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Live sport on SN this weekendJimmy Smith: Rugby League World Cup schedule explained
Sport Nation • October 15th, 2026 1:43 pm
James Fisher-Harris of the Kiwis and Sam Walker of the Kangaroos | Photo: Robbie Stephenson/AAP
With the Rugby League World Cup kicking off at 10.05pm (NZ Time) on Thursday, for a trans-tasman battle between the Kiwis and the Kangaroos in Sydney, the timing has copped criticism, especially from New Zealanders.
Former rugby league second-rower Jimmy Smith said organisers had to balance players’ need for recovery time with ensuring the competition doesn't last longer than five weeks due to cost.
“They knew on the back of the 2022 Rugby League World Cup that they don't make a whole heap of money out of these World Cups, but the players need time. It's not a sport like soccer, where you can turn around games after four days,” he told Sport Nation Afternoons.
“The contact nature of the game, you've got to have your six or seven day turnaround, so that's a given.
“They also knew that they had to have less teams and less games because they don't make enough money to justify the six weeks.
“So they've said, ‘right, we're going to have 10 teams. We're going to condense it into five weeks and we're going to get it going as quickly as possible after the (NRL) grand final.’”
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That balancing act led to a Thursday night series opener.
“The way to do that was on a Thursday night. We're very accustomed to Thursday night footy now as rugby league followers over in Australia.”
Smith said the Kiwis-Kangaroos clash has attracted strong interest, with limited tickets remaining and a large crowd expected.
“I can tell you, there is literally single tickets only remaining. They're looking at a crowd of over 40,000 at this game.
“Really appropriately priced ticketing, like the tickets for this game, is so much cheaper than an NRL game.
“People have said, if you're an Australian supporter, ‘I'd don't know if Australia is going to win,’ if you are a Kiwi supporter, you think we can win this game. So that leads to, ‘oh, I'm going to get out there and watch it,’ and that's exactly what we've got tonight.”
Listen to the full interview below:
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