Sure, Australia is a heavy favorite in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup and hasn’t lost yet. While that may be grounds to call the tournament a joke, naysayers would do well to notice that every other side has been beaten at least once, and that all sides but one have won a match a well. Papua New Guinea bowed out of the even at 0-3, victims of a tough draw in a pool that also contained the three strongest teams in the cup. (That “super” pool, incidentally, also produces three of the four semifinalists in the somewhat controversial tournament layout, with the other spot determined by a playoff between the other two pools’ winners.) In the other two three-team pools, though, every single side won at least one match.
That’s right, each of the six teams in the two smaller pools finished 1-1. In Pool 2, France started things off by beating Scotland 36-18. Then, Fiji spanked France 42-6. Scotland, however, bounced back and edged Fiji 18-16. In the end, only a favorable for-and-against scoring margin put Fiji atop the pool.
In Pool 3, it was more of the same. Tonga got by Ireland 22-20, Samoa beat Tonga 20-12, and Ireland completed the circle of parity with a 34-16 win over Samoa that also put them atop the table on points difference.
Don’t be too quick to write this tournament off as a mere formality preceding Australia’s coronation. If you do, you’ll miss a lot of good matches–like Fiji’s 30-14 win over Ireland in a playoff match that sees them into the semifinals along with the three top finishers in the “super” pool–and also sees them pick up a big payday. This weekend, Fiji will take on Australia in one semifinal while New Zealand plays England in the other. Meanwhile, Fiji’s tries from that playoff match with Ireland are below:
