About the same number as Italians in the Italy squad

I always thought that Powell or Crosby would be the natural replacement for Mossop.

Not true actually. Whilst I don't think there was a single 'Italian' in the Italy squad, most of the US squad is comprised of players from the US domestic league. They did great.

Has something changed then? wasn't there some guy (owner of a usa team) who made a video complaining that there was 1 or 2 local based players in the USA team? i was impressed by the 5,3 and 7 last night not sure if they are heritage players or USA players.

Not sure but a quick scan of the squad shows that only 6 of the 24 come from outside the US domestic league. McGoldrick got replaced as well so make that 5.



1 Kristian Freed - FB, WG - Connecticut Wildcats



2 Taylor Welch - WG - New York Raiders



3 Gabriel Farley - CE - Southampton Dragons



4 Ryan McGoldrick - CE, SO - Salford Red Devils



5 Matt Petersen - WG, FB - Cudgen Hornets



6 Joseph Paulo (c) - SO, LF - Parramatta Eels



7 David Marando - SH, SO - Belrose Eagles



8 Mark Offerdahl - PR - Connecticut Wildcats



9 Joel Luani - HK, SR - Wests Tigers



10 Junior Paulo - PR - Parramatta Eels



11 Clint Newton - SR - Penrith Panthers



12 Mark Cantoni - SR - Dalby



13 Eddy Pettybourne - LK, SR - Wigan Warriors



14 Craig Priestly - HK - Southampton Dragons



15 Les Soloai - PR - Hawaii Islanders



16 Matt Shipway - SR - Newcastle South



17 Stephen Howard - PR - Tuggeranong Vikings



18 Judah Lavulo - PR - Cabramatta Two Blues



19 Michael Garvey - WG - Ipswich Jets



20 Tui Samoa - HK - Redcliffe Dolphins



21 Roman Hifo - SR - Mangere East Hawks



22 Daniel Howard - SR, PR - Wentworthville Magpies



23 Bureta Faraimo - WG - Mackay Cutters



24 Lelauloto Tagaloa - SR - Hawaii Islanders

The numbers from the actually game dont match upto that squad list... I Think 5 was Petersen formerly of Wakefield, 3 was Michael Garvey and 7 Craig Priestley.

i sit corrected (it was a rather flippant remark with no evidence to back it up, in my defence - esp as i'm in the office & supposed to be writing software not fiddling around with world cup stuff [conference calls & BS bingo notwithstanding)

So did I. I can't see history repeating itself where we play a player suited to the back row as a prop just because he's big and hard hitting or whatever. I'd hope how Lauaki and to some extent Hughes form was possibly affected by not playing in their natural positions would mean we didn't do it again.

Pettybourne made 151m, the only forward to make more in the first round of games was JWH.



[url=http://www.rlwc2013.com/fixtures/player_statsstats[/url

And 28 tackles with 0 misses.

I think it's more the other way around. Only 6 of the 24 came from the US league. There are a lot of smaller Australian and NZ clubs in that list above.



Mackay Cutters, Wentworthville Magpies, Redcliffe, Ipswich, Newcastle South, Tuggeranong, Cabramatta, Dalby and Belrose all play in NSW cup or the Queensland equivalent.



It'll be interesting to see how much of an impact this world cup has in the US though, especially with the league structure. I remember reading about David Niu doing a lot of work getting a professional rugby league competition up and running in the US but half the teams broke away to set up their own league and they don't really recognise each other.

There has been a feeling in the game and mentioned since Stuart Raper was our coach that most NRL players need a year to get settled into the game here.

Exceptions being the calibre of Barratt & Lyon.

Pettybourne may possibly be lined up for dual positions of prop/2nd row.

HH only signed a one year deal and it wouldn't surprise me to see him go to Salford for 2015. Isn't he still having problems following wrist injuries and plates being inserted.

We have a lot of forwards for next year, and quality men at that.

Heard that "H" will miss the rest of the World Cup. Very sad if true, he was delighted to be made Samoan captain.

On the night #3 was Tagaloa, who was on the teamsheet as #4 but switched at the last minute.