THE World Cup began with a bang, with last Thursday’s game between Australia and New Zealand being the best opening game to a tournament that I can remember.

It was a thriller from beginning to end and the quality of the game simply emphasised the point of how foolish the BBC had been to apparently not make a bid to screen the tournament.

The game had two fullback superstars in Reece Walsh for Australia and Kalyn Ponga for the Kiwis and they both scored tremendous tries.

It could hardly have gone any better.

The following day, however, we had the French team, newly arrived in Sydney, being given a torrid time by Samoa and falling to a 78-4 defeat.

To compound their misery the French now have to fly across the continent of Australia to face England in Perth this Saturday.

On Saturday Papua New Guinea were comfortable winners against Lebanon, while England couldn’t handle Tonga, although I didn’t think the English team played badly. The problem for them was that they simply weren’t good enough to overcome their opponents.

If you click here, you’ll see my assessment of the game.

The problem with England’s defeat, however, is that it probably guarantees that we won’t reach the semi-finals, even if we defeat our next two opponents France and Papua New Guinea.

Our only chance seems to be if PNG can defeat Samoa this Saturday and Tonga can then beat the Samoans the following weekend.

On the other hand, if the Samoans win both their games, they will finish at the top of the six-team pool with six points, while Tonga and England could be level on four points. But because Tonga defeated England on the opening weekend, they will go through as the second team in the pool.

But what if Tonga win both their remaining games against Lebanon and Samoa and we win our two games?

That would mean that England or Samoa would both have four points. But Samoa would almost certainly go through to the semi-finals on points difference because of their massive 78-4 victory over France.

So England look highly unlikely to reach the semi-finals.

And that means I have to ask who created this ludicrous tournament structure.

And whose idea was it to ask England, shortly after arriving in Perth by the most tortuous journey imaginable, to face Tonga in their opening game?

The obvious first game, if it had to be played in Perth, was England v France, with both teams travelling from Europe so similarly affected by travel and jet lag.

The Tongan game should have been played in the second or third week after the European teams had had time to accustom themselves to the time difference in Australia.

I can’t imagine why no one from the RFL apparently saw the danger of playing the Tongans first up, especially given the crazy format that the organisers have adopted for this year’s tournament.

I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for the England squad, knowing that they might be out of the tournament even if they win their next two games.

Fortunately the England women’s team fared better than their men, having been scheduled to play Wales in the opening fixture in Perth before playing the all-conquering Jillaroos this weekend in Perth. Although the Australians are certain to win that game, I hope they won’t be hitting 90 points as they did against England in Las Vegas in 2025.

The women’s tournament has produced some good matches, with the unluckiest team being Fiji, who almost upset the Kiwi Ferns on Sunday, only losing 18-12 after a hugely creditable performance.

But let’s look ahead to this weekend.

I see my colleague Garry Schofield is predicting a comfortable England win by 64-10.

I don’t think it will be that convincing because I expect the French players to improve  markedly from their first game.

Let’s not forget, for example, that the opening match of the 2022 World Cup saw England defeat Samoa 60-6 at St James’ Park in Newcastle, before Samoa rebounded to edge us 27-26 in the semi-final at the Emirates Stadium in London.

It often happens that a team that has to travel right across the world doesn’t perform at its best in the opening game. So my expectation would be for England to defeat the French by something like 30 points this Saturday.

The other thing that is perhaps worth commenting on is how good the World Cup coverage has been on Premier Sports, which of course is taking Channel 7’s coverage direct from Australia.

Channel 7 was smart enough to recruit the great Aussie commentator Andrew Voss to cover the big games and he has done a magnificent job, as always.

If you haven’t already seen it, I suggest that you watch last week’s League Express Podcast, when Andrew was our special guest and I’m sure injected a solid dose of enthusiasm for the tournament.

Are we at the tipping point?

TODAY in Sydney Nigel Wood and Rhodri Jones will meet Peter V’landys to try to hammer out, once and for all, a final agreement that will see the NRL enter into a partnership with RL Commercial, giving the Australians the power to effectively run the Super League competition and to market it and generate income from it.

I’ve never been certain that we should be doing that, but like all things, the final verdict depends on the terms of the deal, and in particular on the small print.

In 2022 the RFL signed a deal with IMG that didn’t turn out the way it should.

It was announced as a marketing deal, but there has been very little marketing of the game undertaken by IMG as far as I can see.

Instead we had a gradings system foisted on the game that no one really likes and that has led to some crazy outcomes, such as London Broncos being relegated before a ball was kicked in 2024.

So I hope that whatever else happens, the RFL reads the small print with a fine tooth comb.

And if there is an agreement, I hope we are not regretting it in another twelve months’ time.

I’m not completely convinced that we won’t be doing.