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NRL Round 16 Snapshot

Zac Lomax of the Dragons celebrates winning the round 16 NRL match between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Canberra Raiders at WIN Stadium, on July 03, 2022, in Wollongong, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Read on for a snapshot of round 16 of the NRL where St George Illawarra, Manly and South Sydney all boosted their finals hopes.

SNAPSHOT OF ROUND 16 OF THE NRL

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MAN OF THE ROUND:

Edrick Lee is by no means the NRL’s biggest star but the winger etched his name into Newcastle’s history with a five-try haul against the Gold Coast on Friday. The likes of Darren Albert, Adam MacDougall, Andrew Johns, Cooper Vuna, Akuila Uate and James McManus have all scored four for the Knights but Lee will depart to the Dolphins at the end of the year with a record of his own.

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QUOTE OF THE ROUND:

“Just make your tackles. How many soft tries did they score by just running through us? That’s not good enough” – Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy lays down the law after the Storm lost 36-30 to Manly on Thursday.

MAGIC MOMENT:

The Warriors returned home to Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium after nearly three years on the road. A full house greeted them after ending their 1,038-day exile and they delivered against the Wests Tigers with a 22-2 victory.

STAT THAT MATTERS:

St George Illawarra have won all eight games when scoring the opening try this season and lost all seven when they have conceded first. Talatau Amone scored the game’s opening try in the 18th minute as the Dragons strengthened their bid for a top-eight spot in a 12-10 win over Canberra.

TALKING POINT:

One week Parramatta are hot and the next they are cold. No team has flattered to deceive as much as the Eels this season and Brad Arthur must be scratching his head wondering where his side are going wrong. They have knocked off Penrith and Melbourne this year, but have been defeated by the Wests Tigers and Canterbury and fell to a previously out-of-sorts South Sydney on Saturday. The Eels’ form line this year reads: WLWWWLWLWLWWLWL.

CASUALTY WARD:

Tevita Pangai Junior (Bulldogs) – ankle, Declan Casey (Bulldogs) – concussion, Te Maire Martin (Broncos) – ribs, Mark Nicholls (Rabbitohs) – concussion, Hame Sele (Rabbitohs) – ankle, Mat Feagai (Dragons) – thigh.

JUDICIARY WATCH:

Jarrod Wallace (Titans) – dangerous throw

UNDER PRESSURE:

Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook gambled on a young halves pairing and will be feeling nervous about his future. The Titans have won just one game in their last 12 outings and are bottom of the ladder with just three wins all season. Holbrook has credit in the bank for for finishing 9th and 8th in his first two seasons but that will only go so far if they can’t turn their fortunes around.

 

By: George Clarke, AAP

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R
RedWarrior 1 hour ago
Three-way race to be number one in World Rugby men's rankings

IF SA and NZ win then its 1,2,3 SA/NZ/IRL Otherwise as you were. This is largely irrelevant beyond bragging rights.


As I have pointed out elsewhere the practical use of the Rankings is to determine the seedings bands for the RWC draw. The draw takes place early 2026 and hopefully the rankings will be taken from then.


Important to be in the top 6, the top 12. (and likely the top 4).

This is because there are now 6 groups in the RWC 2027.

If you are in top 6 you are in Seeding Band 1. That means none of the other top 6 will be in your group.

Seeding Band 2 are teams from 7-12, who will have a top 6 team but no other 7-12 team.

After England's defeat by NZ there is clear water between NZ in 3rd, France in 4th and England in 5th. England are desperate for top4, ill come back and explain why later.

Lets look at Seeding Band 1 and 6th place. If you make 6th, no top 6 team is in your group, you are top dog. If you win your group, you won't be facing a top 6 team in your 1/8th final, you will be facing a weaker team. If you fail to make 6th place you WILL have a top 6 team in your group and if you don't win your group you WILL (probably) meet a top 6 in the 1/8 final. That's massive.


Its Argentina holding 6th now. Assuming England hold 5th, then its a 4 horse race for 6th. Argentina, Scotland, Italy and ...Australia. (ranked 6,7,8,9)

Australia play the Lions in NH summer 2025 they are running out of time to get up to 6th for their own RWC. They MUST make a move now. They must beat Wales and they really must beat Scotland to gain points and take points off them. Could they surprise England or Ireland? England may be the better bet but Schmidt knows Ireland so well having masterminded their downfall in France.

Another one to watch is Italy V Argentina. Italy are ambitious and they will want to start pushing the likes of Argentina. If they win this they are still in the hunt. Well worth a watch either way.


Top4: I think the top 6 will be seeded, all the way through from the draw. If thats the case then the top 4 will be seeded to avoid each other until the semi. Good for more certainty around ticket sales etc. That's a possible reason why England want in there. You're not in there you are hitting a top 4 team in a QF. That's an extra 50:50 match you can do without and avoid by being top 4.


Lets look at what Seeding bands might look like with todays rankings:


Seeding Band 1

IRE/SA/NZ/FRA/ENG/ARG

Seeding Band 2

SCO/ITA/AUS/FIJ/WAL/GEO


Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if in top 6

Strongest pool opponent: FIJI

1/8 final opponent GEORGIA

Prognosis: advance to 1/4 and potentially beyond


Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if NOT in top 6

Strongest pool opponent: SOUTH AFRICA

1/8 final opponent NEW ZEALAND

Prognosis: You know the prognosis


I am pretty sure this is not lost on Joe Schmidt?


Keep in mind when enjoying the matches.

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