League's biggest problem is the lack of an international game. It's good for the Southern Hemisphere that Fiji, Tonga and PNG have had fairly good tournaments. If they can get teams into the NRL it'd be even better.
Ireland done well and they probably deserved to finish in a group that had two spaces for the QFs. I imagine a lot of their teams are English born but a run in the latter stages could have been good publicity. World Cups grow sports but this ones probably done more for the Pacific Islands and Lebanon than it has for the likes of France, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.