Rugby League World Cup: Kiwis hit back at tournament organisers booking early flights home

Jordan Rapana celebrates scoring in the quarter-final win over Fiji. Photosport

Kiwis captain Jesse Bromwich has hit back at reports Rugby League World Cup organisers had written off his side’s chances in their semifinal against Australia.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, World Cup organisers have already booked a flight home for the Kiwis for the day after their semifinal against tournament favourites Australia on Saturday morning (NZT).

It was a move reportedly made before the start of the tournament, with organisers forced to predict when teams would be eliminated due to logistical reasons.

The Kiwis, who are ranked No 1 in the world but haven’t yet produced their best at the tournament, have been made aware that they are expected out of Manchester within 24 hours of the semifinal at Elland Road, giving the New Zealanders extra motivation to beat Australia.

If the Kiwis were to upset the reigning champions on Saturday, it will cost tournament officials $380 per ticket to change the flights, according to the report.

Organisers had reportedly been forced to fork out around $10,000 when Samoa knocked out Tonga in the quarter-finals over the weekend, after originally banking on Tonga progressing to the semis.

“Was pretty disrespectful I [thought]- for it to be published like that. It’s not on I reckon,” Bromwich said.

“And you know, we spoke about that as a group and we want to control what we can control and outside noise shouldn’t be affecting us at this time of the tournament…..preparation should be the main thing on our mind at the moment and on Friday night. So yeah, we put that one to bed. I think a lot of us found it disrespectful but we have moved on, he added.

“I guess it’s pretty simple, really, you know, booking a flight for a team that’s playing in the semifinal. They haven’t played the match and booking the flight for them to go home. I think that’s the part that we found disrespectful but again, I’m not gonna put too much energy into that. I’ve got more important things on my plate this week. Preparation is the main thing going out there. And performing at my best for this weekend.”

Bromwich said the side won’t be needing to use the saga as motivation to beat their Anzac rivals.

“I don’t think so. We found out about it this morning, which is, you know, fine and I think we’ve pretty much used it for a good training session today. And yeah, it’s gone now. It’s out the window now. We’ve got enough motivation in this team. Enough pride in the jumper I guess to not need that kind of outside noise. Got plenty of motivation, you know, just in our families and our fans and now people back home cheering us on. We want this more than anyone. So we don’t really need too much outside noise.”

Confident teammate Jordan Rapana added the organisers will probably lose some money when they find out they are going to have to reschedule their flights after the semifinal.

The decision to back Australia seems to echo Kangaroos captain James Tedesco’s comments this week, where he claimed his side were the best in the world, despite New Zealand’s No 1 ranking.

“We see ourselves as the best, so we’re going to play like that,” Tedesco said ahead of the semifinal showdown.

“We have that expectation when you put an Australian jersey on that we are going to win. We have that confidence. I don’t think the rankings really mean much to us. We want to win the World Cup.”