Rugby League World Cup

[Mike62UK]

Today saw two quarter finals played. First up was England v Papua New Guinea which promised to be a fairly evenly contested game. In the first half however, England fairly demolished that assumption by sprinting away to a 38-0 lead by half time. For the first 30 minutes, The Kumuls failed to advance at all into the England half and in that time, made just 64 metres as opposed to an extraordinary 694 metres made by the English attack. PNG just had no answer, either to the English attack, nor could they breach their defence as England's pack did their business. With 10 minutes to go, England took their foot off the gas and allowed The Kumuls to increase their metres gained to just over 200 metres, but England led 38-0 at half time. The second 40 minutes was a different story however as The Kumuls played with more determination and restricted England to just 8 points, scoring 6 of their own to end the game at 46 points to 6 in favour of England, who now go into the semi finals where they will meet either Tonga os Samoa, whilst New Zealand face yesterday's winners Australia in the other semi-final. A special mention must be made of England's 5 try hero Tommy Makinson - the first man to score 5 tries for England in a single World Cup match.

As mentioned above, the other semi-final will be between Australia and New Zealand, after the latter laboured to a hard-fought 24-18 win against a fired up Fiji side. For long periods, Fiji outfought the Kiwis and went ahead 6-0 and then 12-6 as they displayed some impressive passing skills and determined tackling. New Zealand pulled level after the break, only for Fiji to take the lead once again to lead 18-12. But some dubious refereeing decisions coupled with some sloppy handling by the Fijians allowed New Zealand to claw their way back into the game, which they eventually won by 24 points to 18.

The first semi final between the two tournament favourites takes place on Friday evening, November 11th, whilst on the following day, hosts England aim to make the final by beating either Samoa (who they beat 60-6 on the opening day of the tournament), or Tonga, who meet the Samoans in their quarter final tomorrow.

 

[Mike62UK]

A very close and hard fought encounter today saw Samoa edge through to the semi finals after beating Tonga by 20 points to 18. Samoa looked a different side to the one that got thumped by England in the group stages. Strong running and strong tackling saw them sprint to a 6-0 lead within the first 5 minutes, but that lead was wiped out after another 5 minutes by a strong Tongan counter attack. The game seesawed between the two sides, both looking strong in the attack and defence, but at half-time, Samoa were ahead by 12 points to 10. They stretched their lead to 18-10 early in the second half before Tonga hauled themselves back into the game and left it hanging on a thread. Extra time looked highly possible at this stage, as did the possibility of the game needing the golden point to decide the outcome. But a penalty in front of the posts gave Samoa that final edge, and they squeezed through the game to win by 20-18. They now face England in the semis, and based upon this performance, they will push the English far harder than they did in the pool A meeting between the two sides on the opening day of the tournament. England will have it all to do if they wish to set up a Final meeting against either Australia or New Zealand, who play their semi final on November 11th. England will play Samoa the following day.

 

[.Princessa]

Let's go Australia! Win it all! Praying 🙏!

 

[Mike62UK]

My apologies for being unable to provide full details of the two semi finals that were fought out over the last two days. This has been due to illness. I completely missed the Australia/New Zealand match yesterday, and caught only parts of the England/Samoa match today. I can however confirm that in what was obviously a closely fought encounter between the two tournament favourite, Australia came out on top by a 16 points to 14 margin, to reach the Final once again. In that Final, they will meet Samoa, who shocked home supporters by scoring a drop goal in extra time golden point to win their semi by 27 points to 26 - this in a match when England were never ahead, yet at 20-20 they had the chance to at least give themselves a half-chance to win the game themselves but poor pass choices put paid to that. Add to that a try by Samoa, aided by the conversion, followed by a similar response by England and the game appears to have been one fought very fiercely by both sides. However, the single point necessary to win the game was, as stated earlier, scored by the Samoans. So next week's final will be between Australia and samoa - the first time the World Cup Final has been graced by a side from outside of the Australia/New Zealand/England (or Great Britain) triumvate. The date for the Final has not yet been announced but I would imagine it to be next Satyrday or Sunday.

 

[.Princessa]

My apologies for being unable to provide full details of the two semi finals that were fought out over the last two days. This has been due to illness. I completely missed the Australia/New Zealand match yesterday, and caught only parts of the England/Samoa match today. I can however confirm that in what was obviously a closely fought encounter between the two tournament favourite, Australia came out on top by a 16 points to 14 margin, to reach the Final once again. In that Final, they will meet Samoa, who shocked home supporters by scoring a drop goal in extra time golden point to win their semi by 27 points to 26 - this in a match when England were never ahead, yet at 20-20 they had the chance to at least give themselves a half-chance to win the game themselves but poor pass choices put paid to that. Add to that a try by Samoa, aided by the conversion, followed by a similar response by England and the game appears to have been one fought very fiercely by both sides. However, the single point necessary to win the game was, as stated earlier, scored by the Samoans. So next week's final will be between Australia and samoa - the first time the World Cup Final has been graced by a side from outside of the Australia/New Zealand/England (or Great Britain) triumvate. The date for the Final has not yet been announced but I would imagine it to be next Satyrday or Sunday.

I hope you are feeling better. 🙏

 

[Mike62UK]

I hope you are feeling better. 🙏

I have PMd you here with my latest news. I still need to finish this thread but as it's a while since the RLWC Final took place, I will simply post up the result, and the winners of the various trophies. I do assure you and anyone else reading this that I have had excellent reasons for not being here.

Rugby League World Cup Final, played 19th November at Old Trafford, Manchester Australia 30 Samoa 10

World Champions (mens RLWC) - Australia
World Champions (womens RLWC - Australia
World Champions (wheelchair RLWC) - England

Thread may now be closed (if I have the right to ask that lol)

 

[.Princessa]

I have PMd you here with my latest news. I still need to finish this thread but as it's a while since the RLWC Final took place, I will simply post up the result, and the winners of the various trophies. I do assure you and anyone else reading this that I have had excellent reasons for not being here.

Rugby League World Cup Final, played 19th November at Old Trafford, Manchester Australia 30 Samoa 10

World Champions (mens RLWC) - Australia
World Champions (womens RLWC - Australia
World Champions (wheelchair RLWC) - England

Thread may now be closed (if I have the right to ask that lol)

Thank you for this thread and I loved it. Very much appreciate it. I hope you're doing well. Have a blessed day and rest of the month in November. Have a blessed month in December soon to come. I'm here. I just have a very bad cough. Bronchitis is terrible. I hope you're feeling better. This was a great thread. Take very good care. God bless you and your family. Be well and safe. Bye for now.

All the best,
Princessa