The NZRL Men's National Competition (previously called the National Zonal Competition ) is the top-level rugby league competition run by the New Zealand Rugby League . In 2010 the competition replaced the Bartercard Premiership following a Sparc funded review and restructure of the New Zealand Rugby League . Since 2019, the competition has consisted of a four-team national premiership and an eight-team national championship (split into North and South Island Conferences) with a promotion and relegation between the two divisions.
47-726: The Counties Manukau rugby league team represents the Counties Manukau zone in the Albert Baskerville Trophy . Previously, teams representing Southern Auckland and the Franklin district of New Zealand have competed in the Lion Red Cup and Bartercard Cup . They are nicknamed the Stingrays. The Counties Manukau Heroes competed in the Lion Red Cup from 1994 to 1996. Stan Martin coached them in 1994 and 1995 before accepting
94-538: A New Zealand Maori representative team, the only time this team has taken part, as well as debuts for the Cook Islands, Ireland, Russia, and Scotland. Australia won the tournament by beating New Zealand 40–12 in the final at Old Trafford , Manchester . In the same year, the first Women's Rugby League World Cup was held, with New Zealand defeating Great Britain in the final. Numerous issues, including poor organization and blown-out scorelines, meant that this tournament
141-468: A Rugby League World Cup record (and a record for any rugby league international match) until beaten by the 74,468 crowd which attended the 2013 World Cup final at Old Trafford . The fifth nation to compete in these two tournaments was Papua New Guinea, where rugby league is the national, and most popular, sport. In 1995 , the competition was held in England and Wales. It was again restructured, returning to
188-427: A National Premiership competition, which play a promotion-relegation match against the last placed national championship side. From 2019, this changed again, with a 4-team Premiership and 8-team, two conference (North and South Island) Championship contested. Note: *In 2014 Counties Manukau were disqualified from the final for fielding an ineligible player. Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup
235-693: A contract with the Whitehaven . He was replaced by Cameron Bell for the 1996 season. Notable players included; Duane Mann , Frank Watene , 1995 captain Dean Clark , Whetu Taewa , Clayton Friend , Des Maea , Gus Malietoa-Brown , Solomon Kiri , Jason Temu , Bryan Laumatia , 1994 captain Hitro Okesene and his brother Paul , Esau Mann , Matthew Sturm , Mark Faumuina , Leroy Joe , Richard O'Connell , Te Manawa Loza , Mark Leithbridge . Jerry Seuseu and Willie Wolfgramm . The Counties Manukau Jetz were
282-463: A desire to see a total of one million fans attend games. This tournament saw the number of teams increased to 16 once again, with Greece and Jamaica debuting in the competition. In 2021, the women's and wheelchair competitions were given equal prominence with the men's tournament, as a result all three competition were run simultaneously for the first time. Australia again won the competition, beating final debutants Samoa 30–10. The 2021 tournament
329-520: A franchise in the Bartercard Cup . New Zealand Warriors who were assigned to the club included: Sonny Fai , Nathan Fien & George Gatis The Jetz entered the competition in 2004 in the place of the Manurewa Marlins . They finished a disappointing seventh and missed out on the playoffs. 2005 however was a better year with the team performing well, losing to eventual winners Mt Albert in
376-468: A score of 28–22 to top the group, the first time a team from outside the top 3 had beaten a top 3 nation in over two decades. New Zealand went on to play Fiji in the quarter-finals and lost once again with a score of just 4–2, knocking New Zealand out in the quarter-finals, the first time a tier 1 nation had exited the tournament at this early stage. Tonga played England in the semi-finals and while conceding 20 unanswered points, they would score 3 tries in just
423-412: A tournament was in 2000 when 26 stadiums were used; the stadium capacity was the highest ever at 704,400. However, the occupancy was also the lowest ever at just 37.46%. The largest stadium in terms of capacity ever used was Wembley Stadium , London with a seating capacity of 90,000; the stadium was used in the 2013 tournament as the venue for the semi-final double-header. The smallest stadium ever used
470-405: A varied range of formats throughout its history as the number of teams participating has increased. The current format has been in use since the 2021 tournament, in addition to the 2000 tournament. This format features 16 teams split into four groups of four playing a single round robin. Each team is awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw. The top two teams from each group qualify for
517-724: Is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954 , which was the first World Cup held for any form of rugby football . The idea of a rugby league World Cup tournament was first mooted in the 1930s with the French proposal to hold a tournament in 1931, and again in 1951. The tournament's structure, frequency, and size has varied significantly throughout its history. The winners are awarded
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#1732879823972564-659: The Nathan Cayless Cup , which is named after Nathan Cayless , the only captain to win the World Cup for New Zealand. The competition was reformatted for the 2016 season, with Akarana, Counties Manukau, Canterbury and Wellington competing in a national championship. The Upper Central and Mid-Central zones reverted to district teams with these teams, alongside Northland and the South Island districts, competing in four regional championships. The four regional winners then compete in
611-545: The New Zealand Rugby League the new zonal competition was launched in 2010. Counties Manukau became a stand-alone zone with a team that was separate from Auckland . Counties Manukau draws players from Mangere East , Howick , Pakuranga , Papakura , Franklin, Tuakau, Waiuku, Pukekohe, Papatoetoe, Otara , Manukau and Otahuhu . In the 2010 season , Counties Manukau won the Under 15 and Under 17 tournaments but lost
658-592: The Paul Barrière Trophy , named after Paul Barrière , the French Rugby League President of the 1940s and 1950s. Three nations have won the tournament; Australia twelve times, Great Britain three times, and New Zealand once. Australia has been in the final of every World Cup, except the first in 1954, when they came third (considered to be a complete upset at the time, with bookmakers having Australia as strong favourites). The latest World Cup
705-407: The 1975 tournament and so Australia won by virtue of topping the group standings. As Australia had not beaten England in that tournament a final challenge match was hastily arranged which Australia would win 25–0. In 1977, Great Britain competed again as a single entity. Although the final between Australia and Great Britain was a closely fought affair, public interest in the tournament waned due to
752-616: The 2000 World Cup was played across the UK as well as some games in Ireland and France. France hosted the first World Cup in 1954 and again in 1972 as well as hosting games at the 2000 and 2013 World Cups. Despite the World Cup mainly being hosted by England, Australia, France and New Zealand, countries such as UAE , South Africa and the United States and Canada have applied to host the tournament in
799-519: The Preliminary Final. In 2006 they again made the playoffs but were eliminated by Tamaki in the first week. Before the 2007 season long serving head coach Gary Kemble announced his retirement to concentrate on business interests so former Northern Storm coach Geoff Morton was appointed for the season. The team's final season was its worst with it coming second to last. Following the Sparc review of
846-443: The cities with the next highest number with 3 each. Notes; In total, 21 teams have competed at the World Cup. Of these, only three have won the World Cup, with Australia being by far the most successful with 12 titles. Great Britain has won three titles, however since 1995 have competed separately as England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. New Zealand became only the third team to win the World Cup in 2008. England, France and Samoa are
893-602: The concept. At a meeting in Blackpool , England in 1953, the International Board accepted Paul Barrière's proposal that France should be the nation to host the first tournament to be officially known as the "Rugby World Cup". In addition to the hosts, the tournament featured teams from Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was won by Great Britain who defeated France in Paris on 13 November to claim
940-425: The continuing tinkering with the format and it was not held again until the mid-1980s. From 1985 to 1988, each nation played each other a number of times on a home and away basis with a number of these games also being considered part of various international tours that took place during the years in which these world cups were being played. At the end of that period, Australia met New Zealand at Eden Park . The match
987-519: The early World Cups being contested between Australia, England, France and New Zealand and the fact rugby league is most popular in these regions they have regularly hosted the World Cup between themselves. World Cups in 1985–88 and 1989–92 were all jointly hosted by the four founding nations. New Zealand has never solely hosted a World Cup but they have co-hosted with Australia on three occasions with 2017 also jointly co-hosted with Papua New Guinea. England have co-hosted once with Wales in 2013 although
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#17328798239721034-538: The final of the senior competition, being defeated by Auckland 14 – 6. Albert Baskerville Trophy Senior teams compete for the Albert Baskerville Trophy , which is named after Albert Baskerville , the organiser of the 1907-1908 All Golds tour . Under-17s compete for the Mark Graham Cup , which is named after Mark Graham , the New Zealand Rugby League player of the century. Under-15s compete for
1081-564: The final, a knockout stage was added, with quarter and semi-finals. Due to the Super League war , players aligned with the Super League competition were not selected by the ARL to represent Australia, which meant the absence of many star players. The tournament, which was also held to celebrate the centenary of the sport, saw over 250,000 people attending the group stages and over 66,000 people attending
1128-509: The final, in which Australia defeated England 16–8. Intended for 1998, the next World Cup was delayed for two years due to the Super League war and the subsequent re-structuring of rugby league's international governing bodies meant that the proposed 1998 World Cup was postponed. In 2000 , the World Cup was held in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France, and expanded the field further, with sixteen teams entering. This tournament included
1175-412: The four International Rugby League confederation Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, and Middle East-Africa. Because of a changeing number of teams making the finals and entering the qualifiers, and the unpredictability of the geographic spread of teams automatically qualifying, the format of the qualification tournament has changed with each edition of the tournament. The Rugby League World Cup has followed
1222-493: The inclusion of the South African team . However, after an unsuccessful tour of Australia, the French withdrew, effectively postponing the tournament until 1968, when Australia and New Zealand hosted and the World Cup final made a return. The World Cup found more success in the 70s with four tournaments being played. The first, the 1972 World Cup where the final was contested between Great Britain and Australia ended 10–10, and
1269-451: The knockout stage. The eight teams in the quarter-finals play each other with the four winners progressing to the semi-finals before the World Cup final. If the teams are level after 80 minutes extra time will be played and if the two teams are still level after extra time, a golden point will be played. This will be temporary altered for the 2026 tournament due to its late rescheduling, the exact format to be used remains unknown. Due to
1316-491: The last seven minutes to pull the score back to 20–18, eventually losing by this close margin. The final was contested between Australia and England at Lang Park , Brisbane and Australia won by just 6–0, the lowest score in world cup final history. England were chosen to host the 2021 tournament which was postponed to 2022 due to Australia and New Zealand withdrawing due to the COVID-19 pandemic . with organisers expressing
1363-475: The next World Cup in 1960, this time held in England. It would be the second time Great Britain won the competition. Despite a home nation victory the World Cup suffered from poor crowds due to the live broadcast of games for the first time. After a disappointing attendances in 1960, the World Cup would not be played for another eight years. The competition had been scheduled to be held in France in 1965, this time with
1410-471: The only teams to have played in the final and not won. Wales' best result was third under the old format and have made the semi-finals twice while Fiji have appeared in three while Tonga have made the semi-finals just once. Papua New Guinea achieved fourth place under the old format and have made it to three quarter-finals. Four other teams; Ireland, Lebanon, Scotland and the USA have all made the quarter-finals bringing
1457-664: The past. NB : As Great Britain was the IRL nation until 1995, the United Kingdom is used to refer to host nations before this time regardless of the number of home nations which actually hosted the tournament. In total, 81 stadiums have hosted world cup games over the 14 tournaments. Headingley Stadium in Leeds has hosted the tournament the most times, having had games in 7 world cups with Central Park , Wigan and Lang Park , Brisbane having hosted 6 tournaments. 52 stadiums have hosted matches in just 1 tournament. The most stadiums used in
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1504-511: The record international rugby league attendance at 74,468. 2017 Rugby League World Cup taking place in Australia, New Zealand and for the first time in Papua New Guinea. While Australia would claim the title once again and for an eleventh time, the tournament was considered highly successful in terms of competitiveness. The tournament would see Tonga beat New Zealand in the group stages with
1551-579: The title was awarded to Great Britain by virtue of their superior record in the qualifiers. Great Britain were captained by Welshman Clive Sullivan who was the first black player to captain any British national sports team. The final at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon witnessed what is (as of 2021) the last British team to win the Rugby League World Cup. In 1975, the competition underwent a radical overhaul with
1598-432: The title. Following the success of the maiden World Cup three years later another tournament was held in Australia, marking 50 years of rugby league in the country. Unlike the previous tournament, teams played each other in a league format. It was then decided that the team that finished first in the league would be declared the winner. Australia proved victorious on their home ground. Another three years would pass until
1645-474: The tournament and New Zealand were crowned champions for the first time by beating the host nation at Lang Park , Brisbane . The tournament was once again seen as a success with a 91% average attendance increase on the previous competition. New Zealand became only the third team to win the world cup and the first other than Australia since 1972. 2013 saw England and Wales host the tournament and expanded to 14 teams. The tournament, originally scheduled for 2012,
1692-401: The tournament being held across multiple confederations. Great Britain was split into England and Wales due to Wales wanting to showcase the high level of talent they had on offer that year (no Scottish or Irish players made the original Great Britain squad). This resulted in the tournament increasing from four teams to five for the first time. There was not a final held to decide the champions of
1739-478: The tournament in 2025, however on 15 May 2023 France pulled out of hosting the tournament after a newly elected French government withdrew financial support. A day later, New Zealand announced they were considering a bid, but would possibly require a delay to 2026. On 3 August, the IRL announced that the tournament would be postponed to 2026 and held in the southern hemisphere with only 10 teams taking part. It
1786-413: The traditional "host / co-host" format, and intended (like in 1954) to be a triennial competition. The tournament expanded to ten teams with Fiji, Samoa, South Africa, and Tonga making their world cup deputes. Great Britain had also split permanently into England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, although only England and Wales qualified. Unlike previous tournaments where the top two teams in the table played in
1833-417: The winning nation for the first four tournaments, before being stolen in 1970. After its recovery, the trophy was reinstated for the 2000 tournament. Qualifying rounds were first introduced for the 2000 World Cup . Hosts and teams reaching the knockout rounds of the previous tournament automatically qualify for the next. The remaining spots are achieved through regional qualification tournaments, split between
1880-489: The women's and wheelchair tournaments held separately in 2028 and 2029 respectfully, all on a four-year cycle. The World Cup trophy was commissioned by French Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII president Paul Barrière at a cost of eight million francs, and then donated to the International Rugby League Board to be used for the inaugural competition in 1954. This trophy was used and presented to
1927-473: Was a physical encounter, and Australian captain Wally Lewis played part of the match with a broken arm. The Kangaroos won the competition 25–12 in front of a capacity crowd of nearly 48,000 spectators. This format was repeated from 1989 to 1992 (with games once again also being part of tours) and Australia won again, defeating Great Britain 10–6 at Wembley Stadium in front of 73,361 people. This crowd remained
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1974-399: Was also in 2013 when The Gnoll , Neath , with a capacity of 5,000 hosted a game between Wales and Cook Islands . Despite this, it was not the lowest attended game; this was in the 2000 World Cup when just 1,497 attended the game between Wales and Lebanon at Stradey Park , Llanelli . The cities with the most stadiums used are Sydney and London with 4 each. Hull and Auckland are
2021-632: Was held in England in 2022 after being delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Rugby League World Cup was an initiative of the French who had been campaigning for a competition since 1935. The idea was raised in 1951 by Paul Barrière , the President of the French Rugby League . In 1952, Rugby Football League secretary Bill Fallowfield persuaded the Rugby League Council to support
2068-410: Was later confirmed on 24 July 2024 that Australia would host the tournament with a number of games co-hosted by Papua New Guinea. With the announcement of the 2025 World Cup being moved to 2026 came confirmation that the following competition would be held in 2030. In the announcement International Rugby League confirmed that the tournament would be held once again as a stand alone competition with
2115-439: Was moved very early in its organisation to 2013 due to the United Kingdom hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics . The competition was considered the most successful competition since 1995 in terms of attendances, exposure and financial output. The tournament saw Italy and the United States play in their first world cup. Australia took the title again after defeating New Zealand in the final by a score of 34–2. The final attendance became
2162-578: Was seen as highly unsuccessful with an average attendance just half that of the previous tournament. Due to these problems the competition was put on indefinite hiatus and replaced with the Rugby League Tri-Nations . After the failure of the 2000 World Cup, no plans were made for another tournament until 2008 with the competition reverting to a 10-team format. The tournament also moved from every three to every four years inline with most other major international sports competitions. Australia hosted
2209-525: Was the most watched rugby league world cup in history, and was regarded as a sporting, commercial, and social success by the IRL. A proposal was put forward in 2016 to hold the 2025 Rugby League World Cup in the United States and Canada, but in December 2018 plans for the tournament to be held in North America were scrapped due to financial concerns. On 11 January 2022, it was announced France would host
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