What the RLIF did, however, was recommend that the United States and Canada be awarded the 2025 World Cup at the same time it confirmed England's host status. That tournament would otherwise have been held in Australia, where fans can probably live without it.

The concern was that rugby union would beat league to America with it's own World Cup. That can't happen because USA Rugby has announced it will not bid for the 2023 tournament.

Between 2017 and 2025, the RLIF wants to stage an eight-team Federation Cup in the US. This will test the logistics for 2025 and hopefully create some links between some of the teams and the communities in which they will be based for the World Cup.

It's understood Moore and the RLIF have some divergent views on how this tournament should be run. The Federation Cup is the much vaunted "second property" which will bring in more funds for the RLIF, an organisation that currently has just one fulltime employee.

Moore obviously wants to get 2025 locked away before the bidding price goes up. The RLIF wants to see him invest in the game in the US first – playing numbers are currently small. I went to an international on NRL grand final weekend in Wilmington, Delaware, at which the players got changed in the carpark and they had to break into a box to turn the floodlights on.