New Zealand at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup explained

The 2013 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team to compete at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. New Zealand won Pool B of the tournament as well as their quarter and semi-finals, before losing to Australia 2-34 in the World Cup final.

New Zealand were the defending World Cup champions after winning the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.

Background

Alongside Australia and France, New Zealand have competed at all thirteen World Cups. New Zealand finished runner up in 1988 and 2000 before winning the 2008 World Cup by defeating Australia 34-20 in the final.

After the 2008 tournament, international football focused on three Four Nations tournaments held between 2009 and 2011. New Zealand won the 2010 tournament but finished third in 2009 and 2011. New Zealand also lost four Anzac Test matches to Australia in this period and two trans-Tasman test matches.

Build up

New Zealand held a pre-season training camp in Sydney in January 2013 to start their World Cup build up. The camp involved between 30 and 40 players and was funded by Sport New Zealand.[1]

In February, Benji Marshall was stripped of the captaincy and replaced with Simon Mannering. Marshall had been the Kiwis captain since 2009 but his form had been poor at international level as captain.[2] [3]

The New Zealand Kiwis played the annual ANZAC test against Australia at Canberra Stadium on 19 April, losing 12-32.[4] [5] The squad was Josh Hoffman, Sam Perrett, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Dean Whare, Jason Nightingale, Kieran Foran (c), Shaun Johnson, Jesse Bromwich, Issac Luke, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Frank Pritchard, Kevin Proctor, Alex Glenn, Bench: Elijah Taylor, Sam McKendry, Ben Matulino, Tohu Harris. Captain Simon Mannering was ruled out on the day of the test, with Glenn replacing him in the starting side and Harris joining the bench. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was the reserve.[6] [7]

Benji Marshall signed for rugby union franchise the Blues in August, making him unavailable for the Kiwis World Cup squad. Sonny Bill Williams also declared himself unavailable for the World Cup.

During the 2013 NRL Grand Final, Shaun Kenny-Dowall was injured and was subsequently ruled out of the World Cup.

Following the naming of the squad, Sonny Bill Williams declared that he would be available for the tournament. After deliberation, he was added to the squad at the expense of Tohu Harris.[8] Harris declined the offer to travel with the squad as a travelling reserve.

The Kiwis assembled in Narrabeen, Sydney for a two-day training camp before flying to the United Kingdom.

Staff

The national selectors were Richie Barnett, Ivan Cleary, Stephen Kearney and Tawera Nikau, with Tony Iro serving as the convenor of selectors.

Squad

See also: 2013 Rugby League World Cup squads.

Train-on squad

An initial training squad was named on 11 September 2015 and added to as teams were eliminated from the NRL finals.[9] [10] [11]

Brisbane Broncos: Alex Glenn, Josh Hoffman

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs: Greg Eastwood, Krisnan Inu, Sam Kasiano, Sam Perrett, Frank Pritchard

Melbourne Storm: Jesse Bromwich, Tohu Harris, Kevin Proctor

North Queensland Cowboys: Jason Taumalolo, Antonio Winterstein

St George Illawarra Dragons: Bronson Harrison, Jason Nightingale

Penrith Panthers: Lewis Brown, Sam McKendry, Dean Whare

New Zealand Warriors: Shaun Johnson, Thomas Leuluai, Kevin Locke, Simon Mannering, Ben Matulino, Sam Rapira, Elijah Taylor, Manu Vatuvei

Wests Tigers: Adam Blair, Tim Simona

Unavailable: Gerard Beale, Benji Marshall

Final squad

width=35%Playerwidth=8%Gameswidth=8%Trieswidth=8%Goalswidth=8%Field-goalswidth=8%Pointswidth=8%Positionwidth=35%Club
Josh Hoffman21004FB Brisbane Broncos
Kevin Locke40000FB New Zealand Warriors
Jason Nightingale20000WG St George Illawarra Dragons
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck680032WG Sydney Roosters
Manu Vatuvei440016WG New Zealand Warriors
Bryson Goodwin640016CE South Sydney Rabbitohs
Krisnan Inu11004CE Canterbury Bulldogs
Dean Whare52008CE Penrith Panthers
Kieran Foran
(vice-captain)
60000SO Manly Sea Eagles
Thomas Leuluai10000HB New Zealand Warriors
Shaun Johnson6430076HB New Zealand Warriors
Jesse Bromwich51004PR Melbourne Storm
Sam Kasiano50000PR Canterbury Bulldogs
Sam Moa30000PR Sydney Roosters
Ben Matulino50000PR New Zealand Warriors
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves50000PR Sydney Roosters
Isaac Luke61004HK South Sydney Rabbitohs
Greg Eastwood11004SR Canterbury Bulldogs
Alex Glenn40000SR Brisbane Broncos
Simon Mannering (captain)52008SR New Zealand Warriors
Frank Pritchard31004SR Canterbury Bulldogs
Sonny Bill Williams530012SR Sydney Roosters
Frank-Paul Nu'uausala630012LF Sydney Roosters
Elijah Taylor61004LF New Zealand Warriors

Fixtures

Warm up match

See also: 2013 New Zealand rugby league season. New Zealand played a warm up match against the Cook Islands on 20 October in Doncaster. The match was played with unlimited interchange and as a result was not regarded as a test match. It was Simon Mannering's first match as Kiwis captain. The halftime score was 24-0.1 Josh Hoffman, 2 Jason Nightingale, 3 Krisnan Inu, 4 Dean Whare, 5 Manu Vatuvei, 6 Kieran Foran, 7 Shaun Johnson, 8 Jesse Bromwich, 9 Issac Luke, 10 Sam Kasiano, 11 Frank Pritchard, 12 Simon Mannering (c), 13 Elijah Taylor. Interchange: 14 Greg Eastwood, 15 Ben Matulino, 16 Alex Glenn, 17 Kevin Locke, 18 Bryson Goodwin, 19 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck

World Cup Pool B

See also: 2013 Rugby League World Cup Group B.

Samoa

FB 1 Josh Hoffman
RW 2 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
RC 3 Dean Whare
LC 4 Bryson Goodwin
LW 5 Manu Vatuvei
SO 6 Kieran Foran
SH 7 Shaun Johnson
PR 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
HK 9 Isaac Luke
PR 10 Jesse Bromwich
SR 11 Frank Pritchard
SR 12 Sonny Bill Williams
LF 13 Simon Mannering (c)
Substitutions:
IC 14 Elijah Taylor
IC 15 Sam Kasiano
IC 16 Sam Moa
IC 17 Frank-Paul Nu'uausala
Coach:
Stephen Kearney
FB 1 Anthony Milford
RW 2 Antonio Winterstein
RC 3 Junior Sa'u
LC 4 Joseph Leilua
LW 5 Daniel Vidot
SO 6 Reni Maitua
SH 7 Ben Roberts
PR 8 David Fa’alogo
HK 9 Pita Godinet
PR 10 Suaia Matagi
SR 11 Iosia Soliola (c)
SR 12 Frank Winterstein
LF 13 Sauaso Sue
Substitutions:
IC 14 Penani Manumalealii
IC 15 Leeson Ah Mau
IC 16 Mark Taufua
IC 17 Mose Masoe
Coach:
Matt Parish
Touch Judges:
Tim Roby (England)
Joe Cobb (England)
Video Referee:
Thierry Alibert (France)

France

FB 1 Kevin Locke
RW 2 Jason Nightingale
RC 3 Bryson Goodwin
LC 4 Krisnan Inu
LW 5 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
SO 6 Kieran Foran
SH 7 Shaun Johnson
PR 8 Ben Matulino
HK 9
PR 10 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
SR 11 Frank Pritchard
SR 12 Alex Glenn
LF 13 Simon Mannering (c)
Substitutes
IC 14 Elijah Taylor
IC 15 Sam Kasiano
IC 16 Frank-Paul Nu'uausala
IC 17 Greg Eastwood
Coach:
Stephen Kearney
FB 1 Morgan Escaré
RW 2 Frédéric Vaccari
RC 3 Jean-Philippe Baile
LC 4 Vincent Duport
LW 5 Cyril Stacul
SO 6 Thomas Bosc
SH 7 Theo Fages
PR 8 Olivier Elima (c)
HK 9 Kane Bentley
PR 10 Rémi Casty
SR 11 Kevin Larroyer
SR 12 Sébastien Raguin
LF 13 Andrew Bentley
Substitutes
IC 14 Gregory Mounis
IC 15 Jamal Fakir
IC 16 Benjamin Garcia
IC 17 Michael Simon
Coach:
Richard Agar

Papua New Guinea

FB 1 Josh Hoffman
RW 2 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
RC 3 Dean Whare
LC 4 Bryson Goodwin
LW 5 Manu Vatuvei
SO 6 Kieran Foran
SH 7 Shaun Johnson
PR 8 Ben Matulino
HK 9 Isaac Luke
PR 10 Jesse Bromwich
SR 11 Alex Glenn
SR 12 Sonny Bill Williams
LF 13 Elijah Taylor
Substitutes
IC 14 Sam Moa
IC 15 Sam Kasiano
IC 16 Frank-Paul Nu'uausala
IC 17 Thomas Leuluai
Coach:
Stephen Kearney
FB 1 David Mead
RW 2 Josiah Abavu
RC 3 Menzie Yere
LC 4 Francis Paniu
LW 5 Nene MacDonald
SO 6 Ray Thompson
SH 7 Dion Aiye
PR 8 Neville Costigan
HK 9 Charlie Wabo
PR 10 Joe Bruno
SR 11 Jessie Joe Nandye
SR 12 Jason Chan
LF 13 Sebastian Pandia
Substitutes
IC 14 Wellington Albert
IC 15 Paul Aiton
IC 16 Jason Tali
IC 17 Mark Mexico
Coach:
Adrian Lam
Touch Judges:
Jose Pereira (France)
Robert Hicks (England)
Video Referee:
Richard Silverwood (England)
The 18,180 attendance was higher than all but one of Leeds Rhinos' home Super League attendances for 2013.[12]

Quarter-final

See also: 2013 Rugby League World Cup knockout stage.

FB 1 Kevin Locke
RW 2 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
RC 3 Dean Whare
LC 4 Bryson Goodwin
LW 5 Manu Vatuvei
SO 6 Kieran Foran
SH 7 Shaun Johnson
PR 8 Ben Matulino
HK 9 Isaac Luke
PR 10 Jesse Bromwich
SR 11 Frank Pritchard
SR 12 Sonny Bill Williams
LF 13 Simon Mannering (c)
Substitutions:
IC 14 Elijah Taylor
IC 15 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
IC 16 Frank-Paul Nu'uausala
IC 17 Sam Moa
Coach:
Stephen Kearney
FB 1 Matty Russell
RW 2 David Scott
RC 3 Ben Hellewell
LC 4 Kane Linnett
LW 5 Alex Hurst
SO 6 Danny Brough (c)
SH 7 Peter Wallace
PR 8 Adam Walker
HK 9 Ian Henderson
PR 10 Luke Douglas
SR 11 Danny Addy
SR 12 Brett Phillips
LF 13 Ben Kavanagh
Substitutions:
IC 14 Andrew Henderson
IC 15 Oliver Wilkes
IC 16 Alex Szostak
IC 17 Sam Barlow
Coach:
Steve McCormack
Touch Judges:
Jamal Thompson (New Zealand)
obert Hicks (New Zealand)
Video Referee:
Shayne Hayne (Australia)

Semi-final

New Zealand won the match when Shaun Johnson scored a try with 20 seconds remaining.[13]

FB 1 Kevin Locke
RW 2 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
RC 3 Dean Whare
LC 4 Bryson Goodwin
LW 5 Jason Nightingale
SO 6 Kieran Foran
SH 7
PR 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
HK 9 Isaac Luke
PR 10 Jesse Bromwich
SR 11
SR 12 Simon Mannering (c)
LF 13 Elijah Taylor
Substitutions:
IC 14 Frank-Paul Nu'uausala
IC 15 Sam Kasiano
IC 16 Ben Matulino
IC 17 Alex Glenn
Coach:
Stephen Kearney
FB 1 Sam Tomkins
RW 2 Josh Charnley
RC 3 Kallum Watkins
LC 4 Leroy Cudjoe
LW 5 Ryan Hall
SO 6 Gareth Widdop
SH 7 Kevin Sinfield (c)
PR 8 James Graham
HK 9 James Roby
PR 10
SR 11 Brett Ferres
SR 12 Ben Westwood
LF 13 Sean O'Loughlin
Substitutions:
IC 14 Rob Burrow
IC 15 George Burgess
IC 16 Chris Hill
IC 17 Carl Ablett
Coach:
Steve McNamara

Touch Judges:
James Child (England)
Grant Atkins (Australia)
Video Referee:
Ashley Klein (Australia)

Final

See main article: 2013 Rugby League World Cup final.

FB 1 Kevin Locke
RW 2 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
RC 3 Dean Whare
LC 4 Bryson Goodwin
LW 5 Manu Vatuvei
SO 6 Kieran Foran
SH 7 Shaun Johnson
PR 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
HK 9 Isaac Luke
PR 10 Jesse Bromwich
SR 11 Simon Mannering (c)
SR 12 Sonny Bill Williams
LF 13 Elijah Taylor
Substitutions:
IC 14 Frank-Paul Nu'uausala
IC 15 Sam Kasiano
IC 16 Ben Matulino
IC 17 Alex Glenn
Coach:
Stephen Kearney
FB 1 Billy Slater
RW 2 Brett Morris
RC 3 Greg Inglis
LC 4 Jarryd Hayne
LW 5 Darius Boyd
SO 6 Johnathan Thurston
SH 7 Cooper Cronk
PR 8 Matt Scott
HK 9 Cameron Smith (c)
PR 10 James Tamou
SR 11 Greg Bird
SR 12 Sam Thaiday
LF 13 Paul Gallen
Substitutions:
IC 14 Daly Cherry-Evans
IC 15 Josh Papalii
IC 16 Andrew Fifita
IC 17 Corey Parker
Coach:
Tim Sheens
Touch Judges:

Video Referee:

Aftermath

During the tournament several players were accused of mixing sleeping pills with energy drinks to help their recovery. While not illegal, concerns were raised by New Zealand support staff.[14] [15] Sonny Bill Williams and Kieran Foran were named as two of the players involved.[16] The All Blacks had a similar problem at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.[17] The National Rugby League set up a taskforce in response to the issue, with NZRL represented by high performance manager Tony Iro.

The NZRL's player of the year was Kieran Foran.[18]

Following a post campaign review, the NZRL re-appointed Stephen Kearney for two more years, with an option to renew the contract until the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.[19]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10860199&ref=rss Base camp before league summit ascent
  2. https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hryeFRKljgSZkxK3EkXdYvOUjtWA?docId=CNG.eed7dafcd4425e24006f8816b9b15963.4c1 New Zealand drop Marshall as World Cup captain
  3. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/8362518/Benji-Marshall-stripped-of-Kiwis-captaincy Benji Marshall stripped of Kiwis captaincy
  4. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/7484092/Canberra-to-host-2013-AnZac-league-test Canberra to host 2013 Anzac league test
  5. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/8574995/Luckless-Kiwis-bemoan-video-ref-rulings Luckless Kiwis bemoan video ref rulings
  6. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=10878385 Foran looks to brain not brawn to defeat rivals
  7. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/8574309/Kiwis-captain-Mannering-out-of-Anzac-test Kiwis captain Mannering out of Anzac test
  8. http://www.nzrl.co.nz/news-archive/sonny-bill-williams-added-to-kiwis-squad.aspx Sonny Bill Williams added to Kiwis squad
  9. Web site: Third announcement of Kiwis RLWC train-on squad.
  10. Web site: First Kiwis RLWC train-on squad named.
  11. Web site: Second Announcement of Kiwis RLWC Train-On Squad.
  12. News: Smith. Peter. RLWC2013: Tournament raises RL's world standing. 4 December 2013. 4 December 2013.
  13. Web site: New Zealand 20-18 England - Rugby League World Cup semi-final report. James Riach. the Guardian. 13 April 2016.
  14. Web site: Rugby league to investigate Kiwis' use of pills. Stuff. 13 April 2016.
  15. Web site: Kiwis look into possible prescription drug misuse at World Cup. the Guardian. 13 April 2016.
  16. Web site: Cup scandal erupts: Sonny Bill Williams and Kieran Foran under investigation for mixing pills and drinks . Daily Telegraph . 9 February 2014 . 14 April 2016.
  17. Web site: All Blacks in 'silly' sleeping pill antics at World Cup. tribunedigital-chicagotribune. 13 April 2016.
  18. News: Fairfax. Kieran Foran named NZRL player of the year. 10 December 2013. stuff.co.nz. 10 December 2013.
  19. Web site: Stephen Kearney re-appointed as Kiwis coach . stuff.co.nz . 21 February 2014 . 14 April 2016.