Rugby League World Cup tips and predictions: Week 2

The Rugby League World Cup's second week of action will get underway on Saturday morning, with seven of the eight games ahead having a clear favourite.

That will mean little once the team's hit the field though with the stakes and desperations rising.

For all of the first-round losers, this game is as good as sudden death, while most of the winners will be able to secure their way through to the quarter-finals, and with it, direct qualifications for the 2025 Rugby League World Cup, which will be held in France.

Our team's tips for Week 1 only had a few variations, but it was David Piepers, Dan Nichols and Matt Clements who managed to tip seven out of eight.

While Matt and Dan both got the English tip right, they tipped Scotland over Italy. David was the only one to tip Italy, so while he tipped Samoa, he also winds up on seven.

Jack Blyth's tips of Samoa and Scotland mean he scored six points, while my upset guess - Wales to beat the Cook Islands - ended up not coming off, so I round out the field on five.

Week 2 sees seven of the eight games have unanimous tips, and on paper at least, with fairly good reason.

The games start on Saturday morning (AEDT) with Australia taking on Scotland, before Fiji take on Italy, England play France and New Zealand tackle Jamaica on Sunday morning.

The remaining games to be played between Monday and Wednesday morning see Lebanon play Ireland, Samoa up against Greece, Tonga looking to put away a desperate Wales, and Papua New Guinea up against the Cook Islands in a game between the two most rugby league-mad nations on the planet.

The only game which sees a variation in tips is the Lebanon and Ireland clash, with the panel split after their respective Week 1 showings, but also Adam Doueihi's out after he was suspended for a tirade at referee Grant Atkins.

Here are the Week 2 tips.