Rugby League World Cup Opener Rumbled By ‘Technical Failure’

Written by on 17th October 2022

Rugby League World Cup have apologised after a ‘technical failure’ brought the official welcome ceremony to a halt.

England’s opening game against Samoa was delayed due to a technical issues at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon, with the PA system failing to work during the pre-match welcome ceremony. 

After a year of waiting, fans in the stadium and those watching at home were gobsmacked by the scenes that were unfolding at the highly anticipated opener of the tournament.

Fans took to social media to discuss what was happening and Tournament Chief Executive, Jon Dutton replied: “We take full responsibility.”

The Kaiser Chiefs were set to headline the pre-match entertainment, however frontman Ricky Wilson was forced to improvise and took matters into his own hands to entertain the crowd after his set was silenced one song in. 

Wilson entertains the crowd during a delay to the Rugby League World Opener

Wilson tried to lift the spectators morale by running around the pitch while technicians scrambled pitchside to resolve the issues with the PA system. 

Only 10 minutes behind schedule, the teams made their way onto the pitch for what was an exhilarating 80 minutes of Rugby League. 

Kicking off the tournament in style, England gave a powerful Samoan side a true thumping, winning 60 points to 6.

During the second half of the game, Rugby League World Cup posted a statement regarding the issues posed earlier. 

In the statement, the Rugby League World Cup said: “RLWC2021 would like to sincerely apologise for the disrupted tournament welcome, which was severely affected by technical failure.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted but we would like to thank fans for their patience and for continuing to celebrate the teams and the tournament.”

Nevertheless, England provided quite the performance to a packed out St James’ Park with some absolutely electric rugby. 

If you are at the the Rugby League World Cup, share your photos with us @SparkSunderland. 


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