Australia triumph & ‘extraordinary steps’ taken – but where next for rugby
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Australia’s 30-10 victory over Samoa in the men’s final brought the curtain down on the Rugby League World Cup – a tournament six years in the making.
With all 61 men’s, women’s and wheelchair fixtures broadcast live on the BBC, a record of almost 30 million people tuned in to watch the action that was delayed 12 months by the Covid pandemic.
Several attendance records were also broken – with nearly 500,000 tickets sold over the course of a five-week period.
New nations such as Brazil, Greece and Jamaica delivered a feelgood factor and memories to eclipse some of the lopsided outcomes in the group stages, before the intense rivalries, high quality and drama-filled later stages.
Alongside the positives, there were lessons to be learned too.
A slicker and more agile ticketing operation is likely to prove vital to the success of the next World Cup – in France in 2025 – and would have helped spread the gospel of the game even further this time around.
And the lack of an international programme for 2023 and beyond – coming off a five-week festival of rugby league – purveys a feeling of uncertainty for a sport that appears to trundle rather than accelerate towards realising its global potential.
‘Where to from now?’
England have a men’s and women’s double header against France scheduled for April next year, but as it stands there are no other international matches to look forward to.
The international governing body has pledged to release a 10-year plan for the game in December, but fixture announcements have already been delayed and rescheduled twice in 2022 amid internal wrangling in Australia.
A southern hemisphere cup competition including Australia and New Zealand is reportedly close to being agreed, with one of the Pacific Island nations also given an option to tour the northern hemisphere.
When asked about the need for the issues to be resolved, Australia men’s coach Mal Meninga said: “Absolutely. I’m in a position where I can say that as coach of the World Cup winners.
“Like I’ve said many times, particularly in the last few days: ‘Where to from now?’ We need a schedule to work towards.
“The whole tournament was excellent. It was a good showpiece, and it shows where the international game is going with Samoa in there.”
The Kangaroos – the sport’s most successful international side – had been without a Test fixture for almost three years prior to their arrival in England.
Speaking on the BBC, former England captain Jamie Peacock said: “We’ve been saying this forever, haven’t we? We say this all the time. International rugby needs to sort itself out.”
Samoa captain Junior Paulo said: “I don’t know how we find a way but we need to find a way to block games out for international rugby league moving forward.”
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Read More: Australia triumph & ‘extraordinary steps’ taken – but where next for rugby 2022-11-20 16:00:47