This is not a joke, as well as Fiji beating New Zealand we also had Brazil and Colombia making their international debuts and the first officially sanctioned international RL matches played in South America overnight. latinheatrl.com/latino-flair-wel ... ampeonato/

This is not a joke, as well as Fiji beating New Zealand we also had Brazil and Colombia making their international debuts and the first officially sanctioned international RL matches played in South America overnight. latinheatrl.com/latino-flair-wel ... ampeonato/

Would love to see some highlights

Good news, but a very long way to go, the Brazilians weren't all that interested in the RU 7s at the Olympics despite the heavy promotion.

Can't blame them really, RU 7s is not very interesting.

Chile looks like becoming the RL heartland in South America anyway and I reckon they could be pushing for a spot in the World Cup in a few years time, interesting that they call the sport 'futbol a 13' there to avoid any chance of RU interfering.

Do they get many teams over there?

Are there any players of note that could represent a Chilean team similar to the Lebanon side?

Love to hear stuff like this!

Anything more from Chile's near neighbours the 'penguins'? The Argentinians have a very strong RU team and last comp were chucking it about like a RL team.

Chile beat Argentina 32-12 in the final, seems like Argentina was mostly guys with a RU background whereas Chile was native RL players with about 3-4 Australian-based guys in there (although Chile born). Not sure about heritage players but I'm sure some would come out of the woodwork if they had a chance of playing in any high-profile matches.

Colombia defeated Brazil 22-18 in the third place match.

Wasn't there a big push a few years ago with Jamaica, Russia and South Africa having developing international RL teams, none of which are at the RLWC now.

Huh? Over 50 nations currently play rugby league, including Jamaica, Russia and South Africa who all failed to qualify for this World Cup

Whilst I'd love to be thrilled about 50 nations playing RL the vast majority of those countries have no professional league structure, hence the wider development of the game isn't really sustainable.

Ok, I'll contact these guys and tell them not to bother then.