This tournament seems a bit of a farce, so many mismatches.
60-6 42-8 48-2 84-0 60-4 42-18 68-6 72-4
Is it always like this, or have the matches been scheduled so that the 'easy' group games are out of the way early on?
England, Australia, New Zealand and Tonga are the 4 big sides out of the 16. Samoa, France, PNG, Ireland,Fiji, and Lebanon behind them.
After that all the other sides are part times. Jamaica and Greece are in the first World Cup competition and will take heavy defeats as proven so far. No different to a Union or Football World Cup in early years. The more international competitions the sport has the closer the score lines will get.
Kai Pearce Paul of Wigan, is making his England debut today. Kai started out in the Minis and Juniors at Blackheath FC, before switching to Croydon Hurricanes RL, after playing both codes for a while. His dad Junior Paul played a couple of games for London Broncos at the Valley. London Broncos selected Kai for their Academy, before Wigan signed him on a four year contract. He has signed for Newcastle Knights in the NRL for next season joining Dom Young.
Also, Victor Radley returns to play in Sheffield at Bramall Lane, the home town of his father, a big Wednesday fan.
Kai Pearce Paul of Wigan, is making his England debut today. Kai started out in the Minis and Juniors at Blackheath FC, before switching to Croydon Hurricanes RL, after playing both codes for a while. His dad Junior Paul played a couple of games for London Broncos at the Valley. London Broncos selected Kai for their Academy, before Wigan signed him on a four year contract. He has signed for Newcastle Knights in the NRL for next season joining Dom Young.
Also, Victor Radley returns to play in Sheffield at Bramall Lane, the home town of his father, a big Wednesday fan.
Gutted when he joined the pie eaters 😩 Looking forward to seeing him in the 🏴
Planned to watch a bit of the wheechair Rugby last night and ended up watching it all instead of Arsenal. It is different from the Paralympic version and I think better. Although the Paralympic version was very good. One of the England players wasn't disabled which I think is brilliant as it makes it a truly inclusive sport. What I suppose is a negative on the same lines is the olympic version has a points system so people with higher levels of disability compete whereas in this you can't have any impairment from the waist up. To compete at the levels I saw at least.Terrrific game though and the tags on their sleeves for tackles is ingenious. I will be watching more.
Planned to watch a bit of the wheechair Rugby last night and ended up watching it all instead of Arsenal. It is different from the Paralympic version and I think better. Although the Paralympic version was very good. One of the England players wasn't disabled which I think is brilliant as it makes it a truly inclusive sport. What I suppose is a negative on the same lines is the olympic version has a points system so people with higher levels of disability compete whereas in this you can't have any impairment from the waist up. To compete at the levels I saw at least.Terrrific game though and the tags on their sleeves for tackles is ingenious. I will be watching more.
I ended up watching that too. Was good fun, and some great hits!
New Zealand v Fiji was one great game last night. Close to the first major shock of the competition so far but the Kiwis scraped through and will have to raise their game against the Australians in the first semi final on Friday
Planned to watch a bit of the wheechair Rugby last night and ended up watching it all instead of Arsenal. It is different from the Paralympic version and I think better. Although the Paralympic version was very good. One of the England players wasn't disabled which I think is brilliant as it makes it a truly inclusive sport. What I suppose is a negative on the same lines is the olympic version has a points system so people with higher levels of disability compete whereas in this you can't have any impairment from the waist up. To compete at the levels I saw at least.Terrrific game though and the tags on their sleeves for tackles is ingenious. I will be watching more.
It would be different from the rugby in the Paralympics as this is wheelchair rugby league not wheelchair rugby !!
New Zealand v Fiji was one great game last night. Close to the first major shock of the competition so far but the Kiwis scraped through and will have to raise their game against the Australians in the first semi final on Friday
Hubby said it was the best game yet (I missed it as I was performing, last one tonight!)
Planned to watch a bit of the wheechair Rugby last night and ended up watching it all instead of Arsenal. It is different from the Paralympic version and I think better. Although the Paralympic version was very good. One of the England players wasn't disabled which I think is brilliant as it makes it a truly inclusive sport. What I suppose is a negative on the same lines is the olympic version has a points system so people with higher levels of disability compete whereas in this you can't have any impairment from the waist up. To compete at the levels I saw at least.Terrrific game though and the tags on their sleeves for tackles is ingenious. I will be watching more.
It would be different from the rugby in the Paralympics as this is wheelchair rugby league not wheelchair rugby !!
Enjoyed 🇳🇿 v 🇫🇯 & thought Fiji could have won it. 🇼🇸 v 🇹🇴 is great so far. Samoa so different to the version that played 🏴 at the start of the tournament. Two teams did their version of the Hakka simultaneously pre match
England has the easier of the two semis, though don't expect another sixty plus pointer win .. I expect the Ozzies to beat the Kiwis, then England to narrowly beat the Ozzies
We’ll see if you’re right Lincs. The fact that the Kiwis have their flights home booked for the day after the Australia match doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Samoa were severely underdone for the first game. Their Penrith players arrived late from Australia after a week on the piss following their Grand Final win, and they had only 3 training sessions. England ran over them.
They looked vastly improved against Tonga in the QF. Suaalil the 18-y-o full back is the next superstar, if he doesn't defect to Rugby Union. Looking forward to seeing him live
England have been almost perfect so far. Let's hope for more of the same. Burgess and the forward pack will need to muscle up and win the battle through the middle. That's going to be tough, especially as Junior Paulo has won his appeal against a one match ban. Whoever wins the arm wrestle in the opening 20 mins, will dominate possession and should go on to win. Momentum is a difficult thing to turn around in Rugby League, especially with the six again lottery.
It really did pan out as I expected. Samoa knew our plan from the first game and as such knew we had no plan b. We had nothing from the bench either, so when things weren’t working we had zero options. We only woke up when things got a bit feisty. I’m gutted as with a better coach we have a squad that could be better. Having said that, after watching the other semi, I still think we’re not good enough. I really really hope Samoa can cause another upset. I fear they may not 😩
Comments
After that all the other sides are part times. Jamaica and Greece are in the first World Cup competition and will take heavy defeats as proven so far. No different to a Union or Football World Cup in early years. The more international competitions the sport has the closer the score lines will get.
Tuesday, 25 October
Men's: Papua New Guinea v Cook Islands (19:30 BST, BBC Three) - Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
Friday, 28 October
Men's: New Zealand v Ireland (19:30 BST, BBC Three & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - Headingley Stadium, Leeds
Saturday, 29 October
Men's
England v Greece (14:30 BST, BBC One & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - Bramall Lane, Sheffield
Fiji v Scotland (17:00 BST, BBC Two & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - Kingston Park, Newcastle
Australia v Italy (19:30 BST, BBC Red Button & BBC Sport Online) - Totally Wicked Stadium, St Helens
Sunday, 30 October
Men's
Lebanon v Jamaica (12:00 GMT, BBC Red Button & BBC Sport Online) - Leigh Sports Village, Leigh
Tonga v Cook Islands (14:30 GMT, BBC Red Button & BBC Sport Online) - Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
Samoa v France (17:00 GMT, BBC Two) - Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
Should see England v Greece though 😁
Also, Victor Radley returns to play in Sheffield at Bramall Lane, the home town of his father, a big Wednesday fan.
Looking forward to seeing him in the 🏴
Monday, 31 October
Men's: Papua New Guinea v Wales (19:30 GMT, BBC Two & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - Eco-Power Stadium, Doncaster
Friday, 4 November
Men's
Australia v Lebanon (19:30 GMT, BBC Three & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield
Saturday, 5 November
Men's
England v Papua New Guinea (14:30 GMT, BBC One & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - DW Stadium, Wigan
New Zealand v Fiji (19:30 GMT, BBC Two & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - MKM Stadium, Hull
Sunday, 6 November
Men's
Tonga v Samoa (14:30 GMT, BBC Two & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
Brilliant team performance by England 🏴 there.
Love it ♥️
Can’t believe how much better Samoa are compared to the team we played against.
Fabulous 🤩🏉
Delighted for Samoa.
Kristian not happy 🤣🤣👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🏉
Samoa were severely underdone for the first game. Their Penrith players arrived late from Australia after a week on the piss following their Grand Final win, and they had only 3 training sessions. England ran over them.
They looked vastly improved against Tonga in the QF. Suaalil the 18-y-o full back is the next superstar, if he doesn't defect to Rugby Union. Looking forward to seeing him live
England have been almost perfect so far. Let's hope for more of the same. Burgess and the forward pack will need to muscle up and win the battle through the middle. That's going to be tough, especially as Junior Paulo has won his appeal against a one match ban. Whoever wins the arm wrestle in the opening 20 mins, will dominate possession and should go on to win. Momentum is a difficult thing to turn around in Rugby League, especially with the six again lottery.
Friday, 11 November
Men's
Semi-final 1 - Australia v New Zealand (19:45 GMT, BBC Two & BBC Radio 5 Live) - Elland Road, Leeds
Saturday, 12 November
Men's
Semi-final 2 - England v Samoa (14:30 GMT, BBC One & BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra) - Emirates Stadium, London
Some of the best league I’ve ever seen.
How long was that ball in play? Blimey.
If we manage to beat Samoa again (I’m so nervous & I’m not sure), I can’t see us beating Australia.
Please please please let me be wrong 🙏🏻🏴
Samoa knew our plan from the first game and as such knew we had no plan b.
We had nothing from the bench either, so when things weren’t working we had zero options.
We only woke up when things got a bit feisty.
I’m gutted as with a better coach we have a squad that could be better.
Having said that, after watching the other semi, I still think we’re not good enough.
I really really hope Samoa can cause another upset.
I fear they may not 😩