Not designed as a "downer" thread, but what are peoples thoughts of the tournament so far?

For me, the highlights have been the games involving the Pacific Islanders. I chose to drive to Hamilton for the Samoa v Tonga match and even turned down free flights and tickets to Christchurch and I am so glad I did. What an amazing event.....these 2 sides should play every year in New Zealand where the communities are well represented....it was an honour to watch the 2 sides kneel together at the start and applaud the war dances!
England are still to hit their stride and I think they will pummel France this week.......Australia look ominous...and I still have a feeling that the winner of Tonga v New Zealand may well make the final. PNG has been brilliant and shows that the NRL need to consider the Hunters next time they look at expansion (if ever).
The bad stuff was the isolated violence in South Auckland which the Media blew up into more than it was, the Scottish (sic) idiots too hammered to get on the plane (again grabbed by the media) and the poor crowds in Australia.....of the 150,577 attendees at 14 games so far, 77,750 or so have attended the 5 games not in Australia, whilst the other 9 games including 2 double headers have averaged a disgraceful 8k a pop......that is shocking and Australian organisers should never be allowed near the tournament again.

But still. Samoa v Tonga in Hamilton is now my all time favourite RL experience and I am again driving a thousand clicks and for 12 hours for the NZ v Tonga match this week......

I didn't have enough frequent flyer miles to be able to fly to New Zealand. When I do then I will.

But I think that PNG are the stars of the tournament. They beat a Super League quality team, with Louis McCarthy Scarsbrook and Michael McIlorum at its core, despite many mistakes in ball control.

Garry Lo scored the try of the tournament so far.

France will be a real presence in future years once they get their five missing stars back fit and into the starting team.

Rankings so far:

1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. England

4. Tonga
5. Fiji
6. PNG
7. Samoa

8. Ireland
9. Lebanon
10. France
11. Italy

12. USA
13. Scotland
14. Wales

Good, the pacific island teams look very competative and capable of mixing it with the best. PNG and their fans a breath of fresh air too.

There has been a few blow outs but some great skill on show. RU has its fair share of miss matches too in the pool games lets not forget. The QF/semis are looking like they will be real contests...Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and PNG will all feel they have an upset in them.

PNG, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji have been great to watch.

Wales, Scotland, France, Italy and USA are absolutely outclassed at this level - to the point of embarrassment in some cases. The Irish are as Irish as I am. The South Sea Islanders and PNG have been great to watch. For the next World Cup, lets revert back to GB, PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Australia, NZ and one qualifier from an "Emerging Nations World Cup". I'd rather have a competitive 8-team comp than this. You could have a Champions League format - first round 2 groups of 4, second round 1 group of four, and top 2 play the final.

It's been ok good to see PNG doing well after a decade of decline playing at home has played a major part in there resurgence Scotland have been awful and that's the problem with filling your team with Aussies one minute and doing ok and then losing them the next Tonga , Samoa and Fiji will never push on as there players swap about every year at the end of the day there are 5 proper nations that play RL Australia, New Zealand, England, France and PNG

It's like there's two tournaments going on. One in Australia where it looks like the general public couldn't give a monkeys and one being played in other countries where there's a buzz and a passion to see international sport. When I see the scenes from PNG and before the Tonga vs Samoa game (not the fighting), it is fantastic and makes you want these teams involved in tournaments more often.

But regardless, the tournament has been great to watch as a spectator IMO. Tonga, Fiji, Samoa don't have the infrastructure to support anything other than an amateur league set up....until Fiji are accepted to the NSW Cup (turned down again this year by the NRL) then these countries will be made up og heritage players.....but regardless, they are competitive and have added some real colour to this event.

I agree I like watching the the Pacific Islanders but you never know whose going to turn up and play for them from one year to the next

Obviously the RL flat-cap tendency can find much to be upset about. However, I'm loving it. There's always been two elements to the WC - the competitive side, and the celebration of the game side.

In previous WCs, Australia, NZ or England could only realistically be beaten by one of the other two in that list. In this WC, there's an entirely realistic chance of Tonga, Fiji or even PNG giving NZ and England a run for their money. Certainly I'll be nervous should England meet one of them in the quarter finals. That on its own makes it a great tournament competitively.

I couldn't really give much of a monkeys for the crowds in the group games. Folk sitting on a grassy bank in the sun watching USA or Fiji or Wales, even in one-sided matches, is very much part of the celebration of the game. I've no problem with that at all, and if I could afford to travel over there, I'd be having a whale of a time soaking it all in, not counting the crowd and whining about it.

As the group stage ends and the quarters begin, it starts to look much, much tighter, with some really mouthwatering clashes. The quarters are looking like:

Australia v Samoa
Tonga v Fiji
Kiwis v Lebanon
England v PNG

Of those, while the Kiwis and Aussies would have to have bad days to do anything but win, they'll still know they've been in a game - especially the Aussies. England could struggle against PNG if they repeat the performance of this weekend, and if you're not excited about a Tonga v Fiji match after watching them play so far, then you've no right to call yourself a rugby league fan.

A few people need to pull their heads out of their backsides, stop moaning that it isn't the soccer world cup with dozens of roughly equal teams supported by billions of dollars of international finance, and accept it for what it is - a big party which unites our sport in a celebration of what it means to play and support the game.

I've enjoyed a good number of the games, but the blow outs are disappointing. The 3 team groups were much closer in 2013 so I thought the games back then were far better as they were unpredictable.

I like watching the pacific nations, I get to watch players I wouldn't usually watch and they're stepping up big time. They need to a regular international calendar so that there's an incentive for players to keep playing for these nations.

I think Fiji have slipped under the radar slightly in the build up to the tournament with all the hype surrounding Tonga and their stars. Fiji have always been well drilled and even though their opponents so far haven't really provided any challenge, they stick to their game plan and look a class above. If they have to play Tonga in the quarter finals, I think we'll be seeing Fiji in the semi finals for the 3rd consecutive time.

I know one thing everyone can agree on after this tournament. We need to see Fiji/Tonga/Samoa/PNG play tests regularly, not just against the big 3 but against the European nations too. This needed to happen after the last World Cup but everything stood still. They can't waste the opportunity again.

Agree with most of what you say, but have to mention that whilst Ww outdid everyone's expectations last time out and it really sounds as if the Aussies haven't bothered marketing at all and whilst I agree that people sitting on a grassy bank is great, only 5k or 8k for a double header is bloody atrocious.

Most teams have made progress since the last WC.
I'd say PNG have made the most progress, and have great plans in place to keep improving rapidly.
Tonga, Samoa and Fiji have made good progress too. Fiji are unfortunate in that Korbin and Tariq Sims, Kane Evans, Daniel Saifiti and Regan Campbell-Gillard are all unavailable, and that would be their starting forwards I think.
France has made some progress, but unfortunately, the Pacific Island teams have progressed much more.

USA and Canada need to be the focus for the next 2 world cups. I'm told this cup will make decent money, and I'd just about spend it all on giving the US and Canada as many development opportunities as possible.

I'll start with a negative first. Then finish on the positives as I think they are the most important hereNegatives

1. Crowds - yes I know that the crowds in Australia have been poor. But I think a lot of that is also down to poor stadium allocation. For example, France vs Lebanon was played in a 25k stadium in Canberra and 5K turned up. This should have been played in an area with a high percentage of Lebanese Australians such as Sydney in a 10-15k capacity stadium. Would have attracted more spectators, a better atmosphere and the grounds don't look as empty. Also hosting the England vs Lebanon match at the 45k Sydney Football Stadium was an absolute brainfart. Realistically how many people over in Aus are going to watch that game? Similarly I don't think Australia vs Lebanon will fill half that stadium so pointless having that game there too. I think we got this right in the 2013 WC making use of Rochdale's links with Fijian RL players by hosting a Fiji match there, also making use of the smaller Workington ground (yet situated in a big RL area) for 'lower' matches. Yet seemed to sell these out. And matches like Scotland vs USA were played in Salford (12k capacity) and a 6k attendance. It all just seems like there is no thinking behind the stadium allocation.

2. Home Nations - so far the home nations have performed shockingly. England haven't looked good yet although I will hold judgement on them until the QF's. However Wales and Scotland might as well have stayed at home. On paper they don't have bad teams but they have been so poor is ridiculous.

3. Blowouts - compared to the 2013 WC there have been some absolute blowouts so far. However I expect the QF's and SF's to be more competitive this time around and there won't be a repeat of the AUS 62-0 USA (QF) and AUS 64-0 FIJI (SF) in 2013.

Positives

1. PNG Home Games - the decision to give PNG 3 home matches in the group stages was bang on (maybe there is brains in the organisation after all). The two games so far have been fantastic! And if PNG do get to the QF's I would swap their match from Melbourne (against England) to PNG. Yes it will put us at a disadvantage but if ENG vs AUS cannot generate a buzz at Melbourne then ENG vs PNG won't. So move it to Port Morsby and I guarantee that will be the game of the QF's!

2. Pacific Nations - they have all been fantastic! I feel for Samoa, there were so competitive in the 2014 Four Nations but the emergence of Tonga and the resurgence of PNG coupled with the high flying Fijians has seen Samoa become the 4th best Pacific Nation! However either one could upset the Tier 1 nations.

3. Ireland - personally I expected them to be the worse performing of the home nations but they have played extremely well, a good win against Italy and although I haven't watched the PNG game I'm assuming they must have played well for it to have only finished 14-6!

4. USA - although they have been spanked, I like that the majority of their squad is American and they are using this as a way to expose their players to a high standard. Shame that they finished 5th in 2013 and probably 12th here. But at least they have been slightly better than Scotland and Wales. They have great development opportunities between now and the 2025 World Cup. Hopefully the inclusion of a New York team in 2019 helps to kickstart RL in that country!

For the future I would like to see the Pacific Islands host home games the next time the World Cup is down under. I have personally seen first hand the passion Fiji has for rugby so for them to host a couple of home games in Suva would be massive! It would be packed out and I imagine Samoa and Tonga would be the same. Also I hope when GB or England tour down under we have one or two test matches against PNG in Port Morsby as really think we need to be taking good rugby there and make sure PNG eventually become the 4th nation which can compete with Eng/Aus/NZ on a regular basis.

I have been impressed with the speed of the video refs calls.