{"id":940965,"date":"2026-10-26T00:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T00:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/940965\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T00:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T00:36:13","slug":"its-a-joke-rugby-league-world-cup-format-blasted-by-exiled-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/940965\/","title":{"rendered":"“It\u2019s a joke”: Rugby League World Cup format blasted by exiled nations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scotland<\/a> winger Lachlan Walmsley<\/a> and Italian forward Ryan King<\/a> have taken aim at the shortened format of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup<\/a>, questioning the tournament’s direction after a series of blowout scorelines.<\/p>\n

The tournament has been reduced from 16 nations in 2022 to just 10 teams this year, leaving Wales, Scotland<\/a>, Italy<\/a>, Greece<\/a>, Jamaica<\/a> and Ireland<\/a> without a place on the world stage.<\/p>\n

All six nations failed to progress beyond the group stages at the previous World Cup, but the decision to exclude them has come under renewed scrutiny following several one-sided results in the opening weeks of the tournament.<\/p>\n

\"ShockMANCHESTER, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 10: (Back Row L-R) Ashton Golding of Jamaica, Dale Ferguson of Scotland, James Tedesco of Australia, Sam Tomkins of England, Junior Paulo of Samoa, Kevin Naiqama of Fiji, Nathan Brown of Italy, George King of Ireland (Front Row L-R) Elliot Kear of Wales, Jason Taumalolo of Tonga, Benjamin Garcia of France, Jessa Bromwich of New Zealand, Mitchell Moses of Lebanon, Jordan Meads of Greece, Rhyse Martin of Papua New Guinea and Brad Takairangi of Cook Islands pose for a photograph during the Rugby League World Cup 2021 Tournament Launch events at the Science and Industry Museum on October 10, 2022 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger\/Getty Images for RLWC2021)<\/p>\n

Australia’s clash against Fiji<\/a> was the closest contest of week two, with the Kangaroos still prevailing by 14 points. Elsewhere, Tonga<\/a> defeated Lebanon<\/a> 36-0, Samoa<\/a> thrashed Papua New Guinea<\/a> 64-6, and New Zealand<\/a> put 82 points past the Cook Islands<\/a> in an 82-16 victory.<\/p>\n

However, it was England’s emphatic 82-0 demolition of France<\/a> that sparked Walmsley’s frustration, with the Scotland<\/a> international questioning why his nation had been denied the opportunity to compete.<\/p>\n

\"ScotlandNEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 16: Euan Aitken of Scotland is tackled by Jack Campagnolo of Italy during Rugby League World Cup 2021 Pool B match between Scotland and Italy at Kingston Park on October 16, 2022 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey\/Getty Images for RLWC)<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Scotland<\/a>, Wales, Italy<\/a> and Ireland<\/a> don’t get to compete in this World Cup, but a poor man’s England<\/a> win by 80 points\u2026 it’s a joke this,\u201d the Bradford Bulls<\/a> recruit posted on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to represent my family but can’t. What a waste of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walmsley, a four-time Scotland<\/a> international who will join Bradford in 2027, also drew comparisons with his nation’s previous World Cup campaign, arguing the current format was moving the international game backwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are we doing? Scotland<\/a> played Fiji<\/a> in 2022, and it finished 30-14\u2026 now we play England<\/a> 2nds v French 3rds and it finishes 82-0. Turn it off,\u201d Wamsley posted on his X.<\/p>\n

His comments were backed by King, a five-time Italian international who previously spent time in the Cronulla Sharks<\/a> system in 2017 before continuing his career overseas.<\/p>\n

King did not hold back in his assessment of the tournament’s structure, agreeing with Walmsley’s criticism of the decisions surrounding qualification and participation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank f(***) someone said it, whole set-up is s***,\u201d he commented under the post.<\/p>\n

The Italian forward also highlighted the potential opportunities being lost by excluding emerging nations and their players from the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re missing an opportunity for a lot of unknown players to show it on the world stage; it just seems to be going backwards.” King continued<\/p>\n

Walmsley echoed that sentiment, pointing to the potential for international tournaments to transform careers and provide lesser-known players with opportunities to reach the highest levels of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a bloke playing for Whitehaven<\/a> \u2158 years ago, going on to win a Super League<\/a> Grand Final all because he got a chance on a world stage; it just seems to be going backwards,” Walmsley added.<\/p>\n

The criticism adds to growing concerns surrounding the tournament’s structure, with England<\/a> coach Brian McDermott also expressing frustration over the pool format last week.<\/p>\n

\"PERTH,PERTH, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 17: Haumole Olakau’atu of Tonga celebrates a try during the 2026 Men’s Rugby League World Cup match between England and Tonga at HBF Stadium on October 17, 2026 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Janelle St Pierre\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

England’s heavy victory over France<\/a> came after McDermott had voiced his concerns about the consequences of their first match to Tonga<\/a> in a three-team group, arguing the format leaves little room for recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jeopardy of losing one game in a pool of three is so harsh, it’s almost like we don’t get another chance to straighten things out,\u201d McDermott told the media ahead of their clash against France<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With questions now being raised by players and coaches alike, the debate surrounding the World Cup’s format has begun to overshadow the positive results and player achievements of this year’s tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland winger Lachlan Walmsley and Italian forward Ryan King have taken aim at the shortened format of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-940965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}