Rugby League World Cup : 2000

After the success of the 1995 tournament, the 2000 version was to build on that. What transpired was anything but a success. Some of the worst weather you could imagine occurred during the WC. Transport strikes made things difficult and getting tickets for matches was in some cases poorly handled. In the end competing nations didn't get the financial windfall expected, especially hurting lesser nations.

Fifteen nations came along as well as an indigenous team, the New Zealand Maori. Presumably brought in to make up the sixteen sides, the opinion being a fully fledged nation couldn't be found that would be competitive enough. Thankfully it hasn't been repeated. Now for the groups. Four with four teams in each with two to qualify from each.

Group 1: Having Australia and England in one group guaranteed a larger crowd but made it next to impossible for the other two nations. As it turned out, England were a poor side that year so posed no threat to Australia. They both qualified, with Fiji and Russia with no chance.

Group 2: New Zealand had a strong team and easily went through the group. Wales just got past Lebanon and was the other qualifier. The Cook Islands were gallant and got a draw with The Cedars.

Group 3: Papua New Guinea narrowly defeated France first up and then had two fairly unconvincing wins. France played better than in 1995 and won the next two quite comfortably. Tonga were not great and South Africa made up the numbers. So PNG and France went through.

Group 4: Some fancied the NZ Maori to win this group. After a one point victory over a novice Scottish side, they lost the next two to end their campaign. Ireland was a surprise winner over Samoa, but those two sides progressed.

Quarter Finals: Australia comfortably defeated Samoa, likewise NZ over France. England toiled to get past Ireland and Wales progressed courtesy of a win over PNG.

Semi Finals: Australia were shocked by a fast starting Wales but steadied the ship to get past their plucky opponents. England offered no resistance to a NZ side that was looking very good.

Final: What many - including myself - thought was a game that could have gone either way was nothing of the sort. The Kangaroos cantered home 40-12, the biggest winning margin for a WC final ever. 44,000 mainly neutral fans turned up to watch.

The next in the series (2008) can be seen by clicking here.
The first in the series (1954) can be seen by clicking here.

2000 HOSTS : ENG - WAL - IRE - FRA / WINNER : AUSTRALIA
Group 1				Group 2				Group 3				Group 4
AUS	22	FIJ	38	NZL	64	WAL	38	PNG	23	TON	66	IRE	30	NZM	17
ENG	2	RUS	12	LEB	0	CIS	6	FRA	20	RSA	18	SAM	16	SCO	16
ENG	70	AUS	66	WAL	24	NZL	84	FRA	28	PNG	16	SAM	21	IRE	18
RUS	4	FIJ	8	LEB	22	CIS	10	TON	8	RSA	0	NZM	16	SCO	6
ENG	66	AUS	110	NZL	58	LEB	22	FRA	56	PNG	30	IRE	30	SAM	20
FIJ	10	RUS	4	WAL	18	CIS	22	RSA	6	TON	22	NZM	16	SCO	12
Final Group Standings								QF				SF		Final
Gr 1		Gr 2		Gr 3		Gr 4		AUS	66	NZL	54	AUS	46	AUS	40
AUS	6	NZL	6	PNG	6	IRE	6	SAM	10	FRA	6	WAL	22	NZL	12
ENG	4	WAL	4	FRA	4	SAM	4
FIJ	2	LEB	1	TON	2	NZM	2	ENG	26	WAL	22	NZL	49
RUS	0	C IS	1	RSA	0	SCO	0	IRE	16	PNG	8	ENG	6