Rugby League World Cup - 2017

14 teams this World Cup with 8 automatic inclusions.

Teams that have qualified:

• Australia (automatic qualifier and co-host)
• New Zealand (automatic qualifier and co-host)
• Papua New Guinea (automatic qualifier and co-host)
• England (automatic qualifier)
• Fiji (automatic qualifier)
• France (automatic qualifier)
• Samoa (automatic qualifier)
• Scotland (automatic qualifier)
• Tonga (qualified through Asia-Pacific qualifier)
• Lebanon (qualified through Middle-East/Africa qualifier)

QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS

Middle East/Africa Qualifier:

1 team will qualify from the Middle East/Africa with a two match series to be held between Lebanon and South Africa. Winner qualifies.

GAME 1: LEBANON 40 def SOUTH AFRICA 12
GAME 2: LEBANON 50 def SOUTH AFRICA 16
AGGREGATE SCORE: LEBANON 90 def SOUTH AFRICA 28

LEBANON QUALIFY FOR RLWC 2017

Asia-Pacific Qualifier:

One team will qualify from this region. The two teams competing for this spot are Tonga and Cook Islands and these two teams will compete against each-other in New South Wales, Australia in October 2015.

RESULT - TONGA 28 def COOK ISLANDS 8

TONGA QUALIFY FOR RLWC 2017

Americas Qualifiers:

One team will qualify from this region. A three-team round robin tournament will be held in Florida in December 2015 to determine the qualifier. The participants are Canada, Jamaica and USA.


Europe Qualifiers: Stage 1

Latvia (I shit you not) will play Spain with the winner going through to Stage 2.

RESULT - SPAIN 32 def LATVIA 12

SPAIN ADVANCE TO STAGE 2

Europe Qualifiers: Stage 2

Greece, Malta and the winner of Stage 1 will play a tournament with the highest ranked team going through to Stage 4. The other 2 teams will be eliminated.

SPAIN 40 def MALTA 30
MALTA 30 def GREECE 0 via forfeit
SPAIN 76 def GREECE 4

[TABLE="class: cms_table_wikitable"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TH]Team[/TH]
[TH]Played[/TH]
[TH]Won[/TH]
[TH]Drawn[/TH]
[TH]Lost[/TH]
[TH]For[/TH]
[TH]Against[/TH]
[TH]Difference[/TH]
[TH]Points[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Spain[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]116[/TD]
[TD]34[/TD]
[TD]82[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Malta[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]60[/TD]
[TD]40[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Greece[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]106[/TD]
[TD]-102[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

SPAIN ADVANCE TO STAGE 4

Europe Qualifiers: Stage 3

The top 3 teams from the Rugby League European Shield tournament will advance to Stage 4. The 4 teams involved in the RLES tournament are Serbia, Ukraine, Italy and Russia.

RESULTS

[TABLE="class: cms_table_wikitable"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TH]Team[/TH]
[TH]Played[/TH]
[TH]Won[/TH]
[TH]Drawn[/TH]
[TH]Lost[/TH]
[TH]For[/TH]
[TH]Against[/TH]
[TH]Difference[/TH]
[TH]Points[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Serbia[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]196[/TD]
[TD]73[/TD]
[TD]+123[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Russia[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]137[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD]+106[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Italy[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]142[/TD]
[TD]54[/TD]
[TD]+88[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Ukraine[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]80[/TD]
[TD]256[/TD]
[TD]–176[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

SERBIA, RUSSIA & ITALY advance to Stage 4

Europe Qualifers: Stage 4

Ireland and Wales automatically qualify for this part of the tournament and will join the other 4 qualifying teams in being split into 2 pools of 3. The winner of each pool will automatically qualify with the 2 runner's up of each pool playing each other in a single knock-out match to determind the 3rd European team to qualify for RLWC 2017.

• Ireland (automatic qualifier for Stage 4)
• Wales (automatic qualifier for Stage 4)
• Serbia (qualified via European Shield)
• Russia (qualified via European Shield)
• Italy (qualified via European Shield)
• Spain (qualified via Stage 1 & 2)
  

Group A

[TABLE="class: cms_table_wikitable"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TH]

Team
​

[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]Pld[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]W[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]D[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]L[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]TF[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]PF[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]PA[/TH]
[TH="width: 32"]+/−[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]Pts[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Wales[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]+0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Serbia[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]+0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Italy[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]+0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

Group B

[TABLE="class: cms_table_wikitable"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TH]

Team
​

[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]Pld[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]W[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]D[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]L[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]TF[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]PF[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]PA[/TH]
[TH="width: 32"]+/−[/TH]
[TH="width: 20"]Pts[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Russia[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]+0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Ireland[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]+0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"] Spain[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]+0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

 

I reckon the 6 qualifying teams will be:

Lebanon
Tonga
United States
Ireland
Wales
Italy

 

I'm just glad that Lebanon will probably qualify for a World Cup. The last 2 World Cups Lebanon have failed to qualify despite not losing any of their matches. Lost out on points differential in both the 2008 and 2013 World Cup qualifying tournaments.

 

Really hope (but doubt) some of the latter stages of qualifying tournaments will have television coverage or at least a live stream here in Aus.

 

I made the thread now mainly for the qualifiers. Latvia vs Spain is just over 2 weeks away and the European Shield tournament started last year.

European Shield Standings

<table class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"><tbody><tr> <th>Team</th> <th>Played</th> <th>Won</th> <th>Drawn</th> <th>Lost</th> <th>For</th> <th>Against</th> <th>Difference</th> <th>Points</th> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> Serbia</td> <td>3</td> <td>2</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> <td>91</td> <td>40</td> <td>51</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> Russia</td> <td>3</td> <td>2</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> <td>62</td> <td>46</td> <td>16</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> Italy</td> <td>3</td> <td>2</td> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> <td>82</td> <td>75</td> <td>7</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> Ukraine</td> <td>3
</td> <td>0</td> <td>0</td> <td>3</td> <td>44</td> <td>118</td> <td>-74</td> <td>0</td></tr></tbody></table>
Remaining games:
Serbia vs Russia
Italy vs Serbia
Ukraine vs Russia
Ukraine vs Italy
Russia vs Italy
Ukraine vs Serbia

Seems highly unlikely that Ukraine will be moving on to the next stage. Surprised Italy are only 3rd, even if they are playing without their normal slew of NRL heritage players who didn't get picked for Australia.

 

I think the problem with those regions is that they really play fuck all games outside of the World Cup. The European teams while not as good actually play a fair amount of matches.