UTK

Fair, but they have to run through two high-quality and extremely physical teams in successive matches in the leadup to the final. Whereas AUS will likely have Ireland/Lebanon and NZ an understrength Fiji in the Quarters.

So England are likely going to have to play both these teams on the way to a final v NZ/AUS. Not sure how anyone can say England has anything but the toughest side of the draw.

Unfortunate lack of finishing experience as a winger there, Xavier Coates gets that down 10/10 times.

For those in England who may not know the Tongan 5/8 Isaiya Katoa could very well be the key to Tonga's success for the net generation, he's touted as the best player yet to have played in the NRL and has signed for the Dolphins inaugural squad next year. He's a genuine halfback which is a very exciting prospect for a nation traditionally lacking in halves, his older brother Sione played off the bench in Tonga's groundbreaking win against Australia.

These are two extremely good rugby league teams.

I'll be honest I was really annoyed about it at first but after watching us play on the weekend it didn't really register, none of the sides were running out 1-17 so the Kangaroos didn't look all that out of place. I think names on the back of the Jerseys helped alleviate the blow a lot, made each of the players much easier to identify in the case of strange numbers.

Tongan pack likely to be too big and strong for PNG, hopefully they're able to keep in the fight for most of the game and give their quality backs a chance to make an impact.

IMO from this WC it would look something like this: 1. Sunia Turuva (Fiji) 2. Brian To'o (Samoa) 3. Justin Olam (PNG) 4. Siosifa Talakai (Tonga), Stephen Crichton (Samoa) 5. Daniel Tupou (Tonga), Joseph Sua'ali'i (Samoa), Alex Johnston (PNG), Maika Sivo (Fiji), Sione Katoa (Tonga) 6. Jarome Luai (Samoa) 7. Tui Lolohea (Tonga), Lachlan Lam (PNG) 8. Addin Fonua-Blake (Tonga) 9. Api Koroisau (Fiji) 10. Sio Siua Taukeiaho (Tonga) 11. Viliame Kikau (Fiji) 12. Haumole Olakau'atu (Tonga) 13. Jason Taumalolo (Tonga) 14. Edwin Ipape (PNG) 15. Keaon Koloamatangi (Tonga) 16. Junior Paulo (Samoa) 17. David Fifita (Tonga) In the forwards you could interchange the likes of Tevita Tatola (Tonga), Felise Kaufusi (Tonga), Tui Kamikamica (Fiji) with some of those above and not find much argument from me either.

From afar the France camp looks very professional and committed, they've held consistent preparation camps throughout the year, had a game mid-season and then a tough warmup v Tonga, built a diverse yet comprehensive coaching staff including one of the best coaches in the game in Trent Robinson, lots of good signs for the organisation as a whole. They get a nice draw in the sense that they ease into the competition against Greece after the Tonga warmup, then get a tough game against England to see where they're at and before looking for the key result in the final pool game v Samoa. The key outs for France provide the bulk of experience within their eligible playing pool which is understandably hard to replace, for the early stages of the Tonga warmup they looked shellshocked and afraid of carrying the ball into the defensive line but warmed into the game and will be better for that experience. Samoa should improve as a team as the tournament progresses but their injury woes are going to be compounded by the strange squad selection that leaves 23 props as backup for every injury. The main difference between the sides is going to be the physicality gap, France would need to find an approach to the game that can circumvent this problem - something that could be challenging due to the mixed form and talent available in their spine. Stranger things have happened, a respectable showing against England would engender a lot of confidence after the result this week.

Fiji have some really poor news on the injury front - Mikaele Ravalawa has returned home due to a hamstring injury (believe he's torn it a couple of times this season already). Miteli Vulikijapani is the one tipped to replace Ravalawa in the squad. Pio Seci and Joseph Ratuvakacereivalu were both injured in the warm up against England and also believed to have been ruled out of the tournament with the Bati now searching for replacements. To top it all off Bati head coach Joe Rabele has been hospitalised and Wise Kativerata has flown over to replace him as head coach in the interim. Exactly the preparation you look for a few days out from facing the Kangaroos in the first pool match.

Popped out half a thesis and still forgot to cover 9!

I think it's fair to say they're flying under the radar a touch in the wake of all the coverage of Samoa and I believe this is the sort of perception that is building re their relative strength compared to 2017 but I'm not sure I can agree. Fullback is certainly a problem, you can almost guarantee they're going to go with Hoppa but I think they'd be best served taking a risk and backing the youngster Koula as he's got a much higher ceiling. 2-5: Probably pretty even with the 2017 crop but there's a lot more depth behind the first string - Katoa, Tupou and Talakai are all among the elite outside backs in their respective positions in the NRL this year while Penisini was very strong in his debut season and obviously played in big games up until the GF. Halves: Think this is an area where they're certainly better off than 2017 but still lacking - Hingano was their halfback in 2017 and realistically he has never been a first-grader, by comparison now you have a very good young talent in Junior Amone accompanying the now much more experienced Tui Lolohea. Lolohea has now led Tonga to wins against NZ, GB and Australia, that sort of confidence that he can steer the team to victory is invaluable now whereas in 2017 they were very much heading into the unknown without taking a major scalp before. Middles: SST and Fifita were immense during the 2017 tournament there's no doubting that, SST isn't at the top of his game anymore but he's still one of the better props in the NRL while AFB is among the top couple in the league when not plagued by injury. The bench factor is really where they take it up a notch now compared to 2017 though, in the 2017 SF the bench props were Peni Terepo and TPJ - TPJ's withdrawal is unfortunate because he's a quality player but those two are replaced with Tatola and Fotuiaka who are both a starting prop at a top NRL club and an Origin representative respectively. Much stronger and more experienced than a fringe first-grader in Terepo and a very young TPJ in 2017. Backrow: This is the real kicker, there's really no comparison between the two sets of backrows here and the Tongan side could certainly stake their claim for the best in the World. Manu Ma'u was a phenomenal player at the time but an old Sika Manu and BMM certainly leave a lot to be desired when compared to Koloamatangi, Olakau'atu, Fifita and Kaufusi. Personally I don't think Kaufusi makes the side when Taumalolo is back from suspension, the other three are already among the best backrowers in the NRL and together form a potentially devastating rotation. As he demonstrated in the warmup against France, Fifita could be the most dominant edge in the World on his day and now that he's in an environment surrounded by genuine superstar forwards of the game who offer similar talents to support and guide him I think he could start to consistently show his full potential. Completely different environment to the shambles of the Titans/Broncos where there's a handful of young guns with a coach who has no idea what to do with them. Olakau'atu and Koloamatangi can be almost as destructive both offensively and defensively so having the luxury to rotate all three between the edges, middle and bench will allow them to wreak havoc consistently. I have them down as my likely finalists from this side of the draw, I wouldn't be surprised if England beat them or gave them a good fight but I don't think they should be underestimated. Woolf has built a strong culture within the group and they now have the belief they can beat literally anyone in the World, it took them two matches to achieve what England/GB has failed to do for the best part of 20 years now. IMO a lot of that comes down to that Tongan culture and attitude they display, every player that takes the field truly embodies the Ma'a Mate Tonga mantra.

Reports circulating that the each Jillaroo will receive a minimum of 30k for participating in the World Cup, fairly significant money in terms of the Women's game.

Never before in the last 50 years have Australia gone with 50% winning record between World Cups, including a loss to a tier 2 nation. We're in unprecedented times for the international game, past performance may not be a reliable indicator of future success anymore.

Just by coincidence I saw the 2017 SF highlights between England and Tonga pop up on my feed on Youtube yesterday so I had a look at them, England don't even get a sniff at the final if Widdop isn't playing. He created every single one of Englands points, a couple of times where he had absolutely no right to and made a handful of brilliant defensive saves that kept Tonga at bay early before the frontline got overrun late in the game - highly recommend everyone goes and watches it because it really was a special performance.

All the players from the GF are being rested, still a decent side but a bit of a strange bench and not an overly powerful pack.

Every single team that has had a warm up game has utilised players from outside their 24 that are based in England - Samoa have access to these players as well: Ricky Leutele, Carlos Tuimavave, Krisnan Inu, Ken Sio, Mason Lino, Sione Mata'utia, Peter Mata'utia, Willie Isa, Suaia Matagi, Tim Lafai, Jorge Taufua, Mark Ioane, Sauaso Sue - More than enough players to form a 20+ man squad if you wanted to. The Samoan forward pack is lightyears from Tonga and the spines/backs are very evenly matched perhaps slightly favouring Samoa, Junior Paulo is the only forward one who would get a look in on the bench if he was Tongan. The reality is if the management were serious they would've made sure preparation was as comprehensive as possible, but unfortunately the hype has blossomed and they're drawing parallels with the standards set for the 2017 WC. As I've said before they could consider themselves unlucky with injuries and unavailability but the reality is every team in the WC is experiencing this, it's very frustrating because we know what their potential is but there seems to be a very laid-back approach to every tournament - something that you couldn't associate with the Tongans and their preparation.

Problem for Samoa is they get Tonga in the Quarters if they lose the opener, and that is a really poor matchup for them across the park. The lack of preparation is true and it really shows the arrogance from the Samoan camp at the moment, they could've easily organised a warm up game for the squad that was already in England but instead they're just cruising to the opener with a forward pack and spine that consists overwhelmingly of players that haven't played in over a month. Feels like they think they're just going to rock up and roll England.

You've committed fairly hard to this Samoa are well ahead bit, gonna be a bit embarrassing if they fall short.

Interesting that Ged Corcoran made a point earlier in the year around taking players into the World Cup who were fully committed to representing Ireland not only in World Cup years but the fixtures inbetween as well. Since then we've seen a handful of quality NRL/SL/NSW Cup players get selected in the squad for the cup so I wonder - did Corcoran throw this mentality out the door in pursuit of immediate success and auto-qualification or are these players indeed committed to turning out for Ireland in competitions such as the European Championship. If the correct answer is the latter then we do potentially have three top nations capable of holding a relatively competitive top tier in England/France/Ireland - when I say relatively competitive I would suggest an England loss would be certainly considered on the far fetched side but I honestly don't think the scorelines would be outrageous. Unfortunately now that the last of the Crusaders crop are heading toward retirement the Welsh players pool is beginning to suffer, and they unfortunately are unlikely to be able to hold their own in this scenario as a 4th Nation from Europe. In any case it was nice to see RLI make a post on their social media that some of their u19s squad were brought out to train with the World Cup side. What an amazing experience that would've been for those lads to experience training in that high performance environment while rubbing shoulders with SL/NRL stars, it really shows a clear determination to integrate the heritage-based National side with the domestic scene in order to create some tangible benefits in running with a stronger side at the WC.

Semi Radradra and Marika Koroibete are still both within that 5 year period now, one thing all of the above have in common apart from Charnley are that they had an RU background in juniors. Anyone who believes Young wouldn't have had prior interest from RU while coming through the ranks as a 6'7 kid who would be one of the fastest players in World Rugby is more than a little naive. Not only did he stay in league, he also moved to the other side of the World as a 19yo to pursue a career in Rugby League. He'll become one of the best outside backs in the comp, either as a winger or centre - the very top tier outside backs in the NRL can currently earn between 600-700k in AUD and the salary cap rises every couple of years (it's happening this off-season again I believe) while the inclusion of the 17th and 18th teams will further inflate these prices as well. As you say French/Japanese RU is the only potential threat if he's still unsatisfied with that level of pay, the English premiership isn't in the conversation - there's even news this week that a former NRL player has abandoned his premiership club after yet another club dives into financial ruin and is headed back to the NRL.

The same England Knights that only beat France B 18-6 last week would beat the fully professional France side? Not sure how accurate that is given the France B side in question was almost entirely a semi-pro Elite One select side, not to mention a side missing a few of the best from Elite One in Vincent Albert, Clement Boyer and Baptiste Fabre.

Dezaria, Sangare and Seguier really the only French forwards who looked the part, Pelissier as always brought something to the table once he came on but is still a bit of a headless chook. Tonga looked a lot better once they ran all the young guys in the spine - Koula, Amone, Katoa and Otukolo. Katoa in particular was a lot more impressive than Lolohea, unfortunately the Panthers haven't really played him in any of their sides this year so he doesn't have a lot of gametime under his belt. Some clear things to work on for France, I was honestly expecting worse because this is still a very good Tongan side but they managed to compete in certain periods before it ended up blowing out in the end.

Winners: NZ Runners up: Tonga Try Scorer: Josh Addo-Carr/Ronaldo Mulitalo Dark Horse: For a potential win - Tonga, for a QF - Cook Islands England: Semi - Samoa opener is a must win, can't afford to face Tonga in a QF.

I've said it before but the sky is the limit for him, physical talents that are unparalleled in the entire sport with the work ethic and brain to take advantage of them. He's far too good for us down here at the Knights but we must do everything in our power to keep him. After getting selected in the squad I was a bit worried Wane might initially go down the Hall/Makinson route but that warm-up has thankfully put any chance of that to bed. Look forward to watching him play in a side where he is surrounded by the talent he deserves to line up with.