Europe has been treated to a massive weekend of international rugby league with four Test matches played across the continent as the season heats up.
Spain and Serbia are officially out of the race for the 2017 World Cup, leaving four countries to battle it out for three spots.
England get off to great start
England have defeated their neighbours from across the English Channel in a dour affair in Avignon.
Nearly 15,000 fans turned out in the rain as the Poms showed off a new-look side led by James Graham.
The game didn’t end well for the acting skipper who was concussed following a spear tackle from Eloi Pelissier, the Catalans star sent to the sin bin.
Graham will now have to prove his fitness ahead of England’s Four Nations opener against world No.1 New Zealand in Huddersfield.
Their credentials have taken a boost with Wayne Bennett’s side playing to their best ability.
Pelissier grabbed an early try for the tricolours before Ryan Hall struck back, grabbing his 27th try for his country.
Daryl Clark came off the interchange to bounce over soon after, Thomas Burgess then busting his way through the line in a show of strength.
England solidified themselves with Hall to record a brace and put the visitors in front 22-6.
It took a while for Bennett’s team to settle in after the break, not going over until the 68th minute when Kevin Brown found the chalk.
Jermaine McGillvary then scored his first try for England before veteran playmaker Gareth Widdop went over as the clock winded down.
In other preparations for the Four Nations, Scotland faced off against a Cumbrian representative team in Barrow, cruising home for a 48-16 win ahead of their date with Australia in Hull.
Jamaica flex their muscles with strong tour
The Reggae Warriors have finished their two-game European tour undefeated following fixtures against World Cup hopefuls Wales and Ireland.
Jamaica kicked off their tour in Bray last weekend recording a massive 68-16 over Ireland.
The Reggae Warriors’ dominance continued on Friday when they visited Wakefield to face off against Wales.
The Dragons got off to a strong start with Rhodri Lloyd going over in the corner before Alex Jones-Bishop fought back for Jamaica to put the visitors in front.
Courtney Davies scored a try seven minutes later before Jones-Bishop grabbed another meat pie moments before the break.
With just over ten minutes remaining, Lloyd White crashed over the line following the sin binning of Corey Hanson.
Jamaica didn’t give up, drawing level through Jones-Bishop’s third try of the evening.
Jy-Mel Coleman had an opportunity to put the Reggae Warriors in front with just two minutes remaining however, he was unable to convert coming away with a 16-16 draw.
Jamaica’s strong tour shows that rugby league in the Americas has come a long way, especially considering they continue to finish third best to the United States and Canada.
Serbia thumped by Azzurri in World Cup qualifier
Serbia have endured a heavy loss in Belgrade with 1,037 fans watching on.
The professionalism of the Italians proved too much for the White Eagles.
Richard Lepori scored after just four minutes before going on to grab a further two tries in the following eight minutes as the Azzurri got off to a dream start.
Fullback Mason Cerruto continued the rut scoring not long after before Shannon Wakeman barged over, Cerruto following up with his second.
Townsville Blackhawks star Brenden Santi scored after the break with Lepori grabbing his fourth meat pie just a minute later before Cerruto brought up a hattrick.
Terry Campese capped off a brilliant game with a try in the 58th minute, Chris Calegari then finding the chalk before the home side ran in three consolation tries, two of which were scored by Josh Marjanović.
In the end, Italy marched home to a 62-14 setting up a thriller next weekend in Monza for automatic qualification when they square off with Wales.
Wolfhounds bounce back to record impressive victory
Ireland have trumped Spain 46-6 in Valencia, quashing any hopes of a World Cup debut for Spain.
The Wolfhounds kicked off the game in style, Oliver Roberts finding his way to the line after just two minutes with Casey Dunne following just moments later.
Stuart Littler and James Hasson grabbed a try each before the break to put the visitors in front 22-0.
Dunne scored an early try in the second half before Haydn Peacock went over.
The next couple of minutes were massive for Spain with halfback Miguel Blanco-Charters scoring to put the home side on the board however, the euphoria didn’t last long with Daniel Garcia sent from the field for punching.
It resulted in Ireland running in a number of late tries with George King, Stuart Littler and Scott Grix all scoring to secure a 46-6 victory for the Wolfhounds.
The green and white now head home to Bray where they will host Russia at the Carlisle Grounds. The winner will secure automatic qualification into the 2017 Rugby League World Cup while the loser will be forced to compete for the fourteenth and final spot.
You can find Riley on Twitter @rileypettigrew
wilson wakpi
Roar Rookie
Rangers forever to answer your confusion on Samoa Fiji Tonga PNG etc.. Other pacific teams going into the WC without a match is simple. Teams who made the quarter finals and semifinal during the 2013 World Cup are granted Automatic Qualification Fiji made the semifinal Tonga and Samoa made the quarter finals and also hosts are granted Automatic Qualification that is PNG NZ and Australia though if PNG wasn't a host it would still have qualified when they beat Fiji 24 to 22 during the last 2016 pacific test match.
wilson wakpi
Roar Rookie
England will win the world cup NZ will be runner up and Australia will come third PNG will come fourth followed by Samoa and Fiji
wilson wakpi
Roar Rookie
Ray cee first of all usa is considered a weak team below average for a team competing in the world cup and second of all its competing against Canada to qualify for the world cup and USA won because Canadian rugby isn't up to the pro level yet if USA had to compete against other countries like Fiji , PNG ,SAMOA etc.. To get into the world cup then USA would never even be in the world cup. A bit of info on USA in the the world cup
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
The international body, particularly the European Federation, have worked pretty hard on it too. They've identified a direction and are running with it. Hopefully more profits will come their way courtesy of next year's World Cup and they keep moving forward. When NSW fans raised a stink over only having two matches in NSW, they never considered that the international body's directive is the international scene, not the NSW one. Guaranteed big(ish) dollars from willing governments go a long way to helping to fund their mission. Good luck to them too.
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
The incredible part is that it seems to have come from independant bodies and small groups of passionate supporters rather than the top tier nations making investments to grow the game.
bbt
Guest
Love reading about International RL. Keep it up!
Pickett
Guest
Good to see. One question - why are all Italian sport teams called 'Azzuri'? Their Soccer, union, league. Can't their league team be called the Stallions?
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
What that approach does is give the brand, if you will, of the Jamaican team a leg up, allowing the nation to be represented almost anywhere and in the spotlight. Well done to them.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
The changes over the last few years have been incredible. Pathways have been created to allow nations the chance to participate and to reward those that can progress. It really has been a mini-golden age in terms of international rugby league's expansion.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
I agree.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Geography obviously wasn't your strong point at school.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Maybe the bubble in which the insular Melbourne media lives,has something to do with the confusion. Change is happening, though it may take 100 years.
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
I agree with 16 teams as it also makes for a better draw (4 groups of 4) but I also think that giving the competition to these minnow nations and making them feel the heartbreak of missing out or the joy of making it is important.
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Cheers Riley, appreciate the updates, we don't see enough about internation league. I would argue the strides it has made over the last 3 or 4 years would rival that of most international sports. Overall we are small, but we are growing.
Phill L
Guest
Maybe the average stralian doesn't know the difference between" the game they play in heaven" and "the great game" re SOO The Maroons being introduced as the Reds!! LOL
RayCee
Guest
A few years ago, the World Cup qualifiers weren't even played because the best teams were chosen and they picked themselves. Now there are good teams that will not be there. Canada for one is moving forward but narrowly missed out to the USA. Canada would be worthy of being there as would the Cook Is and others. However, the depth is now there to need playoff games. I just wish there were more teams admitted to the World Cup. There are 14 nations but 16 quality sides could easily have been admitted and maintain a reasonable quality.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
surething.From the JRLA Director Romeo Monteith . "Our national team will continue to feature players from both domestic and UK competitions. However player selection will largely depend on the location of games and finances.Players contribute to the expenses involved." The local Jamaica rugby league covers unis,highs schools and clubs and is growing.Playing in the UK ATM is fairly prohibitive with locals.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Sarcasm not hard to find .We got one who is about as interested in Intnl rl as I am in polo. Of course lack of knowledge in how long rugby league has been played and been developed in the countries metioned,seems to have escaped the cynic. I'm sure steve if it was your code playing for qualification to any WC,you'd be more than happy.More so if your code was receiving European Commission monies to do so. What's that?They are working on it? Unfortunately your main team plays no one. Maybe by 2050 they will and not have to alter the rules to do so.Just saying.
surething
Guest
was going to ask the same question tripod. I cant imagine league in Jamaica has progressed so much that they are smashing Ireland and beating wales who are one of the top league teams.
Steve
Guest
Great to see Serbia doing well and awesome to see a big crowd turn up for their match against Italy. Seem to be making big strides. Who knows by 2021 they may be potential WC semi finalists. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.