RLWC 2026

[Eddie]

A one off game for the world cup, Australia v New Zealand. 

[sam4731]

3 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Brave

Well it depends actually, what are the odds? Do I win your house if France win?

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

8 hours ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Don't see it hope i am wrong 

Then Catalan will take the hit ultimately 

It is strongly in their interest that the French side is successful....hilarious they can not see that 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

5 hours ago, NRLandSL said:

World Cup should really only be for the 7 nations that actually play the sport. In AUS, Eng, Nz, PNG, Fiji, France and Wales. Would also include Tonga and Samoa as they bring a lot of talent to the tournament but I would like to see a need for growth of the domestic game. Sides like Lebanon should be nowhere near the World Cup.

Agreed

[Click]

2 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Then Catalan will take the hit ultimately 

It is strongly in their interest that the French side is successful....hilarious they can not see that 

It is also strongly in their interest to try and win Super League.

[sam4731]

17 minutes ago, Eddie said:

A one off game for the world cup, Australia v New Zealand. 

Shhh... the walls have ears.

[N2022]

4 hours ago, sam4731 said:

Shhh... the walls have ears.

Nz winning at 79 mins, next try wins, NZ go over, best of 3 ...

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

5 hours ago, Click said:

It is also strongly in their interest to try and win Super League.

Letting a few more of their players compete for their country against the very best SL has to offer just might help them 

Increase their passion, confidence and experience 

One of the main reasons to have Catalan in SL is to get more French players exposed to top level RL....and strengthen the French national team...which strengthens RL in France and here 

[marklaspalmas]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but how will a ten team competition be organised?

Was it 1995 when there were groups of 4, 3 and 3? 

It's a difficult number.

[Damien]

6 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but how will a ten team competition be organised?

Was it 1995 when there were groups of 4, 3 and 3? 

It's a difficult number.

2008 was 10 teams too. I can unfortunately see them doing a similar fudge as, like you say, it's a really bad number.

[marklaspalmas]

12 minutes ago, Damien said:

2008 was 10 teams too. I can unfortunately see them doing a similar fudge as, like you say, it's a really bad number.

Ah yes, ta. Just looked it up. A stacked 'super group' of four then and a muddle of all sorts to get some semifinals. Urgh.

[theswanmcr]

If only we had 12 teams... would be the perfect number to appease expansionists and still be pretty competitive.

3 groups of 4 - top 2 and the 2 best 3rd place into the quarters.

8 teams in quarters guaranteed entry to next World Cup so gives the minnows a chance to aim for a third place in the group.

Create two groups of Four Nations from the last eight. Semi Finalists in World Nations, losing quarter finalists in World League. Scrap tours and run these alternatively across both hemispheres. Keep in the World Series for qualification. 

[marklaspalmas]

11 minutes ago, theswanmcr said:

If only we had 12 teams... would be the perfect number to appease expansionists and still be pretty competitive.

3 groups of 4 - top 2 and the 2 best 3rd place into the quarters.

8 teams in quarters guaranteed entry to next World Cup so gives the minnows a chance to aim for a third place in the group.

Create two groups of Four Nations from the last eight. Semi Finalists in World Nations, losing quarter finalists in World League. Scrap tours and run these alternatively across both hemispheres. Keep in the World Series for qualification. 

I'm not convinced your idea makes 12 the "perfect number".

However, it's a ten team comp.

How will they make that work?

[BristolDevonCharlie]

2 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

I'm not convinced your idea makes 12 the "perfect number".

However, it's a ten team comp.

How will they make that work?

It is listed as an 18 game tournament over 5 weeks, thus I can assume the most likely format is:

WEEKS 1 to 3 - Group Stage (15 games)

• Group A - 4 teams. round robin 
• Group B - 3 teams, round robin + 1 inter-group game each (with group C)
• Group C - 3 teams, round robin + 1 inter-group game each (with group B)

WEEK 4 - Semi Finals

(I assume all three group winners qualify and the team finishing second in group A, however perhaps it will be the best runner-up instead)

WEEK 5 - Final

So, the format is similar to 2008, but with the addition of the inter-group play of 2013 & 2017, and without the qualifying quarter final. 

The key thing for me is that each team will play a minimum of three games. (It would be better as 12 or 16 teams though....) 

Edited May 9 by BristolDevonCharlie

[marklaspalmas]

1 hour ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

It is listed as an 18 game tournament over 5 weeks, thus I can assume the most likely format is:

WEEKS 1 to 3 - Group Stage (15 games)

• Group A - 4 teams. round robin 
• Group B - 3 teams, round robin + 1 inter-group game each (with group C)
• Group C - 3 teams, round robin + 1 inter-group game each (with group B)

WEEK 4 - Semi Finals

(I assume all three group winners qualify and the team finishing second in group A, however perhaps it will be the best runner-up instead)

WEEK 5 - Final

So, the format is similar to 2008, but with the addition of the inter-group play of 2013 & 2017, and without the qualifying quarter final. 

The key thing for me is that each team will play a minimum of three games. (It would be better as 12 or 16 teams though....) 

Which four teams make the semis?

2008 had a loaded group A with three teams to the SF, didn't it?

The draw will be crucial.

Edited May 9 by marklaspalmas

[sam4731]

2 hours ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

It is listed as an 18 game tournament over 5 weeks, thus I can assume the most likely format is:

WEEKS 1 to 3 - Group Stage (15 games)

• Group A - 4 teams. round robin 
• Group B - 3 teams, round robin + 1 inter-group game each (with group C)
• Group C - 3 teams, round robin + 1 inter-group game each (with group B)

WEEK 4 - Semi Finals

(I assume all three group winners qualify and the team finishing second in group A, however perhaps it will be the best runner-up instead)

WEEK 5 - Final

So, the format is similar to 2008, but with the addition of the inter-group play of 2013 & 2017, and without the qualifying quarter final. 

The key thing for me is that each team will play a minimum of three games. (It would be better as 12 or 16 teams though....) 

This is best case scenario as hopefully it avoids a super group.

England, Australia, NZ and Samoa seeded with 2 going into Group A and the other 2 split between B and C. Rest non seeded and can be drawn anywhere.

But that would be a sensible idea so expect a @superten with each team playing 3 other randomly drawn teams with the top 4 qualifying for the semis.

[BristolDevonCharlie]

3 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

Which four teams make the semis?

2008 had a loaded group A with three teams to the SF, didn't it?

The draw will be crucial.

This is the best I can speculate.

4 hours ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

WEEK 4 - Semi Finals

(I assume all three group winners qualify and the team finishing second in group A, however perhaps it will be the best runner-up instead)

Since the rise of Tonga & Samoa think they are unlikely to go with a Super Group. 

You could have a scenario where NZ, Australia and England are in separate groups. And if you want two of them to play in the groups engineer it as a inter-group game!

[BristolDevonCharlie]

3 hours ago, sam4731 said:

But that would be a sensible idea so expect a @superten with each team playing 3 other randomly drawn teams with the top 4 qualifying for the semis.

Thing is, that would still give us 18 games. So could happen!