RLWC '17 Qualifiers - Europe

[Burns]

Article is paywalled, what does it say?

 

[adamkungl]

Between the Opacic confusion and Spain naming the French coach, this is shaping up to be a great series

 

[paulmac]

Even if he is Slovenian,Opacic is a ethnically Serbian name,perhaps they are getting him selected via the 'former states' rule that the RLIF brought in for Yugoslavia & the USSR.

 

[expansionist]

Hey Guys, I asked the question of their squad to the Serbian RL on Twitter, and he advised me that all players named in their squad are well aware, and have expressed an interest in playing pending injuries.

Thats encouraging!

 

[Warriors Fever]

http://www.rlif.com/article/8156/italy-announce-train-on-squad-for-rlwc-qualifiers

65 players. Probably more than play in the official domestic comp.

Bergamasco is a former Italian rugby union international he would be about 32-33 now, he played just under 100 caps so that's not a bad coup. could generate a bit of interest from the union press.

 

[adamkungl]

I'm hoping for Wales, Ireland, and either Russia or Serbia.

I think Wales deserve it with their 2 pro teams, relative strength and history.
Ireland have pushed ahead of Italy with the steps they're taking to improve domestic level.
And Serbia or Russia for some Eastern European representation, over Italy who will likely be one of the more grandparent stacked teams again.
I don't think Spain are really in the picture yet, sadly.

So, Wales and Ireland to top their pools with the playoff Serbia v Russia

 

[Evil Homer]

Final Spain squad:

SPAIN 22-MAN SQUAD
Chris Lopez (Army Rugby League), Antonio Puerta, Daniel Moreno (Custodians Madrid), Ivan Ordaz (Irreductibles), Joel Laynez (Hull FC), Clement Laguerre (Los Gossos), Alex Doutres, Cedric Bringuier, Leandre Torres, Mathieu Griffi, Pierre Negre (Palau Xlll), Kevin Aparicio (Paris XV), Matt Dulley (Paterna Dragons), Miguel Charters-Blanco (Seaton Rangers), Gonzalo Morro (Tonneins), Aitor Davila, Juan Pablo Rango, Raul Simo (Torrent Tigres), Adria Alonso, Andrew Pilkington, Luis Thorp (Valencia Warriors), Daniel Garcia (Woolston Rovers)

France coach Cologni misses the cut.

 

[adamkungl]

Damn, there's a pity

 

[morningstar]

Serbia 22 man squad for the Wales game...

http://www.walesrugbyleague.co.uk/article/14821/three-debutants-in-serbia-22-man

David Andjelić (Blacktown St Patrick's), Reece Grkinić (Cabramatta), Daniel Burke (Collegians), Jason Muranka (Dewsbury Rams), Dalibor Samardžić, Dalibor Vukanović, Stefan Nedeljković, Stevan Stevanović (Dorćol), Joshua Marjanović (Kawana Dolphins), Džavid Jašari, Vlado Kušić (Partizan), Pero Madžarević, Žarko Kovačević (Radnički Nova Pazova), Miloš Ćalić, Miloš Zogović, Vladislav Dedić, Vojislav Dedić (Red Star Belgrade), Chad Grant (St Clair Comets), Vladica Nikolić (Villeneuve XIII Leopards), James Mirceski (Western Suburbs Magpies), Jordan Grant (Wests Tigers), Ilija Radan (unaffiliated)

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Not likely to be good enough to get through, alas. Their ring ins still aren't as good as other teams' ring ins. Should have sent more immigrants to Sydney 50 years ago Serbia.

 

[paulmac]

All teams should be made to follow Ireland's lead by having a minimum quota of domestic players for qualifying tournaments.Italy will walk this in,wholly undeserved.

 

[adamkungl]

23 of Italy's 65 man training squad are domestic.
If they rely entirely on ring-ins when they cut down to 24, it's their loss in future.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

http://rlif.com/article/8165/russia-name-new-look-squad-for-rlwc-qualifiers

Russian squad. Poor buggers don't have much hope.


RUSSIA 22-MAN SQUAD

Viacheslav Eremin, Andrey Kuznetsov, (Dynamo), Kirill Kosharin (CSKA Moscow), Ivan Troitskii (Ivanovo White Sharks), Vadim Buryak, Leonid Kalinin, Maxim Tsinkovich (Lokomotiv Moscow), Petr Botnarash, Mikhail Burlutskii, Sergey Gaponov, Anatoly Grigorev, Sergei Konstantinov, Aleksandr Lysokon, Maksim Suchkov, Denis Tiulenev, Vladimir Vlasyuk, Nikolai Zagoskin (Nara), Anton Iunisov, Iustin Petrushka (Moscow Fili), Dmitry Bratko, Igor Chuprin, Vadim Fedchuk (Moscow Storm)

 

[adamkungl]

What if Russia has been secretly working on an intense Rugby League program at Putin's request ever since that Tony Abbott shirt-front threat?

 

[deal.with.it]

Where is the italy final squad?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

What if Russia has been secretly working on an intense Rugby League program at Putin's request ever since that Tony Abbott shirt-front threat?

I don't think we want an intense Russian sporting program based on recent efforts.

 

[adamkungl]

In 2011 Russia and Serbia couldn't land a blow on a presumably stacked Lebanon and Italy.
In 2014 they both finished higher than Italy, which I expect is a more accurate picture of domestic strength, but pretty much irrelevant when it comes to qualifying.

5 years on, will they have improved enough to avoid 90 point floggings?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Serbia has some ring ins this time so they should put up more of a fight.

Russia, not so much.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

http://walesrugbyleague.co.uk/article/14805/wales-announce-22-man-squad-for

Wales' final squad.

Pretty much as expected. Plenty of Welsh born and bred, which is good. But no Flower or Evans. So as usual the best players coincidentally unavailable.

 

[Evil Homer]

Flower and Evans will be in the Super League Grand Final tomorrow so I guess would not have been in camp with the rest of the team for the past week. No point drafting them in really, the players they've got there should get them through pretty easily.