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

seriously some people have way too much time on their hands with these in depth formats and venues

im sure the people that run the sport will do a great job at it

well you should only have a SL of 6 teams too then.

silly.

the union world cup only has 7/8 proper teams and it apparently is succesful.


you will see more skill in samoa vs tonga in the RLWC than nz vs australia in the RUWC.

for which game? you would have found that for their world cup qualifiers they actually had over 10 australians in their squad, allthough your right re: russia they do use domestic players, thats why they cant get within 40 points of any decent opposition

Mark Minnichello
Ashley Laffranchi
Mark Cantoni
Ryan McGoldrick
David Myles
Dave Marando
Tyrone Copppedge
Mark O'Halloran

No, the football world cup does not last 7 weeks. It lasts just over 4 weeks (11th June - 11th July). And unlike football, you can't consistently have mid-week games in rugby league.

Every other World Cup in recent times has lasted a similar length of time (about 5 weekends). It won't be any different this time, especially 2 weeks extra. It just isn't financially viable, let alone there aren't enough weeks in the season (if you think they'll change the NRL season or SL season to accommodate then you'll be disappointed).

5 weekends maximum. There isn't enough room for anything else.

Oh well, I only looked at the format (7 rounds) and presumed. I don't watch it anyway it bores me to death

After all, who knew RL had internationals.