The tournament originally scheduled for last year, begins tomorrow. Alongside the men's, there is also a woman's event and a wheelchair competition. Fixtures are being played all across England, with Coventry, Newcastle and Middlesborough being 3 of the more unusual venues for the sport. England kick off the tournament against Samoa at St James' Park and the Samoan's do look the biggest threat of all the " Island teams. " Indeed, with a large pool of players from the Australia's NRL comp, it could be argued that they are a realistic threat to win it all. Australia will be well fancied, but not sure this team is a good as previous ones. New Zealand will be thereabouts and look to be minimum semi-finalists. England and Samoa are closely matched and are vying for 3rd Favourite. Tonga should prove tough and round off the teams that can realistically be crowned champions. In the woman's event, Australia will be hard to beat, but the English are improving at a good rate and I would expect Amy Hardcastle to make here presence felt. The Wheelchair guys don't hold back either and the English look to hold a fair chance and have a recent victory over a top French team, which should have boosted confidence. All games are being shown on the BBC (One, Two, Three, Red Button and Online) so certainly a great opportunity to showcase the sport. Full List of teams in the Men's - Australia NZ Samoa England Tonga Fiji Papua New Guinea France Ireland Cook Islands Scotland Lebanon Italy Wales Greece Jamaica
Nice one Samoan, I'd forgot all about this. With one thing or another I've had a hectic year to say the least, Sport in general has just passed me by, Hopefully the next 12 months will see a bit of normality. T20 Cricket WC also starts this weekend I was told yesterday, so that's another bonus.
15 minutes in and the first "Captains Challenge" on English soil has just been called for. In the NRL over in Australia, this rule has been around a few years and allows a team to challenge any decision made by the on-field Ref. Because the Samoan challenge was unsuccessful, then they have no more challenges for the rest of the game.
Huge win for England (no one was expecting 60-6.) The vision of Jack Welsby and the speed and finishing ability of both wingers will make this team difficult to beat. Nice to see Kallum Watkins back to his best as well.
The Woman's and Wheelchair competitions have just started and the men's game has reached the Quarter Final stage. No upset's so far across the board, but the French wheelchair team have laid a huge marker down with a 154 - 6 win over Wales. The Aussie woman have confirmed why they are favourites with a 74 point shut out over the Cook Islands. The Men's Quarter final are as follows - Australia v Lebanon (Tonight) England v Papua New Guinea (Sat) NZ v Fiji (Sat) Samoa v Tonga (Sun) All should go to form, but the Samoa v Tonga game should be close with the Tongan's being the most likely to cause an upset.
Half Time in Semi Final 1, with New Zealand holding a 4 point lead over Australia. Semi Final 2 is tomorrow at the Emirates (Arsenal FC) with a repeat of the opening game of the competition between England and Samoa.
The Aussies came back in the second half and just shaded the Kiwi's. England v Samoa today (2.30pm live on BBC 1) and whilst the English are rightful favourite's, expect it to be much closer than the opening group game.
Samoa pull off the upset with a golden point win over the English. Nip and tuck game throughout, with England chasing for too much of the game. They were able to overcome an 8 point deficit to force extra time, but with their 2nd attack the Samoan's were able to land the winning drop goal.
It was a lot closer than expected Samoan, your boys gave England a lesson to remember in never underestimating the opposition. I can't see Australia making the same mistake, they were superb against the Kiwi's and on a different level to both England and Samoa , the Samoans could well have saved England an embarrassment.
Wheelchair final tomorrow (Friday) with England taking on France. Have enjoyed this comp as much as any of them and do think the English can take home this trophy.
Wheelchair final live on BBC2 now with a 7.30 start. France are the reigning champs, but from what I have seen this year, the English can definitely go very close. Sure to be a hard-hitting affair regardless of the result.
14 - 12 France at the Half. Plenty of action and a couple of close calls, with England arguably a touch unlucky to be behind.
Well what a game that was, the French Ref needed a boot up the arse but other than that well done England.
Yeah totally unprofessional, you'd have thought he had the shirt on his back riding on that game. The bias towards the French couldn't have been made any more obvious. He was a disgrace.
There are 7 officials in an NFL game and never seen that. There is a clear hierarchy though with the Head Referee having the final say on the field. Not sure in Wheelchair RL how it works as to who has the final word.
Both remaining finals are at Old Trafford today. The Women's final between Australia and New Zealand is up first at 1pm, with the Men's final following that.
Here's the official we were talking about.... https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status...93714389856751619|twgr^|twcon^s1_c10&ref_url=
