If the Four Nations has taught us anything, it’s that there is a real market for international rugby league.

After a successful 2013 World Cup, this was the follow up the game needed. A centralised, competitive tournament that showcases the skills of the best players in the world.

People can argue that the winner can still only be Australia or New Zealand but England and Samoa have proven that they are not just there to make up numbers.

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No one would have believed you if you had said that the biggest losing margin after four matches would belong to Australia. Of course they are missing some irreplaceable players in Thurston, Hayne, Gallen, and Slater but the way international league has been travelling, it is generally expected that Australia will beat whoever is put in front of them.

Injuries have played their part but I would argue that the talent pool of international players is deepening. This is most evident in the quality of the Pacific Island nations.

Samoa has lost their two games by a combined eight points and were in front at some point in both of them. Their team is made up entirely of NRL and Super League players.

Eligibility rules aside, this is what the game needs. I don’t particularly care if a player is only eligible because his long last grandparent was born in a country he’s never been to, if a player decides to play for that country that is enough for me.

I see people watching a match, see a player and say “hang on, he shouldn’t be playing for them should he?” At the end of the day that person has some blood ties to that country otherwise he wouldn’t be there. The winner of this scenario is the fans.

It’s highly unlikely that rugby league can reach the international heights of rugby union. But maybe, just maybe, rugby league has found is it’s niche.



The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was a success.

It drew over 450,000 fans across 28 matches, the most of any league World Cup. The Grand Final at Old Trafford set a world record for a rugby league international with 74,468 in attendance.

There were still blowout score lines and some teams were completely outmatched but that is to be expected with 14 teams in a rugby league tournament.

What is encouraging in the Four Nations is that it is possible to have a truly competitive tournament in rugby league. I would argue it has been the most entertaining league tournament I’ve ever seen.

What needs to happen now is to ensure the momentum of this tournament is not lost.

The international rugby league calendar tends to be inconsistent. The Pacific Cup and European Nations Cup runs every few years to determine who will take that last Four Nations spot.

The next Four Nations will see Scotland take Samoa’s spot in the 2016 tournament after winning the European Nations Cup. The 2017 World Cup will again feature 14 teams.

What hurts the up and coming nations is the lack of tests in between big tournament years. While Australia and New Zealand will play regularly in the NRL and the Anzac Test, and English players will stay fresh in the Super League, the players outside this top echelon lack big match experience opportunities and exposure.



In 2014 we saw the introduction of a Fiji-Samoa Test on the representative weekend and this is something that needs to stay with alternating Pacific nations competing.

The introduction of Papua New Guinea into the Queensland Cup will only strengthen their international team while the number of players representing Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and the Cook Islands has been on a steady increase in recent years.

Dave Smith has said that the number of players from the Pacific Island region is now close to 40 per cent and that the NRL will be strategically targeting the area.

The proposal of playing a one-off test yearly consisting of a combined Pacific Islands team is an exciting prospect.

This could be a good way to end off an NRL season when no other tournaments are scheduled with Australia or New Zealand playing against them in a one off Test.

The future looks bright for Pacific Island rugby league and this can only mean good things for international rugby league. Dave Smith alluded himself to the potential of the NRL one day including a team from the Pacific.

A friend of mine, a rugby union supporter, sat with a group of my rugby league friends as we watched the Australia v. England match. I noticed he was mostly looking down at his phone.

“What are you doing? This is a great game,” I said.



He shook his head and replied “international rugby league is a joke.”

I expected that response from a union supporter, but if the game can keep producing the quality of the Four Nations, his head might not stay down much longer.