It will go ahead as planned. Even without the likes of New Zealand and Australia. I don't think it will be a devalued competition as some people out there think it will be. In fact the World Cup will still be a success. The Pacific Islands teams of Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Cook Islands will still participate. The NRL themselves have decided on whether or nor they send NZ and Aus to the RLWC this year. I bet there would be players who would want to come to England. On the other hand it will give England an easy path to be winners. Not to forget that this will give the teams of PNG and Tonga to name a couple to be in their first ever final. In the past we had RLWC where the final was always predictable with Aus and NZ with Australia winning nearly all of them. The main difference will be that they both may drop down the rankings.

I hate to say it but England would not be a shoe-in even if NZ and Aus didn’t travel, if enough stars declare for heritage nations.

Favourites yes but it would still be pretty competitive in parts. Again, the additional interest this would generate in the island nations I think could be tremendous for the game.

It’s the precedent we need to consider too. Yes we have a pandemic on and yes it’s serious, but “sorry I’m washing my hair” is not acceptable. Every other major sport is finding a way.