2000 Rugby League World Cup result:Australia won the title, beating New Zealand 40–12 in the final. Hosted by England, France, Ireland, Scotland & Wales.
Sourcing caveat: The full sixteen-team list mixes full national sides with two representative-only sides (NZ Māori, Australian Aboriginal) that don't fit our normal one-country-one-team model — both are listed here for completeness but aren't treated as separate "countries" on our World Cup nations pages.
Context
Matches spread across the British Isles and France — Twickenham, Old Trafford, Toulouse and many smaller grounds all hosted games.
The largest World Cup field ever assembled — sixteen teams, including a Lebanon side made up entirely of Australians of Lebanese descent (the only team required to actually qualify) alongside separate New Zealand Māori and Australian Aboriginal sides fielded next to the full national teams. The tournament turned a real profit (around £2 million) and drew significant sponsorship, but was widely criticised afterward for too many lopsided scorelines and thin overall attendances (averaging just 8,235 per match) from an oversized, quantity-over-quality field. Australia beat New Zealand 40-12 in the final at Old Trafford. On the positive side of the ledger, Lebanon's involvement is widely credited with catalysing the sport's ongoing domestic growth in Lebanon itself. Among the lopsided scorelines that drew the strongest criticism were Australia's 68-8 defeat of Fiji and New Zealand's 64-0 rout of Lebanon, and organisers also faced pointed questions over fielding both a full New Zealand side and a separate New Zealand Māori side in the same field. Twickenham hosted the opening ceremony and England's tournament-opening match against defending champions Australia, and title sponsor Lincoln Financial Group's contribution — over £1 million — was, at the time, the largest single sponsorship the World Cup had ever attracted.
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