Despite a torrid time on tour, three Great Britain players have made it into Rugby League World magazine’s annual World XIII selection, largely on the basis of their domestic performances.
Super League Man of Steel Jackson Hastings narrowly pipped Daly Cherry-Evans and Mitchell Moses at scrum half in the voting, though John Bateman was comfortably the number one choice at second row. Luke Thompson just edged ahead of Payne Haas to retain his place at prop.
Last year’s Golden Boot winner, England’s Tommy Makinson also retained his place in the World XIII but his Golden Boot successor, New Zealand’s Roger Tuivasa-Sheck couldn’t displace James Tedesco in the line up, who survived a fiercely contested battle at fullback. In total, Super League provides four of the players in the World XIII this year, with nine from the NRL.
The World XIII is published every year in Rugby League World along with the World Ratings, with votes cast by journalists in both hemispheres at the conclusion of the annual international programme. It was first produced in 1978 by Open Rugby magazine, which became Rugby League World in 1999.
The current issue of Rugby League World (Issue 465, Jan 2020) is in shops now and includes the full World Ratings for 2019 alongside the World XIII.
2019 WORLD XIII
1 James Tedesco (Sydney Roosters)
2 Tommy Makinson (St Helens)
3 Latrell Mitchell (Sydney Roosters)
4 Konrad Hurrell (Leeds Rhinos)
5 Josh Addo-Carr (Melbourne Storm)
6 Cameron Munster (Melbourne Storm)
7 Jackson Hastings (Salford Red Devils)
8 Josh Papalii (Canberra Raiders)
9 Damien Cook (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
10 Luke Thompson (St Helens)
11 John Bateman (Canberra Raiders)
12 Boyd Cordner (Sydney Roosters)
13 Jason Taumalolo (North Queensland Cowboys)
FOR COMPARISON – WORLD XIII 2018
1 James Tedesco (Australia)
2 Tommy Makinson (England)
3 Latrell Mitchell (Australia)
4 Joseph Manu (New Zealand)
5 Valentine Holmes (Australia)
6 Luke Keary (Australia)
7 Cooper Cronk (Australia)
8 Luke Thompson (England)
9 Damien Cook (Australia)
10 Andrew Fifita (Tonga)
11 Boyd Cordner (Australia)
12 Elliott Whitehead (England)
13 Jason Taumalolo (Tonga)
A complete list of all previous World XIII selections can be found at www.totalrl.com/a-complete-history-of-the-world-xiii
