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Score blowouts are not the death of the RLWC, they're a core part of rugby league

Roar Guru
2nd November, 2022
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Roar Guru
2nd November, 2022
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Week 3 of the 2022 RLWC is now done and dusted, leaving just eight of the 16 competing teams to advance to the next stage. On the way through there has been no shortage of one-sided results.

Week 1 saw England towel up Samoa 60-6. Australia defeated Fiji 42-8 even without Nathan Cleary. Ireland romped home 48-2 against World Cup debutants in Jamaica.

In Week 2 Australia, this time with Nathan Cleary, kicked off proceedings with an 84-0 ‘opposed’ training run against Scotland. Fiji bounced back to destroy Italy 60-4, NZ gave Jamaica a 68-6 hiding and Samoa woke from their apparent slumber to wipe out Greece to the tune of 72-4.

Come Week 3 and blowout results became the norm, as the top eight ranked teams all found themselves playing against the bottom eight, with only the Fiji-Scotland game not resembling a cricket score. NZ defeated Ireland 48-10, England nearly brought up their century to send Greece packing by 94-4 amd Australia defeated Italy 66-6 without ever hitting top gear.

Lebanon thrashed a by now disinterested Jamaica 74-12, with veteran winger Josh Mansour notching his first career try treble. Tonga lit up Middlesborough’s Riverside Stadium when they defeated the Cook Islands 92-10. PNG defeated Wales 36-0.

These blowouts have been great fodder for rugby league haters, doom merchants and the RLWC naysayers alike who point to the lopsided results to support their feeble arguments about the irrelevance of the RLWC and the looming death of rugby league generally. However, I’m confident that no-one beyond their few equally dim followers is listening to them, as anyone capable of googling can tell you that blowouts are nothing new to either the RLWC or the game in general. They matter not a jot, and the game still both survives and thrives.

To illustrate, let’s have a look at some historical RLWC blowouts.

(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

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1970: the first RLWC blowout, where Australia, the eventual champions, defeated New Zealand 47-11. Australia had a pretty formidable side that day, with players like Bob Fulton, Billy Smith and Eric Simms together with virtually the entire South Sydney premiership-winning pack, while NZ was made up of a team of no-name players who were basically amateurs.

1975: England flogged France 48-2 at Bordeaux after running in 12 tries. Fortunately for France, the English goal kickers missed six conversions.

1988: Australia destroyed World Cup newcomers PNG at Wagga 70-8, with Michael O’Connor running in four tries and kicking seven goals from 14 attempts.

1992: New Zealand defeated a largely unknown PNG side 66-10.

2000: Australia prove that Russia were way out of their depth, defeating them 110-4.

Not surprisingly, it’s usually the the lower ranked teams, often made up of either amateur or semi-professional players, that find themselves on the wrong side of a lopsided score line, because once a good side gains the upper hand and has momentum, it can be very difficult to turn the tide against them. This is particularly so under the six again rule.

But even the best World Cup teams can be murdered in a game, as England found out the hard way in 2008. Australia, led by a rampant Billy Slater and Greg Inglis, put the visitors to the sword to the tune of 52-4 in Melbourne. No-one saw that coming.

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Blowout score lines are certainly not just confined to the RLWC though. They can occur in even the strongest competitions. Take State of Origin,for example. It’s one of the most evenly contested sporting struggles of the modern era, with barely a struck match between New South Wales and Queensland after some 43 years.

Wally Lewis led Queensland to a 36-6 victory in Game 1 of the 1989 series; NSW dismantled the Maroons to the tune of 56-16 in Game 3 of their whitewash in 2000; and Queensland returned the favour in Game 3 of 2015 when they romped in 52-6. Blowouts occurred, the rivalry remains and the competition is as strong as ever.

Even in the NRL, the premier competition in the world, we regularly see one team totally dominate another, and that applies to grand finals just as it does to regular club games. St George fans will still be trying to forget their 38-0 grand final loss to the Roosters in 1975. The Roosters did it again in 2002 when they defeated the Warriors 30-8; while some Manly fans will still be celebrating their 40-0 thrashing of the Storm in the 2008 decider.

The RLWC is here to stay, and whether we like it or not, there will always be some one-sided results, just like there always has been in the sport of rugby league.

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