The 2026 Rugby League World Cup is set for a unique pool stage format, according to reports from Down Under.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The new 10-team competition, which returns next year after the 2025 edition was postponed after France withdrew from hosting the competition, is set to take place in Australia at the end of next season, but will feature a refreshed pool stage following the change in participants.<\/p>\n
Hosts and defending champions Australia were already joined by 2022 men\u2019s quarter-finalists England, Fiji, Lebanon, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga in the competition next year, while France also booked their place last week after beating Jamaica in a qualifier.<\/p>\n
The final spot will be contested by the Cook Islands and South Africa, who square off in a qualifier early next month.<\/p>\n
World Cup format teased as new group stage revealed<\/p>\n
According to reports from the Australian Associated Press (AAP)<\/a>, the men\u2019s competition will see one group of four and two groups of three.<\/p>\n Group A, comprising four teams, will see two teams advance to the semi-finals, with each team playing the others in a traditional round-robin format. This pool will also likely feature top-ranked sides Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n However, in a unique system, the teams from Group B and C, the two three-team pools, will then play against each other rather than facing sides in their own pool. From this, the two top teams from the six Group B and C sides will then progress through to the semi-finals. For instance, the top two teams from Group B could go through with nobody from Group C progressing, or vice-versa, or one from each group.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m confident the ARL Commission are designing the tournament to be entertaining, enticing and as family-friendly as possible,\u201d IRL chair Troy Grant told AAP.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year we had the most internationals<\/a> played worldwide in the history of the IRL, outside of a World Cup year. The quality is just getting better and better.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a renewed passion for the national jerseys, which has probably been absent for a while.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have building blocks for the conversation to get more content available in non-World Cup<\/a> years.<\/p>\n \u201cThat all has to be balanced with CBA restrictions we have for players and competition lengths for Super League and the NRL.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Pacific Island rivals Tonga and Samoa are also expected to be in opposite groups and therefore set to face each other. This will be seen as a major boost for the competition, with the sides pulling in 44,682 at Suncorp Stadium for their Pacific Championships clash this weekend.<\/p>\n WEDNESDAY\u2019S READS ON LRL<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffb NRL supremo tips 14-team Super League for \u2018train crash\u2019 as financial concerns aired<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffb Former Leigh and Salford star extends stay with Super League newcomers<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffb Eribe Doro\u2019s next club revealed after Hull KR exit confirmed<\/a><\/p>\n