Rugby League World Cup

The Rugby League World Cup is an international Rugby League tournament held at various times in history.

It began in 1954, when the French needed to make up for money they lost in Rugby Union. The inaugral tournament saw four teams, Great Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand.

The tournament has changed radically. After the four team round-robin ceased in 1972, the tournament was played all over the world in 1975. In 1977, it reverted to its' old format. In the 1988 and 1992 versions, the tournament was held over the previous four year period, with a massive Round Robin.

A 10 team tournament was successfully held in Great Britain in 1995. To make 10 teams, Great Britain was forced to split up, i.e. it became England, Wales etc. The tournament expanded to 16 unsuccessfully in 2000 - after Australia, New Zealand and England, there was very little quality. This lead to uncompetitive matches, and blow out scorelines.

The tournament is set to make a comeback in 2008.

Despite the variety of formats, Australia have been the most successful team - only Great Britain has won the World Cup other than the Aussies. The Australians will have been World Champions for 33 years in a row by the time the 2008 Tournament gets under way.

[edit] Roll of Honour

1954  Great Britain
1957  Australia
1960  Great Britain
1968  Australia
1970  Australia
1972  Great Britain
1975  Australia
1977  Australia
1988  Australia
1992  Australia
1995  Australia
2000  Australia