England Men’s performance in the semi final aside this has been a great tournament IMO.

Scenes at the end with the three World Cup winning teams and 3 trophies on display after the pandemic etc was great.

It’s how we kick on now. The men’s game need to build on this with a proper test series next year. Not a mid season game against France or some team made up of the best of the rest of superleague.

If we can’t get New Zealand or Australia to tour get Samoa and Tonga over. We could go back the year after. That would help all three close the gap.

We all need more competitive games.

We have 3 years until France and we need to start planning for it now. Superleague should come second to what’s best for the England team. An England World Cup win would do far more for superleague than anything else. I’m sick of feeling like this after a tournament we should have been in the final at least.

Enjoyed that more than I thought I would, safe standing seats is the way to go for large stadia.
I really like Old Trafford, obviously, as a HKR fan I have little reason to go, but it manages to be a huge ground where you never really feel that you don't have space.
The Aussies are just relentless, they just go after you and after you and after you then the bodies in motion and the play's that they bring in attack just have you in a spin, a horrible brilliant watch to see live.

I criticised this world cup and I still believe we did many many things wrong, but I will wait for the final reports before I criticise again.

I have massively enjoyed the wheelchair games and it is 100% something I will watch again and will follow Wigan when and where I can. The profile of both that and the women's game can only improve and grow.

Sad that we didn't make the final especially given the number of "non heartland" people I met and spoke to at the final today. The TV figures were excellent we just needed that last push.

As for the future. If the Aussies want to play with themselves (no pun intended) then let them and let's build our game around the likes of The Rock talking about RL.

Sadly .... I think we all know it won't happen and it will be another missed opportunity.

Oh, and 67 and a half thousand is a great attendance, big shout out to the best streaker I've ever seen, marvellous stuff.

Great attendance but 67k were there to see England v Australia, what an opportunity missed to get the country behind us and garner support for the sport, one shocking performance and instead people were there to see a match between australia and a side we hammered in the opening round. We can just never get it right when it matters.

His steward evasion skills were excellent, some comedy stuff.
Not that I condone invading the playing area obviously.

In the end, I'm glad I got to see it with no emotion.

Speaking of emotion........Kevin Sinfield

Just watched it back and hadn't realised how full it still was at HT. The absolute definition of legend.

Well ive touched up about it in the past but whether you like it or not social media is an area as a sport we need to crack. Most sponsorship revenue depends on followers and it is something as a sport going into the IMG era that we need to crack. As study (because i am sad and also have an interest due to business on social media followers ) i decided to follow the numbers on some accounts during the tournament. Unfortuantley the england accounts show disappointing growth but the rugby league world cup accounts had decent growth which can only be good going forward. Worth noting that the samoan accounts had massive growth in the last week mainly due to the rock or dwayne johnson plugging them. The Samoan world cup final appearance could change the RL landscape on the international front. Even if it does mean the European teams fall further behind.


England RL pre tournament

Twitter - 102 k followers
Instagram - 63.7k followers
Facebook - 96.4k followers

RLWC2021 pre tournament

Twitter - 35.4k followers
Instagram - 44.8k followers
Facebook - 242.8k followers

England RL post tournament

Twitter - 106.5k followers (+4.5k)
Instagram - 68.8k followers (+5.1k)
Facebook - 101.9k followers (+5.3k)

Total new followers = 14.9k

RLWC2021 post tournament

Twitter - 45.1k followers (+9.7k)
Instagram - 62.1k followers (+17.3k)
Facebook - 271.1k followers (+28.3k)

Total new followers = 55.3k followers

It was good to watch as a neutral I say that still wanting Samoa to win.
Great to see that many turn up to watch.
Heather singing when Kevin Sinfield came in,lump in throat time.
Maybe with what Kev has done these last few years he should become Sir.

Enjoyed the tournament,wheel chair was a relevation and a brilliant showcase,the lads after the final only talked Rugbyleague up and were very very passionate about the game.
Did RL get some things wrong,of course they did,its RL after all.Will they improve you would think so.
Bring on the new season and more internationals please.

Looks like a European Nations cup is on the cards for 2023. Initial thoughts are im in favour if Wales, Ireland, Scotland and France play at home. And if England concentrate on an 25 and under squad to build for the next WC.

Why ?

If we are going to do it, do it right.

People too bothered about results or empty seats in this sport. We never let any of our seeds grow.

Lets not devalue a competition by not sending our best squad. Im all for international growth but I want more then the same old Aus or NZ series.

THe Wheelchair sport benefited more from the tournament, I personally had dismissed it through ignorance prior to the World Cup but once I watched one of the earlier games I was hooked. My very earlier vision of the sport was a wheelchair bashathon but the skill and team work was a joy to watch, and having Amor doing the commentary explaining the rules was a bonus.

running all 4 comps together was the big success from this tourney, the whole project was average when it came to publicity and attendance, but the wheelchair and PDSL has been a big success, let us hope they build on that for 3 years time.

I know the French will be after revenge in the Wheel chair comp,that would be something to look forward to that is for certain.

Hosting in places that have an arena right in the centre for the Wheelchair and a good stadium walkable from the centre for the Mens and Womens games is the way forward. Newcastle ticks this box, Liverpool will when Everton's new stadium opens etc. Gives the whole weekend more of a festival feel rather than people just going to one game then driving home.