Rugby League World Cup : 2013

The fourteenth edition of the RL world cup was held in Europe. Fourteen teams contested it, the USA and Italy there for the first time. When all components were added up - attendances and revenue - it was the most successful ever. Some of the match ups were crackers too. I watched every game in full, a first for me. Without pay TV now, that won't be happening again anytime soon.

Group 1: Australia, England, Fiji and Ireland with three to qualify. Australia defeated England but not without a real fight. Fiji accounted for Ireland, consigning the latter to certain elimination. So it transpired with Fiji coming third to go through.

Group 2: New Zealand, Samoa, Papaua New Guinea and France. Favourites NZ overcame Samoa in an entertaining match. France fought to defeat PNG in poor conditions by a single point. NZ then eased past the French side and Samoa was far too good for PNG. NZ were too good for PNG and Samoa were thuggish when beating France. Disgraceful Samoan effort.

Group 3: Three teams here and one match shared with Group 4 for each side to give them three matches too. Scotland narrowly upset Tonga in a fantastic game. Scotland then drew with Italy in another fine match before Tonga overcame Italy.

Group 4: The USA defeated the Cook Islands, then Wales too. Wales then lost in an upset result with the Cook Is.

Cross Group Games: Italy defeated a poor Wales side, Tonga just got past the Cook Is and Scotland proved to be the find of the tournament with a fine performance against the USA.

Quarter Finals: NZ ended the gallant Scots run 40-4, Australia brought the USA down to earth with a clinical 62-0 demolishing, England were efficient defeating France 34-6 and Fiji were too good for Samoa 22-4.

Semi Finals: The hosts England were on course to go through but poor finishing and a last gasp NZ try put them out. In the other game, Australia were far too good for Fiji, winning 64-0. After plenty of exciting group game, some of the finals matches had been one sided.

Grand Final: New Zealand's hard semi final prepared them well for the big one. Australia's easy passage could mean that they were less mentally prepared. That's how I saw it but from the kick off, it was clearly not the case. The Kiwis had a poor attitude and the Kangaroos were focused. 34-2 the score, the biggest winning margin in a final ever. England should have been there and would have put up a better showing.

The summary of the series can be seen by clicking here.
The first in the series (1954) can be seen by clicking here.

2013 HOSTS: ENGLAND - WALES / WINNER: AUSTRALIA
Group 1				Group 2				Group 1
AUS	28	FIJ	32	FRA	9	NZL	42	AUS	6	+90
ENG	20	IRE	14	PNG	8	SAM	24	ENG	4	+56
								FIJ	2	-36	QF		SF
ENG	42	AUS	34	NZL	48	SAM	38	IRE	0	-110	NZL	40	NZL	20
IRE	0	FIJ	2	FRA	0	PNG	4	Group 2			SCO	4	NZL	18
								NZL	6	+112
ENG	34	AUS	50	NZL	56	SAM	22	SAM	4	+32	AUS	62	AUS	64
FIJ	12	IRE	0	PNG	10	FRA	6	FRA	2	-63	USA	0	FIJ	0
Gr 3		Gr 4		Gr 3 / 4				PNG	0	-81
SCO	26	USA	32	ITAL	32			Group 3			ENG	34
TON	24	CIS	20	WAL	16			SCO	5	+16	FRA	6
								TON	4	+20			FINAL
SCO	20	USA	24	TON	22			ITA	3	0	FIJ	22	AUS	34
ITA	20	WAL	16	CIS	16			Group 4			SAM	4	NZL	2
								USA	4	+6
TON	16	CIS	28	SCO	22			CIS	2	-14
ITA	0	WAL	24	USA	8			WAL	0	-28