World Cup 2017: USA

The third team to leave the 2017 RL WC was the USA, which was a mix of heritage and USA domestic players. This was necessary to help develop local players but did reduce the standard the team would be able to deliver at.

Report card: This was the USA's 2nd consecutive WC, the first being the year 2013. In that year it surprisingly made the quarter finals at the first attempt but then met the eventual winners and that was that. In 2017, the first match saw it steamrolled by a talented Fiji 58-12. Next Italy kept the 'States scoreless with a 46-0 result. Lastly it was PNG, a tough team at home as 64-0 scoreline confirmed.

Obviously this was step down on what was achieved in 2013. Taking domestic players combined with stiffer opposition than experienced last time contributed to that. The standard and speed of the game has lifted too, meaning if a team isn't quite good enough then the points pile up rather quickly. The sooner the US can get a team into the UK competition the better, as that's what they need.

Final ranking for the tournament: 12th to 14th (out of 14 teams).

Other teams ranked at the 2017 WC. Click on the nation to go to that article.

12th - 14th: Scotland, Wales, USA.
9th - 11th: France, Italy, Samoa.
5th - 8th: Ireland, Lebanon, New Zealand, PNG.
1st - 4th: Australia, England, Fiji, Tonga.