The Rugby League World Cup gets underway tonight with Australia playing England in the tournament opener. This is The Roar‘s ultimate guide to streaming and watching every match of the tournament.
There will be seven matches played in each round, with 14 teams split across three groups, each of them set to play three matches before three weeks of finals, whittling it down from eight teams to the final two, who will contest the final on Saturday, December 2 in Brisbane.
The general structure of each weekend will see one game on Friday, and three to be played on both Saturday and Sunday.
Venues for the World Cup are in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, making it the third time three countries have shared hosting duties after the United Kingdom, Ireland and France did so in 2000 and again in 2013.
Australia
Barlow Park, Cairns
Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium)
Canberra Stadium, Canberra (GIO Stadium)
Darwin Stadium, Darwin (TIO Stadium)
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne (AAMI Park)
Perth Rectangular Stadium, Perth (NIB Stadium)
Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney (Allianz Stadium)
Townsville Stadium, Townsville (1300 Smiles Stadium)
New Zealand
Christchurch Stadium, Christchurch (Rugby League Park)
Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Wellington Rectangular Stadium (Westpac Stadium)
Papua New Guinea
National Football Stadium, Port Moresby
Here are the four groups for the tournament. There are four teams in both Group A and B, with three in Group C and D.
Group A
Australia
England
France
Lebanon
Group B
New Zealand
Samoa
Scotland
Tonga
Group C
Papua New Guinea
Ireland
Wales
Group D
Fiji
Italy
United States of America
Group A and B have the top six ranked teams, with three from each of those groups to go through to the finals.
Group C and D will only have one spot in the finals, with a crossover match between teams in either group to make up for one less team.
26 of the 28 games throughout the tournament will be broadcast live in Australia on the Seven Network. Due to some games being played at the same time on Sundays, one game in both the first and second week will be shown on delay after midnight.
Those games are France versus Lebanon in the first week on Sunday at 4pm (AEDT) and Italy versus the USA on Sunday a 5pm (AEDT) during the second week.
Every other match will be live, however, it’s important you know which channel the Seven Network will show the game on.
Australian games on the eastern seaboard will be shown on Channel Seven with an hour-long pre-game. It’s expected finals will also be shown on Channel Seven.
However, if you are watching from Perth, Adelaide or other parts of regional Australia, then the Kangaroos’ games will only be shown on 7Mate.
All other games will be broadcast on 7Mate, with a half-hour pre-game show before each day of action.
There will be only one way to stream the Rugby League World Cup in Australia, but the good news is that it’s free to use.
Channel Seven hold the exclusive digital rights, and therefore you will need to use their 7Live website or mobile application to stream every match of the Cup.
These applications allow you to stream all of the Seven Network channels, meaning you won’t need to download a separate application for those matches set to be shown on 7Mate.
The Roar has also been told that those matches not being broadcast live will be shown as an extra stream on the Seven website and application.
For those with an NRL Live Pass or Foxtel now subscription, you will not be able to use them for streaming of the Rugby League World Cup.
Here at The Roar, we will also be providing a live blog of each match throughout the tournament and covering all the big moments with highlights on The Roar TV.
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