{"id":806860,"date":"2026-10-18T19:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T19:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806860\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T19:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T19:36:16","slug":"bradford-bulls-ace-and-papua-new-guinea-duo-among-star-studded-rugby-league-world-cup-team-of-the-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806860\/","title":{"rendered":"Bradford Bulls ace and Papua New Guinea duo among star-studded Rugby League World Cup Team of the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

With week one of the 2026 Men\u2019s Rugby League World Cup now complete, it\u2019s time to see which players made the Team of the Week.<\/p>\n

Players from all five winning nations have been included, whilst one losing side boasts a couple of selections too.<\/p>\n

Australia faced New Zealand in what was a barnstorming clash to kick off the tournament. Both sides went hammer and tong, but it would be the Kangaroos that came away with a 24-22 win. Arguably, it was the Kiwis who deserved to win the contest, and that is reflected in this week\u2019s TOTW with the side having two players involved.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Samoa dismantled an injury-hit France to record their biggest win in World Cup history. It\u2019s no surprise that substitute winger Sua Fa\u2019alogo has made the team after an incredible four-try display.<\/p>\n

Saturday saw UK fans up bright and early as Papua New Guinea scored seven tries to defeat Lebanon 42-18, with retiring back rower Rhyse Martin crossing for a try and kicking seven goals in the win.<\/p>\n

Later that day it was England\u2019s turn to get their tournament underway, but they fell to a 30-12 loss to Tonga, who produced an incredible defensive display to pull off one of their biggest wins in World Cup history.<\/p>\n

Rugby League World Cup week one Team of the Week<\/p>\n

The end of IMG, retiring Ryan Hall and Rugby League World Cup\u2019s paywall problem \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Most Read on Serious About Rugby League<\/p>\n

Full-back: Kalyn Ponga (New Zealand)<\/p>\n

The number one spot could have gone to either Ponga or Australia\u2019s Reece Walsh, but it\u2019s the former who gets the nod despite being on the losing side. Scoring two incredible tries whilst battling a broken arm, the Newcastle full-back just about got the better of his opposite number, but it was an incredible contest between two of the game\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

Wingers: Sua Fa\u2019alogo (Samoa) and Jack Bostock (Australia)<\/p>\n

As mentioned, this team had to included the Samoan speedster after one of the best individual performances in a World Cup game. Coming on to the field for the injured Deine Mariner, the Melbourne Storm star scored with his opening touch before scoring three more across the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Bostock scored a debut hat-trick in Australia\u2019s win, with his first being the best of the lot as he took in an interception before going the distance.<\/p>\n

Centres: Casey McClean (New Zealand) and Waqa Bake (Fiji)<\/p>\n

Is McClean in the Team of the Week solely because of the freakish, acrobatic, outrageous try that he scored? Yes. Yes, he is. However away from that moment, the Kiwi also made a huge 176 run metres, 42 of which were post-contact. He also broke six tackles and made two line breaks.<\/p>\n

Bradford\u2019s Blake scored a try and ran for 188 meters in Fiji\u2018a win over Cook Islsnds, in what was a very impressing showing.<\/p>\n

Halves: Gairo Voro (Papua New Guinea) and Isaiaya Katoa (Tonga)<\/p>\n

The London Broncos star and Championship Player of the Year took just eight minutes to break the deadlock for his country as he capitalised on a loose pass.<\/p>\n

The future PNG Chief would have his hands over everything good against the Cedars, as he also assisted Nixon Putt\u2019s first-half score.<\/p>\n

Katoa pulled the strings against England. With halves partner Latu Fainu going off injured early, it was down to him to make the attack click, and he made it look easy. Not only that, but his seven conversions, four of which were penalty goals, proved pivotal.<\/p>\n

Props: Addin Fonua-Blake (Tonga) and James Fisher-Harris (New Zealand)<\/p>\n

Making 122 metres from 10 carries, Fonua-Blake was a monster in attack for the Tongans, and alongisde the rest of his pack teammates utterly dominated England. Both he and fellow starting prop Jason Taumalolo were incredible, but \u2018AFB\u2019 takes the spot due to having a tackle efficiency of 100%.<\/p>\n

Fisher-Harris was equally as impactful for the Kiwis, making 142 metres from 13 carries as he helped set the aggression tone for New Zealand early on. Credit to impact sub Naufahu Whyte who was equally as dominant, but Fisher-Harris played more minutes and had a better tackle efficiency.<\/p>\n

Hooker: Benaiah Ioelu (Samoa)<\/p>\n

In just his fourth Test match for the Samoans, the 17-time NRL rookie played incredibly well, and his efforts were rewarded with two tries, including one that came in the very last play of the game.<\/p>\n

The Sydney Roosters junior also added a try assists, whilst defensively he made 21 tackles with zero misses.<\/p>\n

Back row: Nixon Putt (Papua New Guinea) and Haumole Olaka\u2019uatu (Tonga)<\/p>\n

The Kumuls edge forward had a stormer of a game, scoring a try and running for 201 metres off 21 carries. A huge 81 of those metres were post-contact, proving how hard he was to tackle, whilst defensively he made 27 tackles.<\/p>\n

Olaka\u2019uatu scored twice in Tonga\u2019s defeat of England. Going into the game Tonga knew they had the better pack, and they made that count on Saturday with an incredible effort.<\/p>\n

Loose forward: Isaah Yeo (Australia)<\/p>\n

The Kangaroos skipper did the hard graft in the middle, playing for 80 minutes and making 53 tackles without any misses. With the ball, Yeo made 171 metres from 17 carries, as he again stepped up when it mattered most.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With week one of the 2026 Men\u2019s Rugby League World Cup now complete, it\u2019s time to see which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-806860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}