The 2017 Rugby League World Cup has moved to the knockout stages with six countries already on the plane home.
Tournament favourites Australia, New Zealand and England have advanced to the quarter-finals along with Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Lebanon and Samoa. After three weeks France, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and the United States have all been eliminated. Between the six of them the combined record doesn’t make for pretty reading – 14 defeats, one draw and just three victories from 18 matches.
Let’s take a closer look at how and why that gang of six has performed:
FRANCE
Disappointing and frustrating is how you would characterize Les Tricolores’ campaign. Before it even started injury and suspension robbed them of the likes of Remy Casty, Kuni Minga, Tony Gigot and Vincent Duport, while Hakim Miloudi was kicked out before they left France. It didn’t get any better in Australia after being upset by Lebanon in Canberra – the one game they had to win. Big defeats to the Kangaroos and England followed, while Eloi Pelissier was sent home for breaking curfew. All in all a terrible tournament for France. How the once mighty have fallen.
SCOTLAND
A nightmare followed by some light at the end of the tunnel. The absence of the core of the XIII that performed so well at the Four Nations last year, in Lachlan Coote, Kane Linnett, Euan Aitken and Ryan Brierley, along with Peter Wallace, Joe Wardle and Keith Galloway, missing was always going to make it very tough. Scotland was battered 50-4 by Tonga in week one and then 74-6 by New Zealand in week two. It was after the Kiwi thrashing that captain Danny Brough, Sam Brooks and Johnnie Walker were sent home after being too drunk to catch a flight, in a truly disgraceful incident. But the Scots, to their massive credit, picked themselves up and held Samoa to a 14-14 in their final game, a match they deserved to have won. They can leave the World Cup with their heads held high.
WALES
Like France, this was a dismal campaign for Wales. With a squad of mostly Championship and League 1 players they were missing class and experience. The Welsh were smashed by Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Ireland and were eliminated quickly. John Kear did a great job getting the Dragons to qualify for the tournament but he couldn’t pull out any miracles down under. Tough times for the principality.
IRELAND
A case of what could have been after Ireland secured two wins and a defeat to unfortunately go out. The Irish were great against Italy, winning 38-10, and very unluckily against the Kumuls, losing 14-6 in a content that went down to the wire. That defeat meant they were out even though they flogged Wales 34-6 in their final group fame. A bitter pill to swallow for a team they had a great tournament and has some real promise for the future.
What was your favourite moment?
ITALY
The Azzurri’s World Cup was a real rollercoaster that included a shock loss, a shocking off-field incident, a good response and then a brave battle. Upset by Ireland, the Italian team was dragged through the headlines after teammates Shannon Wakeman and James Tedesco punched on in a pub over Wakeman’s girlfriend. Still Italy patched things together, downed the United States 46-0 and then held Fiji for 40 minutes in a gritty match in Canberra. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and the Bati ended their campaign with a 38-10 loss.
UNITED STATES
The Hawks were one of the heroes of the 2013 World Cup, after reaching the quarter-finals, but they couldn’t match thoese heroics four years later. With a big domestic player-based contigent, which bodes well for the future, Brian McDermott’s men shopped 58 points to Fiji, 46 points to Italy and 64 points to Papua New Guinea. Very tough going for the Americans, who tried hard but were just out of their depth.
