Fiji 22-4 Samoa

Fiji will meet Australia in the Rugby League World Cup semi-finals at Wembley next Saturday after a battling win over Samoa in Warrington.

A full match report can be found here.

Fiji gear up for Samoa

Fiji's RLWC2013 squad are using UCLan Sports Arena as their base camp ahead of Sunday's Quarter-final clash with Samoa.

The players are also utilising UCLan's new Physiotherapy Clinic for treatment and sports massage, with second and third year Sports Therapy students on hand to look after the team.

Mick Reid, Strength and Conditioning Coach for Fiji, said: "We've had a warm welcome from the staff and students at UCLan and it's great that everything we need is practically in one place. Access to physiotherapy and sports massage treatments is vital for the players' well-being and it's great that in return we're able to provide practical experience for the students carrying out the massage sessions."

UCLan's Academic Director of Sport, Dr Adrian Ibbetson, commented: "We're happy to welcome the Fijian team to the Arena to use our first-class facilities as part of their training process, particularly as this builds on our friendship having hosted athletes from the country for their Olympic preparations.

"UCLan helped bring the spirit of the Rugby League World Cup 2013 to the local community during Ireland's recent stay by working with the team to hold a coaching master class, school tag tournament and open training sessions. The Irish team did a great job of boosting rugby league interest in Lancashire and we aim to continue this by supporting Fiji in their World Cup campaign."

More images from the physiotherapy session can be found here.

Public warming to RLWC2013

The official viewing figures from last Saturday's live coverage of Rugby League World Cup 2013 on the BBC show a peak audience of 2.2m watched England's final group game against Fiji. The match, which England won 34-12, had a 15% share of the total viewing audience across all channels.

These figures compare very strongly with other sports available to audiences and show how RLWC2013 is capturing the interest of the British sporting public.

For example, the ATP Tennis World Tour Finals on BBC2 at the same time had a 1.2million peak audience, the rugby union England v Argentina international had a peak of 571,000, while the live Premier League football on Sky peaked at 810,000.

This weekend sees the Quarter-finals get underway. Full tournament details can be found here.

Australia 50-0 Ireland

RLWC2013: Ireland start as major underdogs

Ireland will start as major underdogs for their final Group A match against Australia in the Rugby League World Cup 2013.

The game takes place at Thomond Park, Limerick, kick-off 8.00 pm.

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra will have full match commentary. A preview of the game can be found here.

Ireland 0-42 England

Ireland's Liam Finn and Mark Aston at their press conference following Saturday's RLWC2013 loss against England.

Ireland face England test

Action from Ireland's opener v Fiji

Ireland will be without experienced full-back Scott Grix for tomorrow's RLWC2013 clash with England. Warrington's James Mendeika takes his place, while Widnes prop Eamon O'Carroll is out with a shoulder injury.

Former Huddersfield second rower Simon Finnigan is back in contention after a hamstring problem and Warrington second-rower Ben Currie is set to line up at stand-off.

The Irish squad is as follows: Dave Allen, Luke Ambler, Bob Beswick, Damien Blanch, Danny Bridge, Ben Currie, Liam Finn, Simon Finnigan, Kurt Haggerty, James Hasson, Rory Kostjasyn, Stuart Littler, Tyrone McCarthy, James Mendeika, Anthony Mullally, Apirana Pewhairangi, Pat Richards, Joshua Toole and Brett White.

The game takes place at John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield, kick-off 2.30 pm, and will be screened live on BBC One.