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The identity of three of the four teams involved in this weekend's World Cup semifinals was never in doubt but they have taken varying paths to this point both on and off the field.

It's one of the iconic stadiums of the world and England are hoping a big crowd at Wembley stadium tilts Sunday morning's World Cup semifinal against the Kiwis in their favour.

The Kiwis easily beat Papua New Guinea in Leeds this morning but it still wasn't the complete performance they were looking for and of more concern were a handful of worrying setbacks with injuries to key players.

There's a tradition among the Kiwis that any newcomers to the team need to get up in front of the squad and perform a song.

The prospect of leaving out the best overseas-based players would be unthinkable for the All Whites, but the move by Mexico won't necessarily make them any easier to beat for a place at next year's World Cup.

The withdrawal of Thomas Leuluai from the side to face France on tomorrow morning (NZT) is a blow for the Kiwis but it gives Shaun Johnson and Kieran Foran another chance to develop their relationship in the halves.

Sonny Bill Williams has a lot of goals still left to achieve in his grand plan and has confirmed one of them is to win gold in rugby sevens at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Jerome Ropati will extend his Warriors career into a 12th season after signing a new one-year contract with the club.

Gary Wilkinson expected to be reading up on the law this year rather than the Breakers' playbook but he said it took about "two seconds" to decide to return to a club he won two ANBL titles with.

If the Kiwis are to win the World Cup in the coming weeks, they will have to do it the hard way.

Sonny Bill Williams will play his first test for the Kiwis in five years when they open their World Cup campaign against Samoa on Monday morning (NZT) and he will hope for a better result than in his previous appearances for New Zealand.

At 1.96m and 121kg and a jaw chiselled straight out of the Rocky Mountains, it's hard not to notice Willie Mason.

The Azteca Stadium has witnessed some of the biggest moments in World Cup history and it's in this imposing arena the All Whites hope they can keep their World Cup dreams alive.

Moments after NZRL chief executive Phil Holden had read out the 24-man Kiwis squad to contest the upcoming World Cup, coach Stephen Kearney said he would address the "elephant in the room".

Stephen Kearney showed considerable faith in Kevin Locke to pick him for the upcoming World Cup, with the Kiwis coach citing the need for specialists as the principal reason for his inclusion.

While the Kiwis selectors would have loved to have had Sonny Bill Williams on deck for the World Cup, he wasn't seen as their most important player. In fact, he wasn't even in their top two.

It's the one thing every Kiwis fans wants to know - will Sonny Bill Williams play at the World Cup?