- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Overall, the 2013 rugby league World Cup has been a major success. Good crowds, nail-biting finishes and experiences fringe first grade players will never forget.
But what about the pools? They were a bit different to what you normally would expect.
In 2013 they had two top pools of four teams comprised of Australia and England, Fiji and Ireland in Group A and New Zealand, France, Papua New Guinea and Samoa in Group B.
Then Group’s C and D included three teams each, and had relatively weaker nations compared to the top pools A and B.
Group C had Tonga, Scotland, and Italy, and Group D had the USA, Wales and Cook Islands.
To make it easier here is a table of the teams and their pools and their international rankings.
Group A
Australia (1)
England (3)
Fiji (7)
Ireland (9)
Group B
New Zealand (2)
Samoa (8)
France (4)
Papua New Guinea (6)
Group C
Italy (13)
Scotland (11)
Tonga (10)
Group D
USA (12)
Cook Islands (18)
Wales (5)
In 2008, they had a top pool, Group A with Australia, New Zealand, England, and Papua New Guinea, and only three would qualify for the semi -finals, so obviously Papua New Guinea, were going to be knocked out.
They had just two other pools of three teams with the winner of these two groups playing off (Fiji versus Ireland, which Fiji won 30-14) for a spot to play Australia.
The Kangaroos, in the end, smacked Fiji 52-0.
This is the major point I am getting at.
In 2013, Ireland, are the odd one out in the group. They were convincingly beaten in all three matches they played.
What happens if the Irish were put in say pool C instead of Scotland, who in the end topped Group C. Could have they beaten Tonga, the USA, and Italy and gone through?
The pools were a bit unfair for them, considering they are ranked ninth and all teams in Group C are below them in the rankings.
At least in Group B France and Papua New Guinea were at the same level so it made the battle for the third spot fair and a bit more interesting, with France scraping through with a 9-8 win over Papua New Guinea.
Then there are the group C/D cross-over matches which allow only one side to be played from D if you are in group C, and vice-versa.
Therefore, some sides may get an easier match than others, for example, playing Wales who finished dead last in their pool D to playing USA who finished first in the same pool.
Here is the big but, and hopefully I don’t confuse you too much.
Scotland (Group C) beat the USA (Group D), who had already won Group D and were going through to the quarter finals.
If Italy (Group C), had have beaten Tonga, (Group C), (which they probably should have considering they drew 30-all with Scotland, and Scotland defeated Tonga), Italy would have made it through, and Scotland who had beaten the winner of Group D would be knocked out.
Scotland would feel hard done by, considering if they had been in Group D they probably would have taken it out by a country mile.
But these are all ifs, and it was very lucky this did not happen, simply by chance these results went the way of tournament organisers.
The simple fact that these cross-over matches came in the calculations for the final placings in the groups was truly farcical.
So how can the RLWC body make it fair for all nations?
Well of course sometimes it can’t be always 100% fair as we know, but here a few suggestions and it’s over to you to make your decision on what is best.
Four pools of four nations
– 16 nations qualify for the cup, and each the top four nations (Australia, England, NZ, TBA) in the rankings are placed in each of the different pool.
– the weaker nations are placed in each pool with reference to their ranking, just like in the football world cup.
– the top two teams qualify for quarters, and no cross-over matches, giving weaker sides the chance to battle it out and for the second spot in each pool.
Top three major nations in one pool
– 18 nations qualify
– Australia, England and New Zealand are placed into one pool, and are all assured of a quarter final berth.
– Then, five pools of three teams play off, with the top team for each pool qualifying for the semi-finals
– Weaker sides who have qualified to the quarter get the top three teams.
Roarers, do you have a different way to organise the world cup finals? Are you happy with the current situation or do you think there is a need for change?
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.