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Australia vs England |
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|---|---|---|
2017 Rugby League World Cup, October 27 |
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| Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria | ||
| Australia | England | |
| 18 | SCORE | 4 |
| 3 | Tries | 1 |
| 2 | Goals | 0 |
| 1 | Penalty Goals | 0 |
| 0 | Field Goals | 0 |
The Rugby League World Cup gets underway with a match likely to decide top spot in Pool A, as Australia take on England in Melbourne. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 8pm (AEDT).
With France and Lebanon the other two sides in their group, one of these sides should go through undefeated, the other finishing second with a loss tonight.
Taking first provides the advantage of not having to face the top team in Pool B – who are likely to be New Zealand – until the final.
That said, Group B is the proverbial group of death, with Tonga, Samoa and Scotland also in there, so a win in this game is no ticket to an easy path through the tournament.
The Kangaroos, as always, come into the tournament heavy favourites, but Darius Boyd, Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott are all missing from their best 17.
However, that opens the door for Michael Morgan – who was the player of the NRL finals series, taking the North Queensland Cowboys to the big dance – to play in the halves, while Billy Slater returns at fullback. Dane Gagai and Valentine Holmes take the wing positions, with New South Wales combo Aaron Woods and David Klemmer starting up front.
Other exciting additions include lock Jake Trbojevic and the usual suspects of Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith, giving us one last chance to see the Storm’s big three in action.
Sean O’Loughlin forms as the tourists’ key man. The Wigan Warriors lock, who is a veteran of 28 Tests for both Great Britain and England, might be reaching the end of his career, but with 400 Super League matches he is showing no signs of slowing down.
He leads a dangerous forward pack, chock-a-block of power runners. Sam Burgess, James Graham, Elliott Whitehead, and Josh Hodgson – who will add plenty of spark at dummy half – headline the NRL players, with Warrington prop Chris Hill adding size.
While the English forwards will be able to stay in the match physically, the problem will be scoring points and edge defence.
Gareth Widdop was one of the NRL’s form players in 2017, but his combination with Luke Gale is an unknown, and if Leeds winger Ryan Hall doesn’t score a bag, it’s difficult to see where England’s points come from.
Prediction
Even without Thurston, Australia simply have too many stars across the park for Wayne Bennett’s men.
Australia by 10.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the Rugby League World Cup’s opening match from 8pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment below.