I thought the opening game was on Saturday and not Friday. Somewhat predictably when it comes to RL, Australia came out on top in the opener, but it was closer than the 18-4 scoreline suggests. Did see enough to suggest that we can beat them, though this defeat will probably mean a slightly tougher route to get to the Final

Cannot see France or Lebanon troubling the English, but do see Samoa giving New Zealand trouble in Group B.

Scotland, Wales and Ireland are also represented at he tournament, as are the South Sea Island countries. The full list of Nations are as follows -

AUSTRALIA
NEW ZEALAND
ENGLAND
WALES
SCOTLAND
IRELAND
FRANCE
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
TONGA
FIJI
SAMOA
ITALY
USA
LEBANON

Got my days mixed up, but fortunately stumbled on the game by accident. England improved 2nd half and for me can get better with the inclusion of Alex Walmsley ( touted to be on the subs bench, but ruled out with a virus ), Scott Taylor and Mark Percival. They will also be sweating on the fitness of Sam Burgess, who went off injured in the 1st half.

Wales melted in the Port Moresby heat, going down 50-6 to Papua New Guinea. The combination of 29 degrees and a near rabid PNG crowd meant life was always going to be tough, but the Welsh kept going and completed the scoring for the day with a Regan Grace try.

NZ v Samoa was close at half time, but the Kiwi's look like they are going to pull away comfortably in the 2nd half.

Finished NZ 38 - 8 SAMOA

FIJI looked decent with Jarryd Hayne helping them to a 58-12 win over USA, whilst WWE and Hollywood star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s cousin Junior Vaivai caught the eye for the States

Scotland followed Wales' lead and got whacked, Lebanon beat France by 11 and Ireland won fairly easily in the end. There are a few easily recognisable names in the Scottish and Welsh squads, but putting up the Irish squad here and whilst they may lack a bit of strength in Depth there is plenty of Super League / NRL experience -

Liam Finn (Captain), Scott Grix, James Hasson, Kyle Amor, Liam Kay ( Toronto Wolfpack and Ex Wakefield ), Will Hope (Sheffield Eagles), Oliver Roberts , Ed Chamberlain, George King, Joe Keyes (Bradford Bulls), Joe Philbin, Jack Higginson, Anthony Mullally, Tyrone McCarthy, Brad Singleton, Micky McIlorum, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Api Pewhairangi (London Broncos), Matty Hadden (Rochdale Hornets), Shannon McDonnell (Ex Hull FC and St Helens ), Michael Morgan (Canterbury Bulldogs), Casey Dunne (Athboy Longhorns), James Kelly (Sheffield Eagles), Alan McMahon (Waterford Vikings).

As you can see there are a couple of players from the Irish League and six from the Championship, but Saints, Wigan, Warrington and Wakefield are all well represented. Big match for them against PNG next week and can see this being the best game of the group stages.

Should they win that then England are possible Quarter Final opponents.

Lebanon next up for England and the match is live on BBC2 at 8.30AM on Saturday morning. Enough NRL experience for the Lebanese not to get blown away, but the English to need to win by at least 16, to send a strong message

26-30 Looks the fancied sort of margin, but will be surprised if we achieve this. Gone with England by 16-20 at 7/1. Scotland might just cover the h'cap and one thing is for sure the SAMOA v TONGA will be hard hitting. Can see the Irish keeping it close or even causing an upset, so + 16 makes them interesting.

Samoa v Tonga, currently showing live on FreeSports ( Sky 424, Freeview 95 ) Tonga by 8 with 7 minutes of the first half remaining and another score before the half could see them run away with it.

Italy nilled the States, Fiji thrashed Wales and PNG were 14 - 6 winners over Ireland. It was a 2 point game for a fair while and the Irish did have a couple of opportunities, but sadly came up short.

Scotland out after a draw with Samoa and Australia finished their group undefeated after nilling Lebanon. Big upset in Group B however with Tonga beating New Zealand. If all goes to plan from now on, then this will mean an Aus v NZ semi final. Barring a freak result against France tomorrow, England will finish 2nd in Group A. They should then face Papua New Guinea in the Quarters and Tonga in the Semi's.

Big shake up in the market of course as no one really expected a Tonga win. Australia still hot favourites, but the bookies can't agree on who is 2nd choice. Latest odds from Bet 365 are as follows -

AUSTRALIA 2 / 7
TONGA 9 / 1
ENGLAND 9 / 1
NZ 10 / 1
FIJI 60 / 1
PNG 150 / 1
SAMOA 500 / 1
LEBANON 500 / 1

All went with form today, so the Quarter Final Line Up is as follows -

AUSTRALIA v SAMOA
NZ v FIJI
LEBANON v TONGA
ENGLAND v PNG

Australia eased through, Tonga scraped by Lebanon and Fiji beat NZ. Whilst the Kiwi's lost last week, it would still have to go down as a shock that they lost again.

England's game kicks off at 5am on Sunday morning, with Sam Burgess back in the team.

England through easily and so the last 4 is set -

AUSTRALIA v FIJI
ENGLAND v TONGA