@leedstrinity graduate. Blades supporter. Sports Fan (Snooker in particular) - Quiz league competitor! A keen quizzer and writer. A qualified snooker ref too!
Sheffield
Joined February 2011
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The format for the European Championships are quite different to how its been in previous years.
Rather than having all teams playing each other in a single round robin; the 12 teams are in 2 groups of 6, with the top 2 going through to the Semi-Finals at the weekend.
#RLWC2026
The other half of equation sees Papua New Guinea needing to beat England, Samoa to beat Tonga and the two to have a combined 88 point swing to progress.
#RLWC2026
A win for Samoa over Tonga will eliminate England regardless of their result against PNG as the tiebreak between teams who played each other is the result between the two.
England's 30-12 loss to Tonga likely to be very costly.
#RLWC2026
An 82-0 win for England moves their points difference to +64. Still 68 down on the points difference of Samoa on +132.
England need to beat Papua New Guinea, Tonga to beat Samoa and to achieve a 68+ point swing to advance to the Semi-Finals.
Very unlikely I feel.
Naturally, as a Sheffielder, this gets my vote, but if the price of a long term deal at the Crucible is the World Championship going on holiday for a year or two, then I wouldn't mind.
The problem when Clubs (and their Owners) try and convince themselves, that unexpected and overachieved success is somehow the norm.
Bromley have done brilliantly over the last five years and deserve the success, but it was unexpected and for many still a overachievement.
There'll be a different winner this year after David Causier's reign as World Champion is brought to an end by Pankaj Advani in the Semi-Finals. Advani (who is a several time winner of this and the IBSF event) faces Robert Hall in the Final.
Information can be found regarding the World Billiards Championship on the link below, with coverage available from the World Billiards YouTube Channel.
wbeventsonline.com/?page_id=…
As well as the Northern Ireland Open, this week sees the World Billiards Championship taking place at Landywood Snooker Club.
Defending champion David Causier, chasing a third successive long-format World title and 7th in a row opened his defence with a 1,167-45 win.
The last time (indeed the only times) an England or Great Britain side has failed to progress beyond the opening round of a Men's Rugby League World Cup was back when the competition had just the one group of 4 or 5 teams with the top two contesting the World Cup Final.
Four years ago, England were left shocked and shattered by Samoa in the Rugby League World Cup semi-finals.
Now in 2026, Tonga - another Pacific island nation - have done the same with a victory to put England's Australian campaign in immediate jeopardy 😬
#BBCRugby #RugbyLeague
The 2022 finalists off to the ideal start, and in what is likely to be a very keenly contested mixed Pool B/C with a potential case for three or four of the teams taking the two SF spots, the scorelines against the two outsiders, might have a say in which teams progress.
A very entertaining match to open the 17th Rugby League World Cup, with the Kiwis rather unlucky to not take the win in a matchup which most will be very surprised if it isn't the Finale on 15th November.
Not a day goes by when I don't realise how lucky I am that I get to call this amazing lady my Mum!
Happy 70th Birthday Mum! 🎂🎁😊
Predictions for the @rugbyleaguewcup! Not going for any real surprises, but PNG having home advantage for their first two matches could make the race to the Semi-Finals in B/C rather interesting.
Predictions for the Women's Competition. Think the France v PNG match this weekend, will decide the fourth Semi-Final spot alongside Australia, England and New Zealand.
