Rugby league is growing outside of its traditional heartlands fast. The game has moved away from the strongholds of Wigan and Western Sydney to Apia and Avignon and has shown signs of success.
The week in international rugby league saw Samoa and Tonga meet in Hawaii with new champions crowned, the World Cup edge closer and the culmination of a thrilling season of the Super League.
Samoa defeat Tonga in Ohana Cup
The fifth annual Ohana Cup took place at Aloha Stadium, Hawaii during the week with the Toa Samoa Residents defeating the Mate Ma Tonga Residents 20-4 in front of a predominantly pro-Samoa crowd.
The Warriors dominated to win their second match over the Patriots this season. Hawaii will next taste rugby league action when the Brisbane Broncos and Penrith Panthers meet at the 50,000 seat home of the NFL Pro Bowl on Saturday, October 17.
Custodians crowned as Spanish champions in Valencia
Custodians Madrid defeated Ciencias XIII Valencia 26-10 to win their first championship, helping to grow the game of rugby league in Spain. This emerges after Spain defeated Latvia in Riga to book a spot in the European C Championship, the Catalans Dragons have also assisted with the expansion south of France after the rich Perpignan-based club scraped into the Super Eights competition.
The franchise will need to win all their games if they wish to become the first non-English club in the history of English rugby league to win a championship.
Lebanon-South Africa Qualifier Moved to Pretoria
After controversy rocked rugby league in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, the RLIF have been forced to move the Middle East-Africa 2017 RLWC qualifier between Lebanon and South Africa from Dubai to the South African administrative capital of Pretoria. The contest has been extended to a two-game series with matches taking place on the 25th and 31st of October.
The winner of the qualifier will join hosts Australia and New Zealand, as well as England, Fiji, Samoa, Scotland and France in the 2017 rugby league World Cup.
Ukraine dropout of 2017 Rugby League World Cup Qualifying
Ukraine fell to their fifth loss in the European B Championship in Irpin 40-12 seeing the Italian Azzurri progress to the next stage in qualifying for the 2017 World Cup.
Two games are yet to be played in the series with Russia and Italy set to meet in Moscow while Ukraine will meet Serbia in Uzhgorod. The games will be treated as warmups for the qualification process proper with Italy, Russia and Serbia already having secured their spot to play Wales, Ireland and either of Spain, Malta or Greece.
Super League battle heats up
The Super League is halfway through the 23rd and final round before the competition breaks off into two groups. The two groups are the Super Eights and the Qualifiers.
The Super Eights will feature Leeds, Wigan, St Helens, Huddersfield, Castleford, Warrington, Hull FC and Catalans, with the competition to take place over seven weeks determining the top four teams going into the Super League finals. The eight teams will carry their competition points at the completion of the regular season through to the end-of-season tournament.
Meanwhile, the bottom four teams Hull KR, Widnes, Salford and Wakefield will come up against Championship leaders Leigh as well as Bradford, Sheffield and Halifax.
The Qualifiers will also be played over seven weeks, each team restarting on 0 points. The top three teams will guarantee a spot in the 2016 Super League with the eventual fourth and fifth place facing off in the Million Pound Game to determine who becomes the twelfth team in the first division.
The only Test football in the week ahead sees Sweden take on the Czech Republic at 01.00am (AEST) in Havlíčkův Brod, Vysočina, Czech Republic.
And to quote fellow Roar columnist Sleiman Azizi, “You must be imagining things. League is only played on the East Coast of Australia. Every State of Origin fan knows that.”
We must forget about growing the traditional heartlands and start exploring new regions. The future of international rugby league depends on it.
hutch
Guest
Sure, if you say so!
Karlos
Guest
Some great positive moves. Thanks Riley and others
Bronco Juggernaut
Guest
That's a shame if Big League finishes up. I buy their end of season annual at the end of every season, it'd be a shame if they stop production on them.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Halifax even made it to tepee Eights! If they can recall Chris Anderson for a comeback, they may have a chance :)
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
A further item of interest to those internationalists from RLW this week. " Rugby league is set to attempt the boldest move in its 120 year history -a push into the world's biggest market-China. Next year ,up to half a dozen athletes,hand picked from China's 1.35b population,will be brought to Australia and placed with NRL clubs. Paul Broughton has been working closely with CASE (China Australia Sport Exchange) and gained approval of the Chinese Government officials curious about the potential of a new sporting outlet for their youth.There is a picture of him,with Chinese Govt reps. Broughton hopes to take a couple of NRL coaches to China early next year, to pick his first batch of players." Broughton also noted that rugby union is played in the Chinese Army,which is a plus.There are of course no guarantees in this or life in general,but this approach ,bearing in mind they have already started playing touch football(rl without the bang) there ,has a far better chance of getting something done,than the pie in the Sky Ribot assumption every player will watch ET under Super League. This country's future rests with Asia and China in particular,and due to the size of the market so does sport.Rugby league via the visionary and forward thinking Broughton,is at least making the move albeit small steps.
offsider
Guest
Good read Riley, good to hear about things outside of Nrl.
Renegade
Roar Guru
Great article Riley, great to see this sort of stuff on the roar. The super league has been awesome this year - certainly going to finish with a bang!
Jimmmy
Guest
II saw the Tonga v Samoa test on the Gold Coast earlier this year. What a game and such a great atmosphere. When RL is played with passion nothing is better.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
And in rugby league's case gary,that was not always so.More so in the last 10 years.
Sione
Guest
What's happening in Apia? Took my QLD Samoan RL team there for a tour early this month and got caught up in the biggest sport event to ever hapen in Samoa history. A game between Samoa and the All Blacks. Our rugby league team played league against rugby union academies. Samoa RL need to do a better job.
gary
Guest
every sport in the world is pretty much played everywhere.
Riley Pettigrew
Roar Guru
If anyone is interested in watching a live-stream of the game, use the following link: http://www.vysilamezive.cz/
Birdy
Guest
If we ever get a dedicated RL channel will we ever get a 1 hour weekly show of the international scene.
Riley Pettigrew
Roar Guru
Thanks, the two magazines don't offer much any more. I've heard that Big League could soon end publication as team lists may move to Wednesday or Thursday. Which club does your son play for?
Mike from Tari
Guest
Thanks for the update, very interesting, I don't buy the Rugby League week or the Big League anymore because my son plays in the Intrustsuper Super Cup & there is piddling little news in those 2 publications as well they have a little bit of news on the Super League & nothing on other international or National games.