Predictions for the quarters onwards, the format is as follows:
Group A
Australia
England
France
Lebanon
Group B
New Zealand
Samoa
Scotland
Tonga
Group C
Papua New Ginea
Wales
Ireland
Group D
Fiji
USA
Italy
Quarter Finals
QF1: Group A Winner v Group B Third
QF2: Group B Second v Group D Winner
QF3: Group B Winner v Group A Third
QF4: Group A Second v Group C Winner
Semi Finals
SF1: QF1 Winner v QF2 Winner
SF2: QF3 Winner v QF4 Winner
Final
SF1 Winner v SF2 Winner

I'll go with:

Quarter Finals
Australia v Samoa
Tonga v Fiji
New Zealand v Lebanon
England v PNG
Semi Finals
Australia v Tonga
New Zealand v England
Final
Australia v New Zealand
Winner
Australia

I'd go the same apart from France making the quarters ahead of Lebanon. Would have fancied us to beat NZ and make the final if it was on home soil, but the conditions will obviously suit them

Group A
Australia
Group B
New Zealand
Group C
Papua New Ginea
Group D
Italy
Quarter Finals
QF1: Australia v Samoa
QF2: Tonga v Italy
QF3: New Zealand v France
QF4: England v PNG
Semi Finals
SF1: Austrailia v Tonga
SF2: New Zealand v England
Final
SF1 Austrailia v England
Winners Austrailia

Although I think Tonga have a real chance of winning group B, which would be great for the game and the World Cup.

Quarter Finals
QF1: Australia v Samoa
QF2: New Zealand v Fiji
QF3: Tonga v France
QF4: England v PNG

Semi Finals
SF1: Australia v New Zealand
SF2: Tonga v England

Final
Australia v England

Winners : Australia

Group B is very hard to predict.
NZ are at their weakest for some time, while Samoa and Tonga have finally started taking International League seriously since the last WC and have played some very good games against each other and other Pacific nations. Scotland are also surprisingly strong. Anyone could win that group, but Samoa is my tip, with Tonga a chance to pip NZ for the other spot.

PNG should win their group easily. They are a much stronger side at home and a much stronger side since the last WC.

Fiji should be a bit too strong for Italy.

Tonga could win the world cup and it would do nothing for RL in Tonga, let alone the game as a whole, but would be a great boost for a second NZ NRL side as that's where most of their squad come from



My predictions are:
Quarter Finals
Australia v Samoa
New Zealand v Fiji
Tonga v Lebanon
England v PNG
Semi Finals
Australia v New Zealand
Tonga v England
Final
Australia v Tonga
Winner
Australia

England to lose a close one to the kiwis in the semi, then Australia hammer Kiwi's in the final.

problem with Samoa & Tonga is that they'll gas towards the end of games, they'll always start strong but physiologically pacific islanders struggle staying the distance

Australia to beat NZ in the final and England to lose gallantly in the semis, just as it has been for so many years.
However, until a ball is passed or kicked, we can dream.

Do England have any warm up matches or do we just rock up to face Australia first game ?

England play a warm up game in Perth against a WA side. I’m not sure what playing standard the opposition will be.

Samoa beat NSW country under 23s in the first warmup game. Final score was 42 - 26 I think.

The warmup game in Fiji between Aust, PNG and Fiji went;
1st 40 minutes - Aust beat PNG 20 - 4
2nd 40 minutes - PNG beat Fiji 10 - 0
3rd 40 minutes - Aust beat Fiji 18 - 0

PNG and Fiji played first

My prediction? Pain

[urlhttp://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/fiji-targets-place-in-2019-nsw-cup-after-falling-short-on-latest-bid-20171014-gz0zjg.html[/url

This is disappointing......semi-finalists in the last 2 RLWC's and still no "help' from the NRL?

If we are to get in front of the other code we need to address this.....

Australia (23)
England (24)
France (24)
Lebanon (1)
NZ(21)
Samoa (4)
Scotland (0)
Tonga (2)
Ireland (6)
PNG (20)
Wales (10)
Fiji (6)
Italy (2)
USA (14)

47% of players are playing for the country of their birth. Remove the 5 nations that have full-time professional clubs (AU/ENG/NZ/PNG/FR) and this becomes 45 players out of 9 squads....or 20%.
I predict that unless we get more coaches like Mac at the USA prepared to bring home grown players to the tournament, then we'll see more games between Austraia B v New Zealand B masquerading as Pacific Island nations....

Don't get me wrong.....I am soooooo looking forward to Tonga v NZ, Samoa v NZ and other clashes, but we've not moved on 1 jot since 2013 in the terms of developing the game as an international game.....and if the development of the game isn't the point of the RLWC, then what is? a 5 million quid profit last time is hardly a game changer....

Australia vs NZ final with the Aussies winning easily again. Boring.

It'll be great to watch up until that final, barring the games England play in.

Anyone have any listings on what games are on TV and on which channels ?

I think I'm right in saying everything is on Premier. England games, 1 semi and the final on BBC

Quote ="Durham Giant"Anyone have any listings on what games are on TV and on which channels ?'" BBC schedule: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/41510260 England games live, one semi and final, couple of wales games on radio and doing a highlights show. All games live on Premier Sports, I'm guessing they will put some of them on Freesports as well.

Quote ="Durham Giant"Anyone have any listings on what games are on TV and on which channels ?'" BBC schedule: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/41510260 England games live, one semi and final, couple of wales games on radio and doing a highlights show. All games live on Premier Sports, I'm guessing they will put some of them on Freesports as well.

Is there a RL World Cup wall chart that we can download and full in?

Wayne Bennet predicts a narrow loss to Australia- what an inspiring message to the nation.

The way we've performed previously, I think that's the best we can hope for.

He actually said “We're not worried about the result, the emphasis will be on how we play and what we can manage against them, making sure we're competitive all night," he said.

Obviously a win would be the best result, but the result of the opening game will not decide who wins the tournament.

Welll Scotland (albeit missing a few) just got whalloped by Country Rugby League Under 23's - so they might not be in the comp very long!