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| 2008 Rugby League World Cup |
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| Details |
| Host Nation |
 Australia |
| Dates |
25 October - 22 November |
| Venues |
12 |
| Teams |
10 |
| Positions |
| First |
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| Second |
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| Third |
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| Statistics |
| Matches |
18 |
| Points |
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| Tries |
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| Attendences |
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| Players |
| Top Scorer |
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| Most Tries |
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| Best Player |
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The 2008 Rugby League World Cup will be the 13th World Cup, an international tournament for rugby league, that is scheduled to take place between 25 October and 22 November 2008 in Australia. It will be the fourth time that the tournament has been held in Australia, the first being in 1957.
The thirteenth Cup was originally scheduled to be held in Australia in 2004[1], however, the lack of international success by the Great Britain and New Zealand teams after the 2000 World Cup, and the rise of the Tri-Nations tournament, meant that it was delayed for a further four years.[2]
The Rugby League International Federation officially announced this tournament on May 6, 2006,[3] with further details on scheduling and dates following on April 19, 2007 through a RLIF press conference[4].
The Cup will be a part of celebrations for the centenary of the game in the southern hemisphere.
[edit] Format
The draw, after being confirmed by the RLIF on April 19 2007, is made up of three groups. The first group will be made up of four teams, Australia, England, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Whilst the other two groups will involve three teams each. The semi finals will be made up of the first three teams in the first group and the winner of a playoff between the winners of the second and third groups.
However, the draw has recently been put into doubt after the Papua New Guinea team claimed that the draw was unfair to them, and threatened to boycott the tournament should it not be changed. The final draw was finalised on October 4, 2007.[5]
[edit] Points
Like all international Rugby League matches, teams will receive 2 points for a win, and 1 point for a draw. This means that unlike in the NRL, there will be no golden point rule enforced. In group stages, if two teams have the same number of points than position is determined on points difference, the amount of points scored minus the amount of points conceded.
[edit] Ranking Matches
After group matches have been completed, a match featuring the second placed teams in Group B and Group C will take place with the winner receiving 7th place. Similarly the third placed teams in Group B and Group C will play for 9th place. It is believed that these results will be taken into account in the 2009 RLIF World Rankings.
[edit] Qualification
[edit] Requirements
The Rugby League International Federation stipulated that each competing nation must meet the following criteria relating to domestic players:
- Each squad must contain a minimum of six players who have been registered in the relevant domestic competition for at least one year, or
- Each squad must contain at least six players who have played in that nation's junior international teams within the 18 months prior to the tournament.
If these criteria were not able to be met, then a nation could be thrown out of the competition. As well as these criteria, a nation wanting a place in the qualification rounds had to be an affiliate nation to the RLIF.
[edit] Tournaments
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The five remaining places in the World Cup will be determined by qualification rounds. Two European rounds and Pacific, Atlantic and Repechage rounds were scheduled. Tonga and Fiji became the first two nations to qualify after Tonga defeated Samoa 18-10 in Leeds on 22 October. Samoa were forced to enter the repechage. In the European Group Two, Ireland drew 16-16 with Lebanon to ensure qualification, while Lebanon were forced to enter the repechage. The final automatic place went to Scotland, who defeated Wales 37-32 on aggregate after the two legs. Wales then faced Lebanon in the repechage semi-final, where they lost in a surprise 50-26 defeat, to knock them out of World Cup Qualifying. Lebanon then faced Samoa, who beat USA 42-10 in the first semi-final, on November 14th, for the final qualifying position. The game was won by Samoa, 38-16, and so they booked the tenth and final place.
[edit] Automatic Entry
The following teams were given automatic entry into the World Cup:
[edit] Other Matches
A commemorative match between the Australian Aborigines and New Zealand Māori teams will also be held during the tournament, but will not form part of the competition. New Zealand Maori Rugby League Board chairman Howie Tamati has stated that he hopes the match is played as the curtain-raiser to the final.
During the 1995 and 2000 World Cups, an Emerging Nations tournament was run parallel to the competition. Nothing similar has been announced for this World Cup yet.
[edit] Venues
The final will be played at Suncorp Stadium, the home of the Brisbane Broncos, after the Queensland State Government outbid Sydney, where the final would have been held at ANZ Stadium.
| City |
State |
Stadium |
Host Club |
Map[6] |
Capacity |
| Brisbane |
Queensland |
Suncorp Stadium |
Brisbane Broncos |
Map |
52,500 |
| Gold Coast |
Queensland |
Skilled Park |
Gold Coast Titans |
Map |
25,000 |
| Townsville |
Queensland |
Dairy Farmers Stadium |
North Queensland Cowboys |
Map |
25,000 |
| Penrith |
New South Wales |
CUA Stadium |
Penrith Panthers |
Map |
21,000 |
| Parramatta |
New South Wales |
Parramatta Stadium |
Parramatta Eels |
Map |
20,000 |
| Rockhampton |
Queensland |
Browne Park |
Central Comets |
Map |
8,000 |
| Sydney |
New South Wales |
Sydney Football Stadium |
Sydney Roosters |
Map |
45,500 |
| Melbourne |
Victoria |
Telstra Dome |
Melbourne Storm |
Map |
56,347 |
| Newcastle |
New South Wales |
EnergyAustralia Stadium |
Newcastle Knights |
Map |
26,126 |
| Canberra |
Australian Capital Territory |
Canberra Stadium |
Canberra Raiders |
Map |
25,011 |
| Wollongong |
New South Wales |
WIN Stadium |
St George Illawarra Dragons |
Map |
20,000 |
| Gosford |
New South Wales |
Bluetongue Stadium |
Central Coast Storm |
Map |
20,119 |
[edit] Group Stage
All teams from group A (shaded in green) with the exception of the bottom qualifying team will progress to the semi-finals, the other two groups the top finisher will progress to a playoff match, in which the winner will qualify to the semi-finals.
[edit] Group A
[edit] Group B
| Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
PF |
PA |
PD |
Pts |
 Fiji |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
 France |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
 Scotland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
[edit] Group C
| Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
PF |
PA |
PD |
Pts |
 Ireland |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
 Samoa |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
 Tonga |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
[edit] Ranking Stage
[edit] 7th Place Playoff
[edit] 9th Place Playoff
[edit] Knockout Stage
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Qualifying Final |
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Semi-Final |
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Final |
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2nd Group A |
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3rd Group A |
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1st Group A |
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Winner Qualifying Final |
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1st Group B |
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1st Group C |
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[edit] Qualifying Final
[edit] Semi-Finals
[edit] Sources
- "World Cup Moved To End of Season", BBC website, retrieved 4 May, 2006.
- "RLIF Meeting", Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved May 8, 2006
- "McDonald defends World Cup", BBC website, retrieved 6 May, 2006.
- "Lewis backs Australia for World Cup", telegraph.co.uk website, retrieved May 8, 2006
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External Links
Australia
England
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Fiji
France
Scotland
Ireland
Samoa
Tonga
