2008 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

There are ten places available in the '2008 Rugby League World Cup', held in Australia.

Contents

Qualified Teams

Regional qualifiers

Europe (Round 1)

Results

Standings

Outcome

Europe (Round 2)

Draw (Group 1)

Standings (Group 1)

Draw (Group 2)

Standings (Group 2)

Outcome

Pacific

Results

Standings

Outcome

Atlantic

Draw

Outcome

Repechage

Draw

Outcome

See also

Sources

Qualified Teams

★ 'Pacific - 5 places (3 automatic), 1 team in repechage round '

★
★ Australia (automatic qualifier and host)

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★ New Zealand (automatic qualifier)

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★ Papua New Guinea (automatic qualifier)

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★ Tonga (Pacific qualifying group winners)

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★ Fiji (Pacific qualifying group runners up)

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★ TBA (repechage)

★ 'Europe - 4 places (2 automatic), 2 teams in repechage round'

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★ England (automatic qualifier)

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★ France (automatic qualifier)

★
★ TBA (repechage)

★
★ TBA (repechage)

★ 'Atlantic - 0 places, 1 team in repechage round'

★
★ TBA (repechage)

Regional qualifiers

Europe (Round 1)

Results

Date	Match	Stadium	City	Crowd
28 April 2006	Russia def. Netherlands 40-14		Hoek van Holland	250
13 May 2006	Georgia def. Serbia 45-10	FK Radnički Stadium	Belgrade	500
26 May 2006	Georgia def. Netherlands 57-16	Locomotive Stadium	Tblisi	10,935
4 June 2006	Russia def. Serbia 44-6	FK Radnički Stadium	Belgrade	500
17 June 2006	Netherlands def. Serbia 38-26	Rotterdamse RC Beekweg	Rotterdam	250
22 June 20061	Russia def. Georgia 24-0	-	-	-

# Russia won this match on forfeit "due to the Georgian team experiencing visa and travel issues". They will now face Ireland and Lebanon. It has been revealed however that the Georgian team, which is made up of rugby union players, could not play Russia because they were representing the Georgian rugby union team at the time.

Standings

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Points	Difference
Russia	3	3	0	0	108	20	6	88
Georgia	3	2	0	1	102	50	4	52
Netherlands	3	1	0	2	68	123	2	-55
Serbia	3	0	0	3	42	127	0	-85

Outcome

★ Russia qualified for the next round.

★ Georgia were ejected from the competition.

Europe (Round 2)

Draw (Group 1)

Date	Match	Stadium	City	Crowd
October 29 2006	Scotland def. Wales 21-14	Brewery Field	Bridgend	2,378
November 3/4 2007	Scotland v. Wales

Standings (Group 1)

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Points	Difference
Scotland	1	1	0	0	21	14	2	7
Wales	1	0	0	1	14	21	0	-7

Draw (Group 2)

Date	Match	Stadium	City	Crowd
October 22 2006	Ireland def. Russia 50-12	'Fili' Stadium	Moscow	2,000
October 28 2006	Lebanon def. Russia 22-8	New River Stadium	London	300
November 5 2006	Ireland drew with Lebanon 18-18	Tolka Park	Dublin	1,450
October 20/21 2007	Ireland v. Russia
October 27/28 2007	Russia v. Lebanon
November 3/4 2007	Lebanon v. Ireland

Standings (Group 2)

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Points	Difference
Ireland	2	1	1	0	68	30	3	38
Lebanon	2	1	1	0	40	26	3	14
Russia	2	0	0	2	20	72	0	-52

Outcome

The winner of each group of Europe (Round 2) will enter the World Cup. The runners-up will enter the repechage round.

Pacific

Results

Date	Match	Stadium	City	Crowd
29 September 2006	Tonga def Cook Islands 56-14	Campbelltown Stadium	Sydney	3013
29 September 2006	Samoa def Fijian 30-28	Campbelltown Stadium	Sydney	3013
4 October 2006	Fiji def Tongan 30-28	Western Weekender Stadium	Sydney	3813
4 October 2006	Samoa def Cook Islands 46-6	Western Weekender Stadium	Sydney	3813
7 October 2006	Fiji def Cook Islands 40-4	CUA Stadium	Penrith	1713
22 October 2006	Tonga def Samoa 18-10	Headingley Carnegie Stadium	Leeds	5547

Standings

Team	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Points	Difference
Tonga	3	2	0	1	102	54	4	48
Fiji	3	2	0	1	98	62	4	36
Samoa	3	2	0	1	86	52	4	34
Cook Islands	3	0	0	3	24	142	0	-118

Outcome

Tonga and Fiji qualified from the Pacific group stage and will now enter the World Cup. Samoa will now enter the repechage and will have another chance to qualify.

Atlantic

Originally the USA, Japan, South Africa & West Indies were going to compete in a fourway tournament at Bernie Robbins Stadium, Atlantic City from 21-28 October. However the West Indies & South Africa have since withdrawn and so a one-off match was played between the Samurais & The Tomahawks.[1]

Draw

Date	Match	Stadium	City	Crowd
28 October 2006	USA def. Japan 54-18	Aston Community Center Field	Aston	1,200

Outcome

United States enters the repechage round, to play Samoa (3rd placed Pacific team).

Repechage

Draw

Game	Date	Match	Stadium	City	Crowd
1	November 10/11 2007	Scotland or Wales v. European Group 2 runner up
2	November 10/11 2007	USA v. Samoa
3	November 17/18 2007	Winner Game 1 v. Winner Game 2

Outcome

The winner of Game 3 in the repechage round will enter the World Cup.

See also

★ Rugby League World Cup

★ 2008 Rugby League World Cup

Sources

★ "World Cup European Preliminary Qualifying Tournament - Euro B", Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved May 8, 2006

★ "Rugby League World Cup 2008 - European Qualifying Group", Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved May 15, 2006

★ "Impressive Georgia Outrun Dutch in 2nd Half", Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved May 28, 2006

★ "European Preliminary Qualifying Group - Match 4", Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved June 5, 2006

★ "World Cup 2008 - European Qualifying Ground", Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved June 20, 2006

★ "Russia v. Georgia match cancelled", Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved June 20, 2006

★ "The Road to World Cup 2008", Scotland Rugby League website, retrieved July 16, 2006.

★ "USA Tomohawks and Japan Samuris to Battle for Atlantic Cup", American National Rugby League website, retrieved 8 September, 2006.