Rugby League World Cup - Week One review.

England 32-22 Papua New Guinea
After watching The Kumels dominate England for the majority of the first half, you have to wonder if we seriously have any chance of winning this tournament. PNG went into the tournament unhappy with the format, and unhappy with the draw that they said guaranteed them three losses in three matches. But no matter how they finish the tournament now, they can hold their heads high knowing they have given one of the biggest nations in Rugby League a huge scare.

The only defence for England is knowing that most of the seventeen that played in Townsville hadn’t played together since the thrashing of France. A PNG first team had lost to an Australian Prime Ministers XIII a week before the Grand Finals, but at least their team had played together within a month leading up the World Cup opener.

I have to credit Neville Costigan who was easily the best man on the pitch. For him to be on the losing side is a bit of injustice but Adrian Lam did mention before the tournament that this competition gave his players the opportunity to put themselves in the shop window for Super League and NRL clubs. Papua New Guinea has always been able to produce promising players and I feel one or two will be snapped up if they continue to perform against New Zealand and Australia.

For England I think the only decent player on the field was James Roby. His runs from dummy half gave England the go forward that PNG weren’t capable of stopping. Man for man, PNG managed to stand up against our props. Peacock didn’t have that good of a game as captain, as did any of the other forwards, but Morley did make an impact when he came off the bench on a few occasions.

Looking ahead, I feel Papua New Guinea can challenge New Zealand the way they did England. As for England, there is a slim hope they can beat Australia so long as the forwards outplay Price, Civoniceva, Laffranchi and the rest. From there, England can put the sword to the back line and hopefully Gardner, Gleeson, Senoir and Smith or Calderwood can finish off the attack. Its a big ask for the forwards, but it has been done before. Remember the last time Australia lost a match?

Scotland 18-36 France
The French were too good for Scotland really. The Scots played well and were able to compete for the majority of the game, but lacked the ability or fitness to play for the full eighty minutes. This was seen as France scored a very good team try on the full time hooter from inside their own thirty metres.

There were promising signs for France though. The fact they scored three tries, for a team that has never won a World Cup match, must be a massive boost for Steve McCormack going into the final group game against Fiji. France meanwhile, can take away an impressive performance from ex-Canberra and Warrington player Jerome Guissett. He showed what he is capable of on his day and came up with a solid prop forwards effort.

Australia 30-6 New Zealand
Theres no other word for it really. Australia blitzed New Zealand in what was promised as the game of week one. It went downhill for New Zealand from the start. Steve Matai will miss the PNG game on Saturday after a terrible forearm tackle on Gallen. The inexperience of Joel Monaghan, Laffranchi and Glenn Stewart didn’t prove anything as New Zealand weren’t able to use that to their advantage. Benji Marshall failed to live up to his reputation as the saviour of New Zealand’s tournament. In my opinion, the Kiwi players relied too much on his presence while Australia nailed onto him from the off.

Apart from Matai’s forearm tackle resulting in a ban for the Manly centre, he also has to contend with a suspected wrist injury. He was seen holding his wrist on various occasions throught the game, more noticeably after taking New Zealand’s only conversion. Injury worries also for Australia, Jonathan Thurston has an dodgy shoulder problem while Brent Tate went off with suspected concussion. Both potentially could miss the game in Melbourne against England.

Special credit must go to Israel Folau. The teenager never backed down and scored two decent tries in the corner. He could have had a hat-trick had his first half effort not been prevented by the New Zealand defence.

Tonga 22-20 Ireland
Heartbreak for Ireland as they lost to Tonga in what is so far the tournaments most exciting game. By all accounts, it wasn’t the most skilful game you’ll see in the next month or so, but it proved to be exciting due to the emotion and determination of both sides desperation to win. Damien Blanch’s hat-trick went unrewarded but Ireland can take heart from a solid display. Many pundits, myself included, tipped them to be the whipping boys of Pool 3. By losing so narrowly, they proved to me and many others they are not here to make up the numbers.