Rugby League World Cup 2017 Tournament Draw Announced

England will make history at the 2017 World Cup by playing a first-ever global against Lebanon.

Canberra will host the Kangaroos in a pool match against France in November 2017.

All three Kiwi pool matches will be played at home along with two quarter finals and a semi-final, which will be played at the heartland of rugby league, Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland.

Brisbane ousted Auckland for the final, with the decider and one semi-final to be played at Suncorp Stadium, though no pool games are set down for the city.

They then meet Lebanon at Sydney Football Stadium on November 4 before flying on to Perth to play France eight days later.

All matches are set to take place over weekends to encourage larger crowds, while there will be three double-headers held – one at each of Cairns, Perth and Townsville.

Christchurch will host its first global matches since the 2006 Tri-Nations, with the New Zealand-Scotland pool game and a quarter-final – likely to be between Samoa/Tonga and Fiji – to be staged in the South Island city.

Organisers say the composition of the pools was determined by a number of considerations, including the final placings from 2013 and current world rankings.

Eleven teams are already confirmed but the final three will need to qualify at a European tournament later this year. In addition to matches in New Zealand and Australia, there will be three pool matches played in Papua New Guinea.

There is a concentration of matches in Queensland following a push by the Queensland State Government and only two in Sydney, apparently due to a lack of financial incentives from the New South Wales Government.

“In planning this tournament, we made a deliberate decision to take the Rugby League World Cup to more fans than any World Cup has done before”, Brown said.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Sport and Recreation Minister Jonathan Coleman today announced up to $1.35 million will be invested, through the Major Events Development Fund (MEDF), to help New Zealand co-host the Rugby League World Cup 2017 with Australia.

“New Zealanders have a very proud history of supporting Rugby League and we know these passionate league communities will embrace co-hosting the sport’s pinnacle event in”. The Kiwis will play their Quarter-Final in Wellington should they progress.