KEY POINTS:
The World Cup that was already a sizeable joke slipped further towards the region of outright farce with a court ruling that will allow Tonga the use of two former Kiwis only if they make the final.
The New South Wales High Court has determined that Fuifui Moimoi and Taniela Tuiaki, who were not wanted by New Zealand and were subsequently refused permission to switch to Tonga, can take the field for the island nation after November 16, which will mark two years since they last played for the Pacific reds.
So it's unlikely they'll play.
Stack this up with Australia's non-selection of Anthony Tupou, his shift to Tonga and the Aussies' recall of the second rower due to injury. And with the opening game of the World Cup, Papua New Guinea versus England, played before the opening ceremony.
The title World Cup is a bit rich for a competition where three sides - Australia, New Zealand and England - are guaranteed a free walk into the semifinals if they each beat PNG's Kumuls. And where the fourth semifinals contestant found after the remaining six teams play off will have no chance of upsetting one of the big three.
Just 34,157 turned out at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday for the Kiwis and Australia match, fewer than for a decent NRL club game. And crowd and television audiences are hardly likely to boom now that the opening weekend games have clearly shown that there is only one possible outcome of this contrived set-up and that is yet another Kangaroos win to add to the nine from 12 they already have in the world tournament.
Luckily for the organisers the Aussie-England game in Melbourne and the final in Brisbane on November 22 were sold out prior to kickoff on Sunday, because no doubt many of those ticket holders would now wonder whether they were going to a fight or a beat-up.
A league season that is already too long does not need a half-baked arrangement based on mismatches which do nothing to promote ideals of sport such as a level playing field, an even contest and fairness.
The Rugby League International Federation is essentially a puppet of the Australian Rugby League which in turn is a puppet for the NRL, where strings are pulled by News Ltd. Thus the driving force is broadcast dollars. Until this situation changes the so-called "international game" will remain a laughing stock.
A code that relies on shunting Aussie-resident players into national teams representing countries where the game is not played, such as Ireland and Scotland, sets itself up as a comic target. Only the Americans, with their "world series" of baseball, beat league's world cup when it comes to kidding themselves.
