Lets hope they go with an idea ive put on here before which offers the same benefits as the 2008 WC without the downsides (ie/ PNG whipping boys etc. and 3 of the semi finalists all but decided).

For me it should be a super pool of 6, with two pools of 4.

Super Pool A is. ENG / AUS / NZ/ FRANCE / PNG/ and lets say WALES (you would expect them to be in the top 6 in 3 years time with the crusaders)

Then you have two pools......for arguments sake....

POOL B - SAMOA / TONGA / LEBANON / SCOTLAND

POOL C - FIJI / COOKS / IRELAND / RUSSIA or USA etc.

Top 2 in the super group go straight through to the semis..........3,4 from the super group into Semi final qualifiers, with the top team from pools B & C for a place in the semis.

For me that ensures everyone has something to play for.......Ie/ unlike last year...where there was no benefit finishing 2/3 in the super pool for ENG/NZ/AUS this one there is, so in effect ENG/NZ/AUS are playing for the two places straight through in the semis and so have a reason to play in every game, and there are no whipping boys as although FRANCE / PNG / WALES will in the main lose to the big three, they are in reality playing for the 4th place or 3rd if one of the big three have a shocker.

Therefore they all have a realistic chance of progressing unlike PNG did, plus the bottom 8 are playing for 2 spots in the quarters rather than just a play off match for the semis.

On top of that you can run a Plate competition underneath - so 5,6 from the super pool go in regardless with 2nd from groups B & C playing for a place in the plate.

Works all round for me.

Here's a go, although mine takes bloody forever
Also used Cook Islands thanks to their good PC run, and Lebanon over russia, but obviously a qualification should take place for it.

Super Group 1: England, France, PNG
Super Group 2: Australia, New Zealand, Wales
Minor Group 1: Scotland, Samoa, Cook Islands, USA
Minor Group 2: Fiji, Ireland, Tonga, Lebanon

(Aimed for a bit of a NH/SH split). (Examples later on in brackets)

Week One: (Grand Opener/Wembley Double Header?):
England vs France
Australia vs New Zealand

Week 2:
England vs PNG, Australia vs Wales, Scotland vs Samoa, Fiji vs Ireland, USA vs Cook Islands, Tonga vs Lebanon

Week 3:
France vs PNG, New Zealand vs Wales, Scotland vs USA, Samoa vs Cook Islands, Fiji vs Tonga, Ireland vs Lebanon

Week 4:
Scotland vs Cook Islands, Samoa vs USA, Fiji vs Lebanon, Ireland vs Tonga
Q1: 1st Place Super Group 1 vs 2nd Place Super Group 2 (ENG vs NZ)
Q2: 1st Place Super Group 2 vs 2nd Place Super Group 1 (AUS vs FRA)
3rd Place in each SG get the week off. (WLS&PNG)

Week 5:
Q3: 3rd Place Super Group One vs 3rd Place Minor Group One (PNG vs CKI)
Q4: 3rd Place Super Group Two vs 3rd Place Minor Group Two (WLS vs TNG)
Q5: 1st Place Minor Group One vs 2nd Place Minor Group Two (SCO vs IRE)
Q6: 1st Place Minor Group One vs 2nd Place Minor Group Two (FIJ vs SAM)
13th Final: 4th Place Minor Group One vs 4th Place Minor Group Two (USA vs LEB)
All teams from Q1 and Q2 have the week off.

Week 6:
QF1: Winner Q1 vs Winner Q5 (ENG vs SCO)
QF2: Winner Q2 vs Winner Q6 (AUS vs FIJ)
QF3: Loser Q1 vs Winner Q3 (NZ vs PNG)
QF4: Loser Q2 vs Winner Q4 (FRA vs WLS)
LF1: Loser Q3 vs Loser Q5 (CKI vs IRE)
LF2: Loser Q4 vs Loser Q6 (TNG vs SAM)

Week 7:
SF1: Winner QF1 vs Winner QF4 (ENG vs FRA)
SF2: Winner QF2 vs Winner QF3 (AUS vs NZ)
LF3: Loser QF1 vs Loser QF4 (SCO vs WLS)
LF4: Loser QF2 vs Loser QF3 (FIJ vs PNG)
9th Final: Winner LF1 vs Winner LF2 (IRE vs SAM)
11th Final: Loser LF1 vs Loser LF2 (CKI vs TNG)

Week 8:
WCGF: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 (ENG vs AUS)
3rd Final: Loser SF1 vs Loser SF2 (NZ vs FRA)
5th Final: Winner LF3 vs Winner LF4 (WLS vs PNG)
7th Final: Loser LF3 vs Loser LF 4 (SCO vs FIJ)

Eight Weeks, 41 matches, fairly evenly matched. Or we could grow a pair, add someone like jamaca/russia and have a 16 team comp. But that would be too easy to explain to new randomly interested fans, wouldn't it

Looking forward to a Christmas Day World Cup final

anyone who thinks france would make the super pool (top 4) is kiddng themselves, they are terrible!

I bet france would beat PNG if it really counted

That's not a World Cup. That's a Four Nations, European Cup and Pacific Cup with a play-off at the end. That's not what the World Cup is all about. It's about mixing nations and seeing games you wouldn't normally see. That's what annoyed me about the Super Group format slightly in the RLWC08. If it wasn't for PNG and Fiji, it would have been the same old same old.

Plus, how long is this tournament of yours going to last? A group of 5 needs 4 games. Then you want them to play off as well. That's two extra games compared to the Super Group before they've even hit the semis. It's just not logical.

The way I see it going (and the same many others have) is most likely going to be an extended Super Pool format. Instead of one Super Pool of four, they'll have two of equal strength. They'll then have two smaller pools like before, with perhaps a play-off to advance to the next round.

Unlike 2008 though, I really can't see how they can do this without having a quarter final.

Think the groups will be seeded something like this (seeding in brackets, with teams as an example):

Group A: Australia (1), England (1), Fiji (2), Ireland (3)
Group B: New Zealand (1), PNG (1), France (2), Lebanon (3)
Group C: Tonga (2), Scotland (3), Cook Islands (4)
Group D: Wales (2), Samoa (3), USA (4)

Seed one will be the big three + one other (PNG last time, could be France).
Seed two will be the teams that are regularly at the top of their Euro/Pacific comps.
Seed three will be the rest that regularly compete in these comps.
Seed four will be those who didn't automatically qualify.

Top three from Groups A and B go through to QF.
Top two from Groups C and D play-off to go through to QF.
Bottom of Groups C and D play-off for ranking position (basically, wooden spoon!).

All teams have played 3 before the QF then.

It's gonna have to be midweek games too rather than every weekend in that instance

My best attempt - going for simplicity and trying to avoid lots of gross mismatches:

2 super groups of 3.
eg 1. New Zealand, PNG, France. 2. Australia, England, Best Celtic Nation.

then the remaining eight in 2 groups of 4.

Top 2 from each group going into straight knock-out quarter finals, super group winners player normal group runners-up and vice versa.

With an extra round of normal group games, they'd have to open the tournament - but you could make that a celebration of RL as World sport. USA vs Russia would be an eye-catching opener if they both made the cut. Or Samoa vs Tonga would be entertaining.

In the example above, it is a bit rough on the 'Best Celtic Nation', as it was for PNG last time around. Still, they at least get a couple of chances to get a famous result.

Edit - Actually you don't have a extra round of normal group games, its just that there is only 1 game in a super group round, with one team getting the round off.

No, there's 8 Quarter Finalists. Might not have made it clear enough.

Top two in Groups C and D play off. So 1st in C vs 2nd in D and vice-versa. It's the only way to give them that 3rd fixture and still have two going through. Teams will be playing to get the easier fixture in the next round then (come top, play team in second) so no dead-rubbers.

For the 4-team groups, they again will be playing for the easier fixtures. Top plays teams that come through groups C and D. 2nd plays 3rd in the opposite group.

I see what you mean now!

Yup, but still I suppose it could be condensed. The football world cup takes 7 weeks right? All I can see happening is a shortened 2013 season tbh to accomadate for this, to make the world cup more special. You can't realistically get a competition into a fair 5 week competition with 14 teams. Well I can't think of one anyway that doesn't just have the top teams getting byes and a few also rans who basically play their own competition - not a world cup. To condense mine I'll try...

Super Group 1: England, France, PNG
Super Group 2: Australia, New Zealand, Wales
Minor Group 1: Scotland, Samoa, Cook Islands, USA
Minor Group 2: Fiji, Ireland, Tonga, Lebanon

(Aimed for a bit of a NH/SH split). (Examples later on in brackets)

Week One: (Grand Opener/Wembley Double Header?):
England vs France
Australia vs New Zealand

Scotland vs Samoa, Fiji vs Ireland, USA vs Cook Islands, Tonga vs Lebanon
Wales & PNG Week off.

Week 2:
England vs PNG, Australia vs Wales, Scotland vs USA, Samoa vs Cook Islands, Fiji vs Tonga, Ireland vs Lebanon
France & New Zealand Week Off.

Week 3:
France vs PNG, New Zealand vs Wales, Scotland vs Cook Islands, Samoa vs USA, Fiji vs Lebanon, Ireland vs Tonga
England & Australia Week Off.

Week 4:
Q1: 1st Place Super Group 1 vs 2nd Place Super Group 2 (ENG vs NZ)
Q2: 1st Place Super Group 2 vs 2nd Place Super Group 1 (AUS vs FRA)
Q3: 3rd Place Super Group One vs 3rd Place Minor Group One (PNG vs CKI)
Q4: 3rd Place Super Group Two vs 3rd Place Minor Group Two (WLS vs TNG)
Q5: 1st Place Minor Group One vs 2nd Place Minor Group Two (SCO vs IRE)
Q6: 1st Place Minor Group One vs 2nd Place Minor Group Two (FIJ vs SAM)

13th Final: 4th Place Minor Group One vs 4th Place Minor Group Two (USA vs LEB)

Week 5:
QF1: Winner Q1 vs Winner Q5 (ENG vs SCO)
QF2: Winner Q2 vs Winner Q6 (AUS vs FIJ)
QF3: Loser Q1 vs Winner Q3 (NZ vs PNG)
QF4: Loser Q2 vs Winner Q4 (FRA vs WLS)

LF1: Loser Q3 vs Loser Q5 (CKI vs IRE)
LF2: Loser Q4 vs Loser Q6 (TNG vs SAM)

Week 7:
SF1: Winner QF1 vs Winner QF4 (ENG vs FRA)
SF2: Winner QF2 vs Winner QF3 (AUS vs NZ)

LF3: Loser QF1 vs Loser QF4 (SCO vs WLS)
LF4: Loser QF2 vs Loser QF3 (FIJ vs PNG)

9th Final: Winner LF1 vs Winner LF2 (IRE vs SAM)
11th Final: Loser LF1 vs Loser LF2 (CKI vs TNG)

Week 8:
WCGF: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 (ENG vs AUS)
3rd Final: Loser SF1 vs Loser SF2 (NZ vs FRA)

5th Final: Winner LF3 vs Winner LF4 (WLS vs PNG)
7th Final: Loser LF3 vs Loser LF 4 (SCO vs FIJ)

Cut down to 7? It is going to be difficult as I said to hit 5. Six may be possible but I don't think it will be fair and evenly matched throughout.

rlA Northern affairrl

The final and the opener should both be at Wembley
the rest should be in the fabulous M62 corridor! not france, not wales, not scotland

for all those picking these zany group makeups, why dont you try putting them in groups based on World rankings? and picking the teams that enter the world cup based on a valid qualifying tournament, just like we had at the best world cup ever!

and for the RLIF if you are going to decide the number of teams in the tournament then do so! last year you announced 12 and now you announce 14! oh and the great reasons you used to change your mind, could you let us know because I can't see them