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Six teams fighting to qualify for World Cup semis on wild weekend
Hold on to your hats, rugby league fans. The final pool round of the World Cup is shaping up to be a wild ride.
Australia is the only team in the men’s competition that at this stage has a spot in the semi-finals.
From left: England’s Herbie Farnworth, Samoa’s Jarome Luai and Fiji’s Api Koroisau. NRL Imagery, Getty Images
No less than six of the men’s teams will be fighting for final-four qualification over what promises to be a weekend of pulsating rugby league.
Those six teams are New Zealand and Fiji from pool A, and Samoa, Tonga, England and Papua New Guinea from pools B and C.
Heading to the semis will be the two highest-finishing sides from both pool A and the combined table that covers the B and C pools.
PNG Kumuls five-eighth Gairo Voro. NRL Imagery
Pool A
This equation is simple.
If the Kiwis beat Fiji on the Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon, Stacey Jones’ team will be off to the semis. If the Fijians spring an upset, the Bati will be through.
If New Zealand and Fiji play out a draw, the Kiwis will advance thanks to their superior differential, which is 64 compared to Fiji’s 14.
The Kiwis, with stars like Jahrome Hughes, Casey McLean, James Fisher-Harris and hulking Roosters prop Naufahu Whyte, are heavy favourites.
But Fiji, led by Kurt Donoghoe, Brandon Wakeham, Api Koroisau and some metre-eating forwards, gave the Kangaroos a mighty scare last Sunday night.
A Fiji win would go down as the proud country’s most significant rugby league victory in history.
Pool B
This is where the weekend gets complicated.
If Samoa knocks off Tonga at CommBank Stadium on Sunday night, Ben Gardiner’s team will have a spot in the semis.
If Tonga takes down Samoa, Kristian Woolf’s men will march on.
In the case of a draw, both Samoa and Tonga will have done enough to go through.
Likewise, if England and Papua New Guinea have a draw at WIN Stadium on Friday night, Samoa and Tonga will be bound for the semis.
If England beats PNG and Tonga loses to Samoa, the English will progress thanks to their superior differential, which is 64 compared to Tonga’s 54.
From left: Tonga’s Jason Taumalolo, Addin Fonua-Blake and Isaiya Katoa. Janelle St Pierre/Getty Images
England could advance even if Tonga overcomes Samoa – but Herbie Farnworth and friends would have to rack up a cricket score.
If England thrashes PNG by 68 points and Samoa loses to Tonga, the English will have a better differential than Samoa and a spot in the semis.
Samoa’s differential is a white-hot 132, easily the highest of the 10 teams across the three pools.
As for PNG’s chances of scraping through to the semis, well, the probability of Sam Walker’s management receiving a Christmas card from Nick Politis is higher than that.
But, to spell out the unthinkable, if PNG wallops England by 84 points and Tonga loses to Samoa, the Kumuls will be cartwheeling into the semis.
Strap in for a rugby league rollercoaster.
