Five years on from its last iteration - and a year after it was originally set to take place - the 2021 Rugby League World Cup kicks off this weekend when England face Samoa at St James' Park in Newcastle.
Shaun Wane's hosts will be one of 16 sides jockeying to be crowned the best national team on the planet, alongside holders Australia, world number one New Zealand and a host of other countries.
Set to run for just over a month, through to the final at Old Trafford on November 19, there are already plenty of narratives for what is shaping up to be one of the most enthralling tournaments the sport has ever seen.
With that in mind, Stats Perform is here to run down who will be gunning for the prize, who is likely to fall by the wayside - and who just might capture hearts and minds along the way.
The usual suspects
There have only been three nations who have ever laid their hands on the Paul Barriere Trophy - and you can expect the two of them in the competition this year to be in the mix once again.
Australia have won this tournament a record 11 times, and despite a dearth of international rugby for Mal Meninga's side since they last hoisted it aloft, the Kangaroos firmly remain the side to beat.
In Michael Maguire's New Zealand, they will likely face a familiar foe before the final.
Australia and New Zealand have been drawn in Group B and C respectively, meaning there is no path for them to meet in the showpiece game, despite being the two most highly fancied teams with the bookmakers coming into the tournament.
The Kiwis soundly underperformed in 2017, knocked out in the quarter-finals; here, they'll be desperate to make amends.
Fifty years of hurt
England have never won the Rugby League World Cup - or rather, as a solo nation, having been part of the Great Britain side that last won the Paul Barriere Trophy in 1972.
Preparations have been less than ideal for the hosts too, with a host of key faces - including Super League Grand Final-winning St Helens trio Jonny Lomax, Mark Percival and Alex Walmsley, plus Wigan Warriors back-rower Liam Farrell - all struck off from consideration through injury.
But that has opened the door for a slew of surprises, with Salford duo Marc Sneyd and Andy Ackers handed maiden call-ups alongside Australian-born loose-forward Victor Radley.
Throw in NRL young guns Dom Young and Herbie Farnworth, and there's plenty to be excited for. Could they upset the odds and end a half-century wait for glory on home turf?
The upstart crowd
Last time a World Cup took place, Samoa endured a dismal tournament, with a draw against a gutsy Scotland side their only positive mark of the competition.
Now, it is a different story - Matt Parish's side are stuffed to the gills with NRL superstars, including six of Penrith Panthers' Grand Final-winning squad.
They'll hope to follow in the footsteps of Tonga, who caused a shock five years ago with a remarkable run to the final four, where they then ran England close.
Both teams have taken maximum advantage of rugby league's chop-and-change eligibility rules, and are now credible dark horse contenders.
Perennial semi-finalists, Fiji - who knocked out New Zealand last time around - look as if they will be considerably off the pace of their Pacific rivals, but the Bati's roaring spirit means they are unlikely to go down without a fight.
Throw in Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands, and the Southern Hemisphere will have plenty to boast about.
The rest of the pack
It won't be a lock-out from below the equator if England and the other nations in the tournament have their say.
Wales - coached by the eternal John Kear - Scotland and Ireland ensure a Home Nations lockout for the United Kingdom, while France and Italy bring continental flavour from Europe.
Lebanon, meanwhile, are led by a familiar face from across the rugby code divide - ex-Wallabies supremo Michael Cheika, who will juggle this tournament with his role in charge of the Argentina union national team.
Then there is the two teams making their World Cup debut - Greece and Jamaica.
The former hail from a nation where rugby league has fought to even be recognised as a sport, while the latter stunned the USA to achieve a tournament bow.
While neither team is expected to make a long run, they are sure to earn their fans over the coming weeks.
Chiedozie Ogbene and Alan Browne in race to make Ireland’s Euro 2024 clashes
Chiedozie Ogbene and Alan Browne are facing a race against time to be fit for the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Greece and Gibraltar next month.
Frontman Ogbene is working his way back from a hamstring injury suffered during Rotherham’s 1-0 Sky Bet Championship win over Middlesbrough on May 1, while Preston midfielder Browne is continuing his rehabilitation from medial ligament damage sustained at QPR on April 7.
Speaking after a four-day training camp with his EFL and League of Ireland-based players in Bristol, manager Stephen Kenny said: “Chiedozie Ogbene had a hamstring tear with Rotherham and hasn’t been able to participate this week, so we’ll have to see how that is. Alan Browne as well, [is] coming back from a medial injury, so these are dilemmas for us.”
Ogbene in particular has become a key member of Kenny’s team – he started the 1-0 defeat by World Cup finalists France at the Aviva Stadium in March as Ireland opened their Group B campaign – while Browne has scored against Belgium, Scotland and Norway in the last year or so.
The squad is due to be finalised next week – Atletico Madrid defender Matt Doherty will join up after his club’s final LaLiga fixture at Villarreal on June 4 – before preparations begin in earnest.
Despite a resilient display against Didier Deschamps’ men, the Republic know they may need to take maximum points from June’s double-header – they face Greece in Athens on Friday, June 16 and Gibraltar in Dublin three days later – if they are to force their way out of a difficult group which also includes the Netherlands.
That, however, may prove easier said than done in the heat of the Greek capital – Ireland will spend nine days training in the Turkish resort of Antalya in a bid to acclimatise – and with the hosts having topped their group in Nations League C.
Kenny said: “Greece are a good team, they won their Nations League group so we’re going to have to really perform to a high level. We need to make sure we are absolutely 100 per cent, and going to Turkey will help us, training in similar conditions, get ourselves ready.
“We go to Athens on the Wednesday and play on the Friday against Greece before we come back and play, and I heard that 42,00 have already been sold for Gibraltar, which is fantastic. It would be great to have a full house there if we could on the Monday night.
“But at the moment, we’re firmly focused on our preparations for that, and I think that will give us a chance, our preparations here, coming to Bristol, going to Turkey.
“Hopefully some of the players can come through some of their injury difficulties and if so, we want to make sure we’re ready.”
Wales boss Robert Page wants clarity over severity of Neco Williams injury
Wales boss Robert Page wants clarity from Nottingham Forest over Neco Williams’ injury ahead of next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Full-back Williams was ruled out for the rest of the Premier League season after breaking his jaw against Brighton on April 26.
But Forest have not put a time frame on the 22-year-old’s recovery and Page wants to know the extent of the injury before naming his squad on Tuesday for games against Armenia and Turkey.
“I think there’s conversations to be had with ourselves and the club, both medical teams,” Page told BBC Wales.
“The squad is going to be announced next week.
“We will have conversations in the meantime and see where we are at with that before we make that decision.”
Page was critical of Forest in March when Williams’ team-mate Brennan Johnson withdrew from the squad to take on Croatia and Latvia, suggesting the striker had not been given enough help to be fit for international duty.
As reported by the PA news agency in March, Bournemouth forward David Brooks will be part of the summer camp after returning to action following cancer treatment.
Brooks made his first start since September 2021 against Manchester United on Saturday after four substitute appearances for the Cherries this season.
The 25-year-old was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma in October 2021 and announced he was cancer free in May 2022.
“I am pleased for him because he’s had a long journey,” said Page.
“I got a bit excited in March. I tried to get him on camp then because you want your best players around you. He definitely falls into that category.
“We knew we had to manage it. You don’t go through what he’s gone through and not have little setbacks.
“Bournemouth have been incredible with the way they have handled it and got him back up to speed. It’s great that we have got him available.”
Wales made a positive start to Euro 2024 qualifying with four points from two games, drawing away to World Cup semi-finalists Croatia before beating Latvia at home.
Glamorgan aiming to make cricket more diverse in Wales
Glamorgan are unlocking opportunities for the next generation of South Asian heritage cricketers and supporters.
The Welsh county has put a coaching network in place to give young talent from ethnic minority backgrounds the best chance of following former England Under-19 spinner Prem Sisodiya into the first team.
Off the field, prayer rooms are being actively discussed, while Glamorgan hope to attract supporters of South Asian descent by establishing no alcohol areas as well as providing halal and vegetarian food options.
“We’ve got a joint strategy which has set out its intention of being the most inclusive sport in Wales and to reflect the diversities of the communities we have here,” said Mark Frost, community and development manager for Glamorgan Cricket and Cricket Wales.
“We’ve set out that whether you are a club or at Sophia Gardens (Glamorgan’s home), being a more diverse set up is actually better for you.
“We’re not doing it for box-ticking or to be politically correct, we’re doing it because it’s good for you and we want it to happen.”
In Wales, 60 per cent of clubs now have girls or women’s team offers – “a massive step forward”, says Frost – and ‘Street Cricket’ initiatives have been set up in locations throughout the country where clubs do not exist.
Glamorgan’s drive to produce players of South Asian heritage has seen coaches such as former Derbyshire and Middlesex paceman Ali Bukhari, Mohsin Arif, Imran Hassan and Mojeid Ilyas joining their ‘Talent Pathway’ scheme.
“That old adage ‘if you can’t see it you can’t believe it’ is a really important one,” said Frost, speaking at a Glamorgan junior programme event held in Grangetown, one of Cardiff’s most diverse communities close to the city centre.
“The coaching pathway for Welsh age-group squads is helping to contribute from both the coaching and mentoring of players from an ethnic minority background.
“We’ve also spoken to community leaders and said we’re really taking the subject of prayer rooms seriously, as well as having a good variety of food options and areas of no alcohol or low alcohol so people can find an area that suits them.
“We know that T20 and The Hundred has attracted a younger audience, a family audience, and we’ve not yet got the right number of people coming forward from an ethnic minority background.
“But we’ve seen growth in the club game over the last eight years from five to 12 per cent of juniors and seniors from an ethnic minority background, which is more than representative of the population of Wales.”
Sisodiya attended the schools’ event at the Grange Pavilion, little more than a six hit from where he was born and grew up.
He said: “Being of Indian heritage and to say I’m from Grangetown is massive to me.
“When I was growing up we were always playing on the streets and in the park with a bat and ball.
“To see how a facility like this has developed is amazing. I think if I’d had this as a youngster it would have pushed me even more.
“When my dad came over from India he played for the Welsh Asians, but there’s a lot more integration now and it’s important Glamorgan spot that talent at an early age.”
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