After a brilliant month of rugby league, the World Cup is about to reach its climax with just three games remaining before we crown the world champions.
The four best teams in the world have reached the semi–finals: Australia, England, Fiji and New Zealand. Three of those teams have reached this stage from Group A, the toughest pool in the tournament, while the other just happen to be the defending champions.
Two sides will go home a week earlier than they like while the other two will move onto the decider at Old Trafford. Let’s take a look at the two massive semi-final clashes that make up ‘The Big Hit’ at Wembley Stadium this Saturday.
SF 1: New Zealand versus England
Kick Off: 12am AEDT, Sunday 24 November @ Wembley Stadium, London
TV Coverage: Live on 7mate from 11:30pm AEDT Saturday 23 November
The first semi-final will see the defending world champions take on the tournament hosts in a match that has the potential to be the best of the 2013 RLWC.
The two nations played each other in the semi-finals of the 2008 World Cup as well and as history tells us, the Kiwis were the winners on that occasion. In 2013, we have different looking teams, and both appear to be stronger than they were five years ago.
New Zealand have had a sublime World Cup campaign thus far and along with Australia remain the only undefeated side. The Kiwis have destroyed all that has been placed before them, racking up over 40 points in every game.
Their attack has been clinical and the first 40 minutes of their match against Papua New Guinea was the best half of football displayed by a team all tournament.
The side’s key individuals all appear to be in top form as well, with the likes of Sonny Bill Williams, Isaac Luke, Kieran Foran and Shaun Johnson starring throughout this tournament.
The question mark surrounding the Kiwis is the opposition that they have played. The other three semi-finalists have all played each other, while New Zealand have played weaker opponents and have not been tested as yet.
Their toughest opposition was Samoa, who were dismantled fairly easily by Fiji last week in the quarter-finals.
England have had a promising tournament so far, with their only loss coming in the opener against Australia. They defeated France in the quarter finals 34-6 to book their spot in the semis and Steve McNamara is getting closer to the target he had set himself and his team four years ago.
The English forward pack is the best in the competition and their key big men in Sam Burgess, James Graham, Ben Westwood and Sean O’Loughlin are starting to hit top gear. Their outside backs have been in sensational form throughout the tournament and the skipper, Kevin Sinfield has been brilliant in controlling the side from halfback.
The hooker and utility roles have provided McNamara a pleasant headache with Matt McIllorum, James Roby, Rob Burrow and Gareth Widdop all having performed well in the roles.
While England have been simply outstanding in patches of each match they have played, they appear to move into cruise control for certain periods of the match. They can’t afford to do that against New Zealand.
England haven’t lost to New Zealand on home soil since the year 2000 – coincidentally, was in a World Cup semi-final. That stat won’t worry Stephen Kearney or his men in this World Cup and the current form they are in will see them go into this match as favourites.
I believe England have had the better lead up to this game by playing a higher quality of opposition. New Zealand have been brilliant in every match, but haven’t been tested yet.
I’m expecting the English forwards to really take it up to New Zealand in the opening twenty minutes and try and stun the Kiwis early – they can’t afford to let the Kiwis get on a roll.
With over 70,000 expected at Wembley, I think the home side is good enough to book their spot in the Final.
Verdict: England by 10
SF 2: Australia versus Fiji
Kick Off: 2:30am AEDT, Sunday 24 November @ Wembley Stadium, London
TV Coverage: Live on 7mate from 2am AEDT
The second semi-final of the 2013 RLWC will see Australia, the pre-tournament favourites, take on Fiji.
These two sides also contested the 2008 World Cup semis, when the Kangaroos ended the Fijian fairy tale by annihilating the Bati 52-0 in Sydney. This time it’s going to be a different scoreline, however Tim Sheens’ side will once again go in as heavy favourites.
Australia have reached the semi-finals undefeated and have done so with relative ease. The Kangaroos are the number one ranked team in the world and have the best squad on the planet.
Cameron Smith and his team have so far performed as everyone has expected. The Aussies haven’t let a try in over 240 minutes now, which is an incredible effort.
After losing Luke Lewis to injury in the group stages, Tim Sheens has now lost Billy Slater as well after the best fullback in the game was injured in the 62-0 quarter final win over the USA.
There is a very handy replacement in Greg Inglis to take on the number one jersey, however the loss of Slater is going to hurt the Australian attack.
The familiarity that the Melbourne Storm trio in Slater, Smith and Cooper Cronk bring is one of Australia’s biggest strengths. They know each other so well that the instinctive plays just come off. This isn’t going to be the case with Slater out injured.
Apart from the injuries, there is not much else affecting the Kangaroos’ campaign as they have redemption on their mind and are warming to the task nicely.
The 2008 fairytale was Fiji and very few thought that the Bati could once again reach those heights with a majority of the competing nations in 2013 fielding their strongest ever line-ups. What most pundits forgot was that the Fiji Bati are fielding a much stronger side than in 2008 as well.
Rick Stone has coached his side extremely well in this tournament and the Bati defeated Ireland before being extremely competitive for the majority of their respective matches against Australia and England.
The Fijians steamrolled the Samoans in the quarter-final, showing just how far the side has come, and can now lay claim to being the fourth best team in the world after successive semi-final appearances.
That in itself is an enormous achievement for the nation of Fiji. They laid claim to being the first and only Pacific nation to reach the semi-finals in 2008, and now they can lay claim to doing it twice – as well as being the first to play at the iconic Wembley Stadium.
Australia defeated Fiji 34-2 in the group A fixture at St Helens three weeks ago, a match played in terrible weather conditions which reduced both sides’ ability to show off their attack.
In that game, Fiji demonstrated their improvement from 2008 and I feel they will once again improve in their semi-final performance before a massive crowd that will no doubt be behind the underdogs.
The Bati are now able to work towards changing the term ‘The Big Three’ to ‘The Big Four’. That said, Australia are intent on lifting the trophy at Old Trafford and will have too much quality across the park for Fiji in what should be an entertaining affair.
Verdict: Australia by 26
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