The 2013 Rugby League World Cup second round of games completed.
The second batch of games started on Friday 1 November with New Zealand having an expected win over France 48-0. 32-0 at the break France competed more in the second period as New Zealand sat back only adding sixteen points. They did however keep a clean sheet. Next up on Saturday and England beat Ireland 42-0. The half-time score here was 32-0 and England did well to keep a clean sheet given the pressure Ireland put on. The other Saturday game saw Australia the tournament favourites put paid to Fiji 34-2. The half-time score was 22-2 and Australia added twelve points in the second period in pretty wet conditions.
Sunday came and with it a further two games as first up Wales got tuned over and out of the competition unless something amazing happens. They went down 16-24 at a wet and windy Wrexham. Having been closely behind 8-12 at the break. Next up and Scotland and Italy fought out a 30-30 draw. Scotland were behind at the break 18-22 so won the second period. But did not do enough to secure that all important win.
Monday just one game as Papua New Guinea went down to Samoa 4-38 which was pretty convincing. The half-time score was 0-34 so Papua New Guinea must have fronted up in the second period scoring four and restricting Samoa to four. Last up in this batch of games was Tonga versus Cook Islands on Tuesday night. Tonga were pushed all the way in this typically feisty Islands clash. Tonga held a narrow lead at the break 18-16. but the second period was all theirs as they added another four points to nil and so victory 33-26.
So we got three results wrong which is not a good start for us but they were all games that could go either way. Here are all the results:
Results 01-05 November 2013
Fri 01 Nov 20:00 gpB New Zealand 48-0 France Parc des Sports, Avignon
Sat 02 Nov 14:30 gpA England 42-0 Ireland John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield
Sat 02 Nov 20:00 gpA Australia 34-2 Fiji Langtree Park, St Helens
Sun 03 Nov 14:00 gpD Wales 16-24 United States Racecourse Ground; Wrexham
Sun 03 Nov 16:00 gpC Scotland 30-30 Italy Derwent Park, Workington
Mon 04 Nov 20:00 gpB Papua New Guinea 4-38 Samoa (20:00) Craven Park, Hull
Tue 05 Nov 20:00 IG Tonga 22-16 Cook Islands Leigh Sports Village, Leigh
Second batch of fixtures kicking off on Friday evening and here again are our predictions as usual in Bold:
Fixtures 07-11 November 2013
All Times Local UK
Thu 07 Nov 20:00 IG Scotland v United States Salford City Stadium, Salford
Fri 08 Nov 20:00 gpB New Zealand v Papua New Guinea Headingley Carnegie, Leeds
Sat 09 Nov 14:30 gpA England v Fiji KC Stadium, Hull
Sat 09 Nov 20:00 gpA Australia v Ireland Thomand Park, Limerick
Sun 10 Nov 14:00 gpD Wales v Cook Islands The Gnoll; Neath
Sun 10 Nov 16:00 gpC Tonga v Italy Shay Stadium, Halifax
Mon 11 Nov 20:00 gpB France v Samoa Stade Gilbert Brutus; Perpignan