WORLD CUP WRAP #4 - The Comp Comes Alive!

After a series of blow outs and empty seats, there was a serious chance of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup threatening to underwhelm. In the last few days, a few things have happened to change this.

Wheelchair

This is not just a sport for the disabled. This is not just a sport for the able-bodied. This is not just a sport for men. This is not just a sport for women. A lot of sports will claim to be inclusive and be able to provide a lot of evidence to support that. But if there is a sport that is more inclusive than wheelchair rugby league then I am yet to see it.

It's all well and good being inclusive. Sport is about fun though. And wheelchair rugby league provides entertainment in abundance. Thunderous collisions between wheelchairs. The speed of replacing a tag so you can recycle the ball. The arm strength to propel your chair faster than your opponent. The skill to do all of this whilst moving the ball!

It makes for a great product. It is one that commanded the attention of a wider audience than ever before as England faced Australia on Thursday evening on BBC2. A match also played before a record crowd at the Copper Box in London.

That world record crowd lasted for a matter of just three days as it was exceeded again for England's second match against Spain on Sunday. There's much more to come too!

Women

After a positive start before an 8,000+ crowd on Tuesday, England's women faced Canada on Saturday at the DW Stadium. I am little torn on whether having women's matches as a pre-cursor is a good idea.

On the one hand, it gives women's teams the chance to play at bigger venues and possibly before bigger crowds. But reducing women's internationals to a warm-up to the men seems counter productive and double header fixtures in November sometimes aren't too fun. Anyone who was at Coventry for the Four Nations double header in 2016 will attest to that!

England have been ticking along nicely. Australia and New Zealand are the teams to beat though. Especially Australia. It's relatively early days in the tournament yet the gap in progression of the women's sport in the two hemispheres is starting to show.

Men

The likes of Greece and Jamaica have contributed to the men's tournament hugely. Yet as we reduced to just 8 teams as the tournament reached the quarter final stage, I had hoped that the level of competition would increase.

I must confess to feeling slightly deflated after the Australia v Lebanon and England v Papua New Guinea quarter finals. As impressive as England were, the match did have a bit of an exhibition feel to it, one that a quarter final of a World Cup should never have.

In the last month, Fiji were unable to lay a glove on either England or Australia. I expected a similar story against New Zealand. What we saw instead was one of the games of the tournament. Turuva and Naiqama were inspirational for Fiji and pushed the Kiwis to the absolute brink.

The sight of the players joining together in hymn at the end was a particularly humbling sight, I would imagine even to the secular viewer. Fiji once more showing themselves to be the total opposite to RFL Chief Dinosaur Ralph Rimmer, with his cruel and unjust jibes.

Fiji are never talked about in the same vein as Tonga, Samoa or even Papua New Guinea despite reaching three World Cup semi finals in a row and coming within a breath of a fourth.

The following day, we saw history as Samoa made their first ever World Cup semi final. We also saw the difference a full stadium, Prices for the south stand at Warrington were cut from £40 to £25 and the stand was full. By comparison, the £55 seats behind both seats at Hull the previous evening remained unfilled.

If the Fiji v New Zealand match thrilled, Tonga and Samoa took it to the next level. A game where dominance flowed exquisitely from one side to the other, as smoothly as the stunningly-choreographed pre-match cultural challenges.

It was a match where either side could have won and you couldn't have argued against either result. Arguably, the slightly greater influence of the Samoan half back was key.

That brings us to the semi finals. Australia v New Zealand - well, we've been here before and it rarely disappoints. Samoa have built into the tournament. Their clash against England won't be another 60-6, yet I do expect England to have too much.