Rugby League World Cup - Game 1

The first game of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup was an entertaining match up between two old rivals, New Zealand vs Australia.

New Zealand lost by two points, but they physically dominated the Australians the entire time. What the Kiwis need to do is get better at making tactical decisions. Basically, they gifted Australia 14 points, and I'll explain why.

There were two intercept runaway tries scored by Australia. This should never happen, but if it does, then no more than once. Twice means the Kiwis were forcing their passes, and doing so in situations where there were too many hands in the way to be safe.

The last segment of play was where Australia was put in the position of closing out play while ahead on the scoreboard. This was when the Kiwis were hard on attack and up by two. The wise thing to do, from right in front of the goal posts, was to kick a drop-goal for 1 point. This would put them up by more than a penalty kick or long range dropkick (both worth two), but critically, they'd receive the ball from the restart.

Instead, the Kiwis played glory ball and went for the try. They put the ball up high into the in-goal area, and the Aussie caught it, which results in a restart for Australia from the 20 metre mark. They then took that ball from the restart and scored a try which went unconverted. Australia went from two points down, to two points up, when they should not have been allowed in the position of having possession. The Kiwis when looking for a try, if they were to kick, needed to put the kick in low, forcing Australia to come back from their own goal line.

All-in-all the refereeing was excellent, but I have to say some calls simply would not be possible without the video referee. I'd rather play flowed and was not be held up while some mysterious figure thinks about it.