Why would I aspire to represent my country....the highest honour for most sportsmen and women when even if I get to play for Ireland, once RLWC comes around, I'll be replaced by an overseas import with an Irish Granny? Irish development needs to be just that...Irish development....not 2nd chances for average Aussies.

As for the 2nd tier competition not being important or legitimate.....well, you accused me earlier of "big 3 arrogance"....what is you saying that these minnows must be allowed to play the top tier, but to prevent hammerings, we'll fill them with foreigners if it's not arrogant.

Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Wales, USA, Jamaica and PNG playing in a 2 group series with the top 2 from each meeting in the semis would be far more meaningful than the topic of this thread.....which basically is who will get to the semi-finals only to get trounced by Australia!

Meanwhile, France can sit at the top table again for now, but if they continue to resist improvement, then they can be replaced by the most improved of the 2nd tier nations.

Do you think Japanese Rugby Union will benefit more from the November test match v the All Blacks on Tokyo than they did from their participation in the Pacific Nations cup earlier this year featuring the #11, 13,14,15 18 ranked sides?
They defeated an understrength Wales during the Lions tour...was that arrogance on behalf of the Welsh or were the Japanese keen to get games under their belts?

Genuine question by the way.....given the Japanese have only 5 non Japanese born players in their squad, how much has their game improved on all levels since the 17-145 hammering dished out in 1995?

The same year.....1995, South African RL was getting pummelled in the RLWC...have they come on as well as Japanese Union in the same time-frame?
Including the 2000 RLWC and 2013 RLWC qualifiers.....they have played 8 times.

Like I said I reckon some kid in Fiji watching someone like Hayne be a genius for Fiji in the WC live on TV in Suva is going to do more in getting kids playing RL than a column inch in the paper telling how some player from the makoi bulldogs got mom against an amateur Scotland team in a 2nd tier comp. Things are improving at a dramatic pace in this part of the world since the arlc took over. Developing the game in the region is on the ARL's radar and they now finally have the money and freedom to act. Come back in a few years and we'll see what has developed. Here is just one initiative to identify Fijian talent and support players that move from Fiji to Australia to play www.afrl.com.au/aboutafrl.htm

Like I said I reckon some kid in Fiji watching someone like Hayne be a genius for Fiji in the WC live on TV in Suva is going to do more in getting kids playing RL than a column inch in the paper telling how some player from the makoi bulldogs got mom against an amateur Scotland team in a 2nd tier comp. Things are improving at a dramatic pace in this part of the world since the arlc took over. Developing the game in the region is on the ARL's radar and they now finally have the money and freedom to act. Come back in a few years and we'll see what has developed. Here is just one initiative to identify Fijian talent and support players that move from Fiji to Australia to play www.afrl.com.au/aboutafrl.htm

It's been about 5 pages, can you not agree to disagree?

I'm still going with France, their familiarity with eachother should help.

Not when someone is categorically wrong about something.

Anyway, my vote is split between Scotland, Fiji and Italy. I think any of those nations would be a match for the big 3 should they get the opportunity to face them.

The Fourth strongest team at the World Cup will come down to which players miss out on selection for Oz and a lesser extent NZ.
If Hayne and Sutton turn out for Fiji they could be right up there.
It will be the top Southern Hemisphere rejects or Heritage players that will make the 3rd or 4th strongest side at the World Cup.

Why are they rejects? Australia and NZ can only pick 17 starting players! NRL has over 300 players plus NSW cup, Qland cup and NZ National comp. That's over 1000 players in 2 countries made up from people all over the world, including RL playing nations. The remaining 950 players not picked by NZ or Australia are hardly rejects.

You are reading it the wrong way.
They do not pick 17 players they pick a squad of 20 odd players.
I am saying that key players that do not make the Oz or Kiwi teams that are eligible for those Nations but not selected for those squads (maybe rejects is the wrong word) that turn out for other Nations will decide the next strongest team in the WC.
I am not talking about fringe grade players but game breaking players like Hayne, Sutton or perhaps Peter Wallace.

Hayne was pretty well the best player of the Tournament in the last World Cup even though he played for Fiji.

Australia and especially New Zealand have very large PI populations and a lot of these people would consider themselves to be both Aussies/Kiwis and Pacific Islanders. The vast majority of the players who represented Samoa and Tonga in the recent test match would have had at least one of their parents born in either of those islands. I hardly think that the Samoans and Tongans watching that game at home will have been less enthusiastic in their support for their respective teams because most of the players weren't born there.

RL activity something like quadrupled in Fiji after the last World Cup, and from what I understand it's now close to if not overtaken traditional 15-a-side RU.

Sorry to disagree with everyone, but I really don't see what PNG have got that makes them so strong.

Samoa & Tonga look stronger to me, I think Fiji and Scotland are short in the forwards, Ireland and Wales are short in the backs.

I think Italy and France will be decent, but France's success might depend on if Dureau plays for them or not.

Big mal coaching them and a significant development programme in png over the last 12 months for the elite players who will play on WC. They may not be household NRL names but they will be well prepared. How they cope with hull in October is another matter! The png hooker is a very talented player.