How does anyone finish 4th without a 3rd place playoff?

Fine, 'make it into the semis' would be more accurate, yes. But you knew what was meant.

I shouldn't rise to the bait but you really should know better. There are 14 teams in next years version the original Rugby World Cup, 1954 was the first one,I think it was back when RU was still paying boot money.

International Rugby League is taking off at an astonishing rate. You do know there had to be a qualifying tournament to decide the line up for the finals, don't you.?

You do know the record final crowd was 73,000, don't you ?. You do know Wales RL have been to the semi finals more often than Wales RU, don't you.?

You do know that there has never been one of our finals where a try was not scored. Can RU say the same.

Now go away and play on the kick and clap boards.

Is it?
England can't get a game v decent opposition.....Wales v France #5 v#6 in the RLIF rankings drew 1,464 fans.....The Squads for the forthcoming Australia v New Zealand test are being decimated with players opting out........the RLWC qualifiers you boast of were played in front of less than 500 people in North America, the pacific Nations cup is in danger of not going ahead, the european cup lost Italy and is now being played with two minor countries and the England B team......I am sure the sponsor was delighted BTW...

International RL is going nowhere fast......Kiwis opting to play SoO rather than play for their national team, fijians asking for dispensation so they can play SoO.....it's a farce.

As for your comments about the other lots World Cup....I suspect whilst 2013 will be a great tournament, 2015 will put International RL's place on the pecking order fully into perspective for you........

Could be worse, we could be ARU and have a fading Int scene and a domestic comp no one is interested in watching!

Really....a fading international scene?
135,000 attended the 3 home games in this years championship in 'stralia...that's not far of 50% of the entire attendance at the 2008 RLWC.....

Bumped to 10:30pm on fta, the nation was captivated lol.

Having to reduce wages, no one watching on tv, going great guns this union game. Very jealous

sold out stadium, fans crammed into and on top of the ground, another 10k trying to get in, not bad for two int RL invitational sides. Seems int RL may not be as dead as gutters would have us believe!

never said RL was on it's knees...I said International RL is not growing at an astonishing rate........but if you think a game in PNG selling out is a sign of massive growth, good for you.....the tickets were less than $5 a pop BTW.....

Fiji came fourth in the last WC and will be much stronger this time around.

In the forwards they could have all three Sims brothers, although both Tariq and Korbin might hold out for Australian selection.

They have Rick Stone as their coach and he has been working pretty hard at getting fringe players into Australian sides, with 3 players joining the Knights next season - two second rowers in the under 20s and a big prop named Simi Sawene who has played in the Newcastle local comp this year after converting from Union to be coached by Stone in reserve grade.

They have Hayne, Tuqiri, Millard, John Simon, Waqa, Kev and Wes Naiqama, Ratu Marika Koroibete, Ashton, Tariq and Korbin Sims, and I know Stone is trying to talk Petro into having a last run for Fiji next year.

1 Kev Naiqama
2 Ratu Marika Koroibete
3 Waqa
4 Wes Naiquama
5 Hayne
6 Millard
7 Simon
8 Ashton Sims
9 ????
10 Korbin Sims
11 Tariq Sims
12 Simi Sawene
13 ????

14 Petro

you can add Eloni Vunakace (Toulouse) to the list - he's a really good prop - too good for the LER but not quite SL level (yet)

Which based on an avg income in PNG (less than $1 a day) would equal what in the UK (90pound a day)? A lot more than a ticket to Twickers in real terms!
Int Rl is actually growing at a decent rate all things considered. Just because they are not getting 20k fans to the games doesn't mean that the Int scene isn't stronger at a grass roots and development level than ever. Int sport doesn't have to be about fully prof teams playing in front of sell out stadiums (otherwise you could say Hockey, Basketball, etc etc are dismal failures), there is probably only one sport that could lay claim to that anyway. It is about grass roots growth leading to more interest leading to an Int team competing in regular competitions at its level. In that respect int RL is actually flourishing. Where we are failing is in providing adequate funding from a centralised non vested body, providing extra support in terms of expert advice and staff when needed and in providing good strong Int calendars for teams to plan ahead.

Hayne will be in line for Oz selection, if he was in the Fijian team I doubt it will be on the Wing, In the Halves or Fullback is more likely.