Rugby League World Cup report card: the final analysis

1. The England team bowed out with their heads held high, but certain players

should hold theirs in shame. Gareth Hock was expelled after he, along with

other unnamed players, broke a drinking ban. Zak Hardaker was the next to

leave, after getting into a drunken brawl on a team day off. Rangi Chase

made it an embarrassing hat-trick when he had a tantrum over being dropped.

Coach Steve McNamara also did himself no favours with his inept handling of

the incidents.

2. Wales shot their development in the foot with arguably the worst

performances by any nation in the tournament. They looked clueless and

lifeless at times in their defeats to tournament qualifiers Italy and USA

and made it an embarrassing hat-trick of defeats when they bowed out to the

Cook Islands, ruining the chance to reach a quarter-final that had been

arranged in Wrexham specifically for them and their fans. A glorious chance

to push league in the country has now been lost.

3. The world’s top referees appeared to have taken a joint vow of indecision

at times. No doubt aware of the scrutiny that TV replays put them under, the

on-field officials too often adopted an irritating tendency to refer try

decisions to the video referee. Those faceless officials also seemed wracked

by doubts, asking for seemingly endless replays of incidents from every

possible camera angle. It meant some halves were running more than 15

minutes over time.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/24928518

Rugby League World Cup report card: the final analysis