The international nines had some great individual performances. Catalans Dragons star Samuel Tomkins was sublime, and is so far even with the ever brilliant Shaun Johnson in the running for player of the tournament.
Samuel Tomkins performance on Friday night showed the error of omitting him from the Great Britain Lions squad. Samuel was a class above Blake "are you awake?" Austin, and showed why he should have been selected ahead of the bogus Briton.
The giant Toulouse outside back Gavin Marguerite, playing for France, showed glimpses of why he is potentially a superstar of northern hemisphere rugby league. However the absence of Toulouse's star half back Stanislas Robin from the French team diminished that great nation's chances of being a force in this competition.