The Rugby League World Cup reaches its final week of the group stages, with spots in the quarter-finals still on the line and a bumper clash in Hamilton headlining the weekend.
Group B is where all eyes will be this week. At the top of the group, New Zealand take on Tonga in Hamilton to see who will avoid facing Australia until the final. At the bottom, Samoa and Scotland begin their knock-out games early, with the sides both sitting on zero points.
That comes off the back of the epic Samoa-Tonga clash last week, as well as New Zealand’s thumping of Scotland. Elsewhere, Australia beat France and England got the better of Lebanon.
In the other two groups, Fiji put 72 on Wales, Italy held the USA scoreless and Papua New Guinea beat Ireland in one of the matches of the tournament.
» Check out the complete RLWC 2017 squads
Every game of the tournament is being broadcast on Channel Seven. Most games are on 7Mate, however Australian games are on the main channel.
To live stream the tournament, you can use the 7 live website or mobile application. For the first time this weekend, there are no double-up games, so every game will be live on TV with no need to access a ‘bonus stream’ for games not being televised.
» View the full RLWC 2017 draw
All times below are AEDT.
Kick-off: 7:40pm, Friday
Venue: Canberra Stadium, Canberra
TV: Live, 7Mate
Referee: Robert Hicks
Fiji
1. Kevin Naiqama 2. Suliasi Vunivalu 3. Taane Milne 4. Akuila Uate 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Jarryd Hayne 7. Henry Raiwalui 8. Ashton Sims 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Eloni Vunakece 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Brayden Wiliame
Interchange: 13. Tui Kamikamica 14. Joe Lovodua 15. Jacob Saifiti 16. Junior Roqica 17. Ben Nakubuwai 18. James Storer 19. Salesi Faingaa 20. Sitiveni Moceidreke 21. Pio Seci
Italy
1. James Tedesco 2. Mason Cerruto 3. Justin Castellaro 4. Nathan Milone 5. Josh Mantellato 6. Terry Campese 7. Ryan Ghietti 8. Paul Vaughan 9. Joey Tramontana 10. Daniel Alvaro 11. Jayden Walker 12. Mark Minichiello 13. Nathan Brown
Interchange: 15. Brendan Santi 16. Shannon Wakeman 17. Joel Riethmuller 18. Christophe Calegri 19. Gavin Hiscox 20. Richard Lepori 21. Colin Wilkie 22. Mirco Bergamasco
Unless Italy win this match by at least 46 points, it will have no bearing on the outcome of Group D with Fiji set to progress to the quarter-finals. Of course, given the form of Fiji, it could be a mauling of that nature in favour of the Bati anyway.
Kick-off: 3pm, Saturday
Venue: Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
TV: Live, 7Mate
Referee: Gerard Sutton
New Zealand
1. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 2. Dallin Watene Zelezniak 3. Dean Whare 4. Brad Takairangi 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Kodi Nikorima 7. Shaun Johnson 8. Martin Taupau 9. Thomas Leuluai 10. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 11. Simon Mannering 12. Joseph Tapine 13. Adam Blair
Interchange: 14. Nelson Asofa-Solomona 15. Russell Packer 16. Isaac Liu 17. Danny Levi 18. Kenneath Bromwich 19. Te Maire Martin 20. Elijah Taylor 21. Peta Hiku
Tonga
1. William Hopoate 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Michael Jennings 4. Konrad Hurrell 5. David Fusitua 6. Tuimoala Lolohea 7. Mafoa’aeata Hingano 8. Andrew Fifita 9. Sione Katoa 10. Sio Siua Taukeiaho 11. Manu Ma’u 12. Sika Manu 13. Jason Taumalolo
Interchange: 14. Siliva Havili 15. Sam Moa 16. Peni Terepo 17. Ben Murdoch-Masila 18. Mahe Fonua 19. Manu Vatuvei 20. Ukuma Ta’ai 21. Tevita Pangai Junior
As already mentioned, this could be the most important game of the tournament. The loser faces a semi-final against Australia, and the winner will avoid the Kangaroos until the final and face a beatable England side in New Zealand in the semi-finals.
Kick-off: 5:10pm, Saturday
Venue: Barlow Park, Cairns
TV: Live, 7Mate
Referee: Ashley Klein
Samoa
1. Young Tonumaipea 2. Ricky Leutele 3. Timoteo Lafai 4. Joseph Leilua 5. Matthew Wright 6. Jarome Luai 7. Fa’amanu Brown 8. Junior Paulo 9. Jazz Tevaga 10. Herman Essese 11. Joshua Papalii 12. Frank Winterstein 13. Bunty Afoa
Interchange: 14. Pita Godinet 15. Joseph Paulo 16. Leeson Ah Mau 17. Sam Tagataese 18. Frank Pritchard 19. Suaia Matagi 20. Ben Roberts 21. Ken Maumalo
Scotland
1. Lewis Tierney 2. Shane Toal 3. Ben Hellewell 4. Lachlan Stein 5. Matthew Russell 6. Danny Addy 7. Oscar Thomas 8. Luke Douglas 9. Callum Phillips 10. Ben Kavanagh 11. Frankie Mariano 12. Dale Ferguson 13. James Bell
Interchange: 14. Kane Bentley 15. Brandan Wilkinson 16. Andrew Bentley 17. Jarred Anderson 18. Alex Walker 19. Will Oakes 20. David Scott 21. Kieran Moran
This is a straight knockout game. Samoa have the form to beat Scotland without captain Danny Brough, but it’s still not an easy ask to win under that sort of pressure.
Kick-off: 8pm, Saturday
Venue: Sydney Football Stadium, Sydnney
TV: Live, Live, 7 (NSW, QLD, VIC, ACT), 7Mate (WA, SA), Southern Cross TV (NT, TAS)
Referee: James Child
Australia
1. Valentine Holmes 2. Dane Gagai 3. Tom Trbojevic 4. Cameron Munster 5. Josh Mansour 6. James Maloney 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Aaron Woods 9. Cameron Smith 10. David Klemmer 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Matt Gillett 13. Felise Kaufusi
Interchange: 14. Ben Hunt 15. Jordan McLean 16. Regan Campbell-Gillard 17. Wade Graham 18. Josh Mcguire 19. Michael Morgan 20. Josh Dugan 21. Billy Slater
Lebanon
1. Anthony Layoun 2. Travis Robinson 3. James Elias 4. Adam Doueihi 5. Abbas Miski 6. Mitchell Moses 7. Robbie Farah 8. Tim Mannah 9. Michael Lichaa 10. Alex Twal 11. Chris Saab 12. Ahmad Ellaz 13. Nick Kassis
Interchange: 14. Mitchell Mamary 15. Ray Moujalli 16. Jamie Clark 17. Andrew Kazzi 18. Jason Wehbe 19. Danny Barakat 20. Elias Sukkar 21. Daniel Abou Sleiman
The Kangaroos have again made a stack of changes as they try to figure out their best 17 ahead of the knockout stages. They should win and win well here, but Lebanon will want to keep it close in case, by some miracle, France beat England.
Kick-off: 4pm, Sunday
Venue: National Football Stadium, Port Moresby
TV: Live, 7Mate
Referee: Adam Gee
Papua New Guinea
1. David Mead 2. Justin Olam 3. Kato Ottio 4. Nene Macdonald 5. Garry Lo 6. Lachlan Lam 7. Watson Boas 8. Moses Meninga 9. James Segeyaro 10. Luke Page 11. Rhyse Martin 12. Willie Minoga 13. Paul Aiton
Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste 15. Stargroth Amean 16. Nixon Putt 17. Thompson Teteh 18. Rod Griffin 19. Wartovo Puara 20. Enoch Maki 21. Ase Boas
USA
1. Corey Makelim 2. Ryan Burroughs 3. Junior Vaivai 4. Jonathan Alley 5. Bureta Faraimo 6. Kristian Freed 7. Tui Samoa 8. Eddy Pettybourne 9. David Marando 10. Mark Offerdahl 11. Danny Howard 12. Joe Eichner 13. Nicholas Newlin
Interchange: 14. Sam Tochterman-Talbott 15. Fotukava Malu 16. Martwain Johnston 17. Gabriel Farley 18. Steve Howard 19. Andrew Kneisly 20. David Ulch 21. Joshua Rice
The Kumuls have relished playing in Port Moresby and should do so again against a USA team who have scored six points in 160 minutes. This could be ugly.
Kick-off: 6:30pm, Sunday
Venue: Perth Rectangular Stadium
TV: Live, 7Mate
Referee: Ben Thaler
Wales
1. Elliot Kear 2. Rhys Williams 3. Michael Channing 4. Christiaan Roets 5. Regan Grace 6. Courtney Davies 7. Danny Ansell 8. Craig Kopczak 9. Steve Parry 10. Phil Joseph 11. Rhodri Lloyd 12. Joe Burke 13. Morgan Knowles
Interchange: 14. Matty Fozard 15. Matthew Barron 16. Ben Evans 17. Dalton Grant 18. Josh Ralph 19. Ben Morris 20. Gavin Bennion 21. Andrew Gay
Ireland
1. Scott Grix 2. Shannon Mcdonell 3. Ed Chamberlain 4. Api Pewhairangi 5. Liam Kay 6. Joe Keyes 7. Liam Finn 8. Anthony Mullally 9. Michael McIlorum 10. Kyle Amor 11. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook 12. Will Hope 13. Brad Singleton
Interchange: 14. George King 15. Matty Hadden 16. Joe Philbin 17. Oliver Roberts 18. James Hasson 19. Tyrone McCarthy 20. Casey Dunne 21. Jack Higginson
This is a match with almost nothing riding on it. With Papua New Guinea expected to win easily against the USA, even a victory for Ireland, who sit on two points, will mean nothing. Wales are already eliminated.
Kick-off: 9pm, Sunday
Venue: Perth Rectangular Stadium
TV: Live, 7Mate
Referee: Phil Bentham
England
1. Gareth Widdop 2. Stefan Ratchford 3. Mark Percival 4. John Bateman 5. Jermaine McGillvary 6. Kevin Brown 7. Luke Gale 8. Chris Hill 9. James Roby 10. James Graham 11. Ben Currie 12. Mike McMeeken 13. Sean O’Loughlin
Interchange: 14. Alex Walmsley 15. Thomas Burgess 16. Scott Taylor 17. George Williams 18. Ryan Hall 19. Elliot Whitehead 20. Chris Heighington 21. Kallum Watkins
France
1. Mark Kheirallah 2. Fouad Yaha 3. Bastien Ader 4. Damien Cardace 5. Ilias Bergal 6. Theo Fages 7. Lucas Albert 8. Antoni Maria 9. John Boudebza 10. Julian Bousquet 11. Benjamin Garcia 12. Benjamin Jullien 13. Jason Baitieri
Interchange: 14. Romain Navarrete 15. Thibault Margalet 16. Maxime Herold 17. Remy Marginet 18. Olivier Arnoud 19. Mickael Rouch 20. Nabil Djalout 23. Lambert Belmas
France have been poor so far, but will be up for a match against their local rivals. If they can pull off a win and Lebanon get blown out, then there is the smallest of chances they could qualify for the quarter-finals.
Andrew
Guest
If they get more Aussies and English in the squad Fred
kiwijack
Guest
More big hitters in the Kiwis. Kiwi's can't stop the big guys but they can limit their effect on the game by limiting any offloads. Also get under Fifita's skin abit and the mistakes will come, he can't help himself. I think Asofa-Solomona will have a big impact on this game, he's developing into a real strike forward and is a match for JT13 in meters gained. Kiwi's to win with just more class in the halves.
kiwijack
Guest
The Irish have played well but they lack any real class players in attack. Very workman like and sound in defence as PNG found out. Just lack that a superstar or two. All together a really good effort.
Nat
Roar Guru
Who would you classify as a true 'hitter' in the Tongan team? Manu Ma'u is aggressive, Sika possibly and Fifita can rough fellas up when he gets a hold of them but I can't think of too many big hit highlight reels from any of these blokes. Murdoch-Masila can when he comes on but then he'll probably face Asofa-Solomona - good luck. Dunno, have to say the Kiwis still have it in the aggression stakes.
Fred
Guest
Is there any chance, any chance at all, that Scotland can beat Samoa?
Fiji
Guest
Effectively the England B team? You'd think an England B team would be entirely drawn from Super League, why would the England B team contain 5 amateur players from Ireland's domestic competition?
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
I'm not against a quota.
Londoner
Guest
As effectively the England B team, its hard to see them as much of a Ireland team. Still I admire the players efforts, as they have put in a good performance in both matches. Its nice to see the Green Shirt, but please RLIF insist on a MINIMUM 7 of the 17 match day squad are home born, or live in the Country. If this weakens Samoa, Tonga etc so be it.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
You've got to feel for Ireland. They've really put in but in their own way are in a proper group of death. They'll come away from this tournament with two victories but no progression into the quarter finals. Lebanon, with one victory (and Samoa too with a likely win over Scotland) will make it into the quarter finals. Such is life!