2008 Rugby League World Cup

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2008 Rugby League World Cup
Teams	10
Host	Australia
Champions	New Zealand (1st title)
Matches played	18
Points scored	890  (average 49 per match)
Attendance	293,965  (average 16,331 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Johnathan Thurston (50)[1]
Top try scorer(s)	Billy Slater (7)[2]
< 2000 Tournaments 2013 >

The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the 13th staging of the Rugby League World Cup since the inauguration of the tournament in 1954, but the first since the 2000 event^[3]. Taking place between the 25th of October and 22nd of November, it was the fourth time that the tournament has been held in Australia, the first being in 1957. The winner was New Zealand, which defeated Australia 34-20 in the final in one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sport. The tournament featured the best ten teams across the globe which were split into three groups. A total of eighteen matches took place in twelve different venues across four Australian states. The tournament will end a year of celebrations commemorating the centenary of the game in the southern hemisphere and is part of the Festival of World Cups.

The thirteenth Cup was originally scheduled to be held in Australia in 2004^[4], however the lack of international success by the Great Britain and New Zealand after the 2000 World Cup, and the rise of the Tri-Nations tournament, meant that it was delayed for a further four years.^[5] The Rugby League International Federation officially announced this tournament on 6 May 2006^[6], with further details on scheduling and dates following on 19 April 2007^[7].

The first match took place in Townsville between England and Papua New Guinea, although the official opening ceremony of the competition occurred before the Australia and New Zealand match the following day in Sydney^[8]. The final took place at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

Contents 1 Opening Ceremony 2 Teams 3 Match Officials 3.1 Pink Charity Shirts 4 Qualification 4.1 Automatic Entry 4.2 Tournaments 5 Format 5.1 Draw 5.2 Points 5.3 Ranking Matches 6 Venues 7 Matches 7.1 Pool Stage 7.1.1 Group A 7.1.2 Group B 7.1.3 Group C 7.1.4 7th Place Playoff 7.1.5 9th Place Playoff 7.2 Knockout Stage 7.2.1 Qualifying Final 7.2.2 Semi-Finals 7.2.3 Final 8 Criticism/Controversy 8.1 Tournament Criticism 8.2 Australian Coach's Attacks 9 Tickets 10 Sponsorship 11 "Heroes 08" campaign 12 Broadcasting 12.1 Television 12.2 Radio 13 Sources 14 References 15 External links

[edit] Opening Ceremony

On Sunday night, October 27, the Sydney Football Stadium hosted the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. It started with Greg Inglis reciting a speech about "Playing Fair". Following Inglis' speech, there was an Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony to welcome all the athletes and participants. This included a rather large sized Rainbow Serpent which represented the Aboriginal Dreamtime. The last part of the ceremony involved a performance of the Rugby League World Cup Anthem "Hero" by Natalie Bassingthwaighte. A curtain raiser to the Australia vs. New Zealand match included a Indigenous Australian squad playing against a New Zealand Māori squad which featured several prominent NRL players and rising stars including Chris Sandow, Wairangi Koopu, Preston Campbell, Sam Thaiday, Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Carl Webb.

[edit] Teams

See also: 2008 Rugby League World Cup squads

Team	Mascot	Coach	Captain	RLIF Rank	Final Rank
Australia	The Kangaroos	Ricky Stuart	Darren Lockyer	1	2
England	The Lions	Tony Smith	Jamie Peacock	3	3/4
Fiji	The Bati	Joe Dakuitoga	Wes Naiqama	6	3/4
France	Les Tricolores	John Monie	Jerome Guisset	5	10
Ireland	The Wolfhounds	Andy Kelly	Scott Grix	9	5/6
New Zealand	The Kiwis	Stephen Kearney	Nathan Cayless	2	1
Papua New Guinea	The Kumuls	Adrian Lam	John Wilshere	7	5/6
Samoa	Toa Samoa	John Ackland	Nigel Vagana	12	9
Scotland	The Bravehearts	Steve McCormack	Danny Brough	11	8
Tonga	Mate Ma'a Tonga	Jim Dymock	Lopini Paea	4	7

[edit] Match Officials

Referees Country Name[9]  Australia Archer, TonyTony Archer  Australia Hayne, ShayneShayne Hayne  England Klein, AshleyAshley Klein  England Ganson, SteveSteve Ganson  France Alibert, ThierryThierry Alibert  New Zealand Williamson, LeonLeon Williamson

Touch Judges Country Name[10]  England Child, JamesJames Child  France Perrara, JoseJose Perrara  New Zealand Burns, AdamAdam Burns  Australia Chiddy, SteveSteve Chiddy  Australia Holland, PaulPaul Holland  Australia Sutton, BernardBernard Sutton  Australia Sutton, GerardGerard Sutton  Australia Turner, RussellRussell Turner  Australia De Las Heras, TonyTony De Las Heras

Video Referees Country Name  Australia Simpkins, PaulPaul Simpkins  Australia Cooley, PhilPhil Cooley  Australia Clark, SteveSteve Clark  England Klein, AshleyAshley Klein  England Ganson, SteveSteve Ganson

[edit] Pink Charity Shirts

In support of the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation referees wore pastel pink shirts while officiating matches to raise awareness. The shirts, which carry the NBCF logo on the collar, were to be signed by the team captains at each World Cup game and later auctioned off with the proceeds going to the NBCF.^[11]

[edit] Qualification

[edit] Automatic Entry

The following teams were given automatic entry into the World Cup:

•  Australia
•  New Zealand
•  England
•  France
•  Papua New Guinea

[edit] Tournaments

• Pacific Qualifying Group
  • Winner  Tonga
  • Runner-up  Fiji
• Europe group one
  • Winner  Scotland
• Europe group two
  • Winner  Ireland
• Repechage Winner
  • Winner  Samoa

The five remaining places in the World Cup were 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. Many qualification matches were broadcast live by Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, whilst BigPondTV broadcasted matches online for other fans around the world^[12].

[edit] Format

[edit] Draw

The draw, after being confirmed by the RLIF on 19 April 2007, was up of three groups. The first group was made up of four teams, Australia, England, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, whilst the other two groups involved three teams each. The semi finals were 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 had 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. Marcus Bai, former Papua New Guinean winger and captain said^[13]:

“

They have to change it and if they don't, we won't come. We will ring up the other island nations and teams elsewhere who don't qualify and we can have our own competition. They have shown no respect for our country or for our efforts to promote the game up there.

”

Fortunately for the tournament, this separate island competition did not eventuate. Papua New Guinea remained still angry with the draw, but saw it as a huge challenge, but one which would have seem them be rewarded if they had won. The draw was finalised on 4 October 2007^[14].

[edit] Points

Teams received 2 points for a win, and 1 point for a draw. This meant that, unlike in the Australian National RugbyLeague, there was no "golden point" rule enforced. In group stages, if two teams had the same number of points then positions were determined on points difference, the number of points scored minus the number of points conceded.

[edit] Ranking Matches

After group matches wre completed, a match featuring the second placed teams in Group B and Group C took place with the winner receiving 7th place. Similarly the third placed teams in Group B and Group C played off for 9th place. It is believed that these results will be taken into account in the 2009 RLIF World Rankings^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Venues

Suncorp Stadium	Telstra Dome	Sydney Football Stadium

Stadium	City	State	Home teams	Capacity
Suncorp Stadium (2 games, Semi Final and Final)	Brisbane	Queensland	Brisbane Broncos (NRL)	52,500
Skilled Park (2 games)	Gold Coast	Queensland	Gold Coast Titans (NRL)	27,000
Dairy Farmers Stadium (2 games)	Townsville	Queensland	North Queensland Cowboys (NRL)	25,000
Browne Park (1 game)	Rockhampton	Queensland	Central Comets (Queensland Cup)	8,000
Sydney Football Stadium (2 games, Opening Ceremony & Semi Final)	Sydney	New South Wales	Sydney Roosters (NRL)	45,500
CUA Stadium (2 games)	Penrith	New South Wales	Penrith Panthers (NRL)	21,000
Parramatta Stadium (2 games)	Parramatta	New South Wales	Parramatta Eels (NRL)	20,000
EnergyAustralia Stadium (1 game)	Newcastle	New South Wales	Newcastle Knights (NRL)	26,126
Bluetongue Stadium (1 game)	Gosford	New South Wales	Central Storm (NSWRL)	20,119
WIN Stadium (1 game)	Wollongong	New South Wales	St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRL)	20,000
Canberra Stadium (1 game)	Canberra	Australian Capital Territory	Canberra Raiders (NRL)	25,011
Telstra Dome (1 game)	Melbourne	Victoria	Melbourne Storm (NRL)	56,347

[edit] Matches

[edit] Pool Stage

All teams from group A (shaded in green) with the exception of the bottom qualifying team progressed to the semi-finals, the other two groups the top finisher progressed to a playoff match, in which the winner would qualify to the semi-finals.

[edit] Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Australia	3	3	0	0	128	16	112	6
New Zealand	3	2	0	1	90	60	30	4
England	3	1	0	2	60	110	-50	2
Papua New Guinea	3	0	0	3	34	126	-92	0

25 October 2008	England	32 – 22	Papua New Guinea	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville Attendance: 10,780[15] Referee: Shayne Hayne
		(report)

---

26 October 2008	Australia	30 – 6	New Zealand	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 34,157 [16] Referee: Ashley Klein

---

1 November 2008	New Zealand	48 – 6	Papua New Guinea	Skilled Park, Gold Coast Attendance: 11,278 [17] Referee: Steve Ganson

---

2 November 2008	Australia	52 – 4	England	Telstra Dome, Melbourne Attendance: 36,297[18] Referee: Tony Archer

---

8 November 2008	England	24 – 36	New Zealand	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle Attendance: 15,145[19] Referee: Tony Archer

---

9 November 2008	Australia	46 – 6	Papua New Guinea	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville Attendance: 16,239[20] Referee: Steve Ganson

---

[edit] Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Fiji	2	1	0	1	58	24	34	2
Scotland	2	1	0	1	36	50	-16	2
France	2	1	0	1	42	60	-18	2

26 October 2008	Scotland	18 – 36	France	Canberra Stadium, Canberra Attendance: 9,287 [21] Referee: Leon Williamson
		(report)

---

1 November 2008	France	6 – 42	Fiji	WIN Stadium, Wollongong Attendance: 9,213 [22] Referee: Ashley Klein

---

5 November 2008	Fiji	16 – 18	Scotland	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford Attendance: 9,720[23] Referee: Leon Williamson

---

[edit] Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Ireland	2	1	0	1	54	38	16	2
Tonga	2	1	0	1	34	40	-6	2
Samoa	2	1	0	1	36	46	-10	2

27 October 2008	Ireland	20 – 22	Tonga	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 6,165[24] Referee: Steve Ganson
		(report)

---

31 October 2008	Tonga	12 – 20	Samoa	CUA Stadium, Penrith Attendance: 11,787 [25] Referee: Shayne Hayne
		(report)

---

5 November 2008	Ireland	34 – 16	Samoa	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 8,602 [26] Referee: Thierry Alibert
		(report)

---

[edit] 7th Place Playoff

---

8 November 2008	Scotland	0 – 48	Tonga	Browne Park, Rockhampton Attendance: 5,930[27] Referee: Shayne Hayne
		(report)

---

[edit] 9th Place Playoff

---

9 November 2008	France	10 – 42	Samoa	CUA Stadium, Penrith Attendance: 8,028[28] Referee: Thierry Alibert
		(report)

---

[edit] Knockout Stage

	Qualifying Final					Semi-Final					Final
							New Zealand	32
							England	22
												New Zealand	34
												Australia	20
							Australia	52
							Fiji	0
		Fiji	30
		Ireland	14

[edit] Qualifying Final

---

10 November 2008	Fiji	30 – 14	Ireland	Skilled Park, Gold Coast Attendance: 8,224[29] Referee: Ashley Klein

---

[edit] Semi-Finals

---

15 November 2008	New Zealand	32 – 22	England	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 26,659[30] Referee: Shayne Hayne

---

16 November 2008	Australia	52 – 0	Fiji	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 15,855[31] Referee: Ashley Klein

---

[edit] Final

22 November 2008	Australia	20 – 34	New Zealand	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 50,599 [32] Referee: Ashley Klein Man of Match: Darren Lockyer

Australia	Position	New Zealand
Billy Slater	1. FB	Lance Hohaia
Joel Monaghan	2. WG	Sam Perrett
Greg Inglis	3. CE	Simon Mannering
Israel Folau	4. CE	Jerome Ropati
David Williams	5. WG	Manu Vatuvei
Darren Lockyer (c)	6. FE	Benji Marshall
Johnathan Thurston	7. HB	Nathan Fien
Brent Kite	8. PR	Nathan Cayless (c)
Cameron Smith	9. HK	Thomas Leuluai
Petero Civoniceva	10. PR	Adam Blair
Anthony Laffranchi	11. SR	David Fa'alogo
Glenn Stewart	12. SR	Bronson Harrison
Paul Gallen	13. LF	Jeremy Smith
Karmichael Hunt	14. Bench	Issac Luke
Anthony Tupou	15. Bench	Greg Eastwood
Craig Fitzgibbon	16. Bench	Sam Rapira
Anthony Watmough	17. Bench	Sika Manu
Ricky Stuart	Coach	Stephen Kearney

New Zealand defeated hot favourites Australia 34-20 at Suncorp Stadium to win the Rugby League World Cup for the first time. The match started with a confrontational haka, Australia marching forward to meet the Kiwis rather than watch from the ten metre line. New Zealand almost opened the scoring, Benji Marshall just knocking on in the in goal area. Australia then struck with two quick tries to captain Darren Lockyer and David Williams, a mid-week replacement for the injured Brent Tate. Australia almost scored a third time, however Darren Lockyer knocked on over the goal line in similar circumstances to Benji. At this point Australia looked like they could run away with the match. Jeremy Smith then opened the scoring for the Kiwis by busting over right under the goal posts. Four minutes later New Zealand were in again, via an Anthony Laffranchi strip which led to a Jerome Ropati try. With only five minutes before the break Darren Lockyer scored to put Australia in front 16-12 at halftime.

After half time both teams came out fired up however it was the Kiwis who scored first, fullback Lance Hohaia slipped past Lockyer and beat Slater to score. Billy Slater then panicked under pressure in the 65th minute and gifted Benji Marshall an easy try. The Kangaroos then closed the gap to 22-20 with a Greg Inglis try before a controversial penalty try put New Zealand comfortably clear. A Nathan Fien kick into the in goal was mishandled by Joel Monaghan who then took out Lance Hohaia, denying him a chance to ground the ball. Adam Blair then scored for New Zealand to seal the win, and the World Cup, for New Zealand.

Prior to the final New Zealand had only ever beaten Australia once in a World Cup match (7 July 1985)

22 November 2008, 8:00pm

[ 20 ] Australian Kangaroos
Tries: 2 Darren Lockyer (12', 35'), 1 David Williams (17'), 1 Greg Inglis (65').
Goals: 2/4 Johnathan Thurston (18', 36')
[ 34 ] New Zealand Kiwis
Tries: 1 + 1P Lance Hohaia (49', 70' penalty try), 1 Jeremy Smith (24'), 1 Jerome Ropati (28'), 1 Benji Marshall (61'), 1 Adam Blair (76')
Goals: 3/3 Isaac Luke (25', 28', 50'), 2/3 Benji Marshall (71', 77')

Half time: 16 - 12

2008 Rugby League World Cup Champions
New Zealand First title

[edit] Criticism/Controversy

[edit] Tournament Criticism

Due to the generally poor response of the 2000 World Cup, there were several key criticisms of the tournament before any matches had kicked off. The RLIF were forced to defend the credibility of the tournament in October 2007 after New Zealand, one of the favourites for the competition, were heavily beaten in a Test match 58-0 in Wellington against Australia^[33]. Another criticism was whether there would be enough competitiveness throughout the ten teams, with some fans hoping they worried about too the possibility of many one-sided matches^[34], which was a common sight in the Group Stages of the 2000 tournament^[35].

ARL Chairman Colin Love was again forced to defend the tournament from critics after Australia thrashed England 52-4 in Melbourne: "I don't think we should be embarrassed about how good an Australian team we produce".^[36]

However, the initial worries proved to be completely unsubstantiated and New Zealand's win over Australia in the final has appeared to silence these critics.

[edit] Australian Coach's Attacks

Ricky Stuart, coach of the Australian team, was reported to be so incensed by his team's defeat in the final that he verbally attacked Geoff Carr, the Chief Executive of Australian Rugby League, claiming that tournament organizers and match officials conspired to cause the Australian loss.^[37] The next morning he had a chance meeting with Ashley Klein, who refereed the final, and Stuart Cummings, the Rugby Football League's director of match officials, at their hotel. He is reported to have verbally abused both officials in front of a number of witnesses, calling Klein a cheat, and of being physically and aggressively intimidating.^[38] Stuart later apologised for his behaviour and resigned from his post. ^[39]

[edit] Tickets

Tickets for Australian residents went on sale 7 November and internationally on 18 February ^[40]. However tickets were not distributed until 3 March. Ticketek were announced as the official ticketing agency for the competition, selling tickets for all matches^[41]. Ticketmaster and Pilbeam Theatre were selling tickets to the Telstra Dome and Browne Park matches respectively.

The World Cup Final sold out months in advance.

[edit] Sponsorship

The Official Sponsors of the Rugby League World Cup 2008 are:^[42]

• Jetstar: Official Airline
• Foster's: Official Beer
• Bundaberg Rum: Official Spirit
• AAMI: Official referee sponsor
• Telstra: Official Telecommunications sponsor
• Gillette: Official Male products
• Holiday Inn: Official Accommodation Supplier
• Coca-Cola: Official Soft drink
• Harvey Norman: Official retailer

[edit] "Heroes 08" campaign

The World Cup's "Heroes 08" promotional campaign was launched from the Sydney Opera House.^[43]

Natalie Bassingthwaighte has recorded an "Australian version" of the Mariah Carey song "Hero" which accompanied the "Heroes 08" promotional video and other World Cup advertising. The World Cup Opening Ceremony featured a live performance of the song by Bassingthwaighte.^[43]

Filming of visuals for the promotional video began in Leeds during the worldwide ticketing launch for the event in November 2007.^[43]

Advertising agency MJW, celebrity photographer Garry Heery and production company Engine, worked together to combine the latest digital animation with a dark and determined set that highlighted the passion players feel in representing their country on the international stage.^[43]

The Heroes campaign featured Mark Gasnier (Australia), Roy Asotasi (New Zealand), Rob Burrow (England), Keith Peters (PNG), Waisale Suka (Fiji), Nigel Vagana (Samoa), Jerome Guisset (France), Lee Paterson (Scotland), Stuart Littler (Ireland) and Lopini Paea (Tonga).^[43] Gasnier was later removed from some of the promotional material after he left the sport mid-season and replaced by Cameron Smith.

[edit] Broadcasting

[edit] Television

The 2008 RLWC had 26 separate television deals taking coverage to 127 countries and generating more than $20 million income^[44]. Channel 9 broadcast all Group A matches and the Knockout Stage matches in Australia. Fox Sports broadcast all Group B and C matches plus Ranking Stage matches live. In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports broadcast all matches live^[45], because of this all were shown in the morning, some as early as 06:00AM^[46]. Sky Sport showed all games live across New Zealand. Mai TV broadcast all matches live in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands^[47]. Orange Sport provided coverage of all matches live in France.

Coverage of the competition also extended to countries not taking part. Showtime showed all matches live across the Middle East. G offered coverage of all games in many countries in Africa. Astro showed all matches in Malaysia, and ESPN 360 showed all matches in the United States. In Brazil, some matches were broadcast by Bandsports.

The only participating country with no television coverage of the matches was Tonga; the RLIF were hoping to secure a deal before the World Cup starts.

BigPondTV, an online television station, broadcasted all matches live and also repeated matches. This service is available to everyone for free.

[edit] Radio

• UK - BBC Radio 5 Live and its sister station BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra broadcasted selected games.
• AUS - ABC and 2GB Radio broadcasted selected games.
• NZ - Radio Sport broadcasted the Kiwi's games plus the Kiwi's victory in the final.

[edit] Sources

• "World Cup Moved To End of Season", BBC website, retrieved 4 May, 2006.
• "RLIF Meeting", Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved 8 May 2006
• "McDonald defends World Cup", BBC website, retrieved 6 May, 2006.
• "Lewis backs Australia for World Cup", telegraph.co.uk website, retrieved 8 May 2006

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Official Forum

v • d • e 2008 Rugby League World Cup Squads • Matches & Results • Qualifying Festival of World Cups

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