Lebanon 86 Italy 0

[bulos01]

italy are already showing signs of improvement ;-)
local boy youseff El helou went over for a try. not too sure how many of the 5 lebanese born and based players who played scored

 

[dorcolrugby]

http://www.rlef.eu.com/news.php?id=1205

 

[ByRd]

Good news for Lebanon and good to see some local boys among the tries, go get em Cedars!!!

 

[Evil Homer]

Maybe in 5 years Italy will be at Lebanon's level.

 

[RedVee]

Thats all good, but can Lebanon realistically compete with Wales/Scotland/Ireland?
I guesswe find out over the next couple of weeks. I hope they can, or at least get close enough to be encouraged to keep the journey going.

 

[Evil Homer]

Lebanon beat Wales and drew with Ireland in the WC qualifiers two years ago, so there's no doubt they can compete.

 

[ali]

I wonder what the crowd was? The RLEF preview said it could be quite well attended!

 

[RedVee]

Lebanon beat Wales and drew with Ireland in the WC qualifiers two years ago, so there's no doubt they can compete.

Thats good. Makes for a proper, competitive, Cup without the thought of being an Anglo Celtic closed shop.

 

[VonVolks]

Yeah Ireland came from behind to draw in both games, and Wales got truly smashed.....

Go Lebanon!

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Lebanon was robbed of a WC place. They never lost a single qualifying game, didn't get any home games (in fact had to play Ireland in northern England where all the Irish players are from) and copped some terrible calls in the vital game against Ireland. They also don't have major problems with players showing up for big games and then disppearing for smaller games like many other countries. Most of the players that played in the qualifiers are playing again this year, except that they are giving even more domestic players a go.

 

[The.Saints.Are.Coming]

Proud to be Lebo
Lebanon is only improving each year, and will be in the 2013 World Cup. With the Cup extending to 12 teams, surely they will be in (if they continue playing so freaking well).
Didn't Reece Robinson play for the Broncos this season ?

 

[gsweeper]

RLIF should have just let Lebanon in last year....they could have generated so much money from Lebanon being in the tournament over nearly any other team....

 

[earl park riot]

Reece Robinson previously played for the Broncos, but played for Norths in the NSW Cup this year and had a pretty good season. Scored around 15 or 16 tries for the season.

 

[roughyedspud]

Lebanon was robbed of a WC place. They never lost a single qualifying game, didn't get any home games (in fact had to play Ireland in northern England where all the Irish players are from)

you say that as if it's some kind of conspiracy.....i can assure you that the RFL played no part in israel invading lebanon :sarcasm:

 

[East Coast Tiger]

you say that as if it's some kind of conspiracy.....i can assure you that the RFL played no part in israel invading lebanon :sarcasm:

Well, firstly the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon was nearly 18 months before the Dewsbury game. But the point is that it was meant to be a home game. Realistically it should have been in Sydney if anywhere. That would have been more of a home game than the north of England, which was practically an Irish home game. Played in Sydney Lebanon wins easily and they make the WC. As it was they should have won anyway.

 

[nqcowboy87]

does anyone have pics

 

[VonVolks]

there's a small vid on the new www.lebrl.com website.

Its on the page of the match report though so you have to go to that....

 

[miguel de cervantes]

Get your official video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DgVxvYMkUA&feature=player_embedded

Definitely an Italian team full of union blokes - too chubby, too slow. This is rugby league boys, shape up or ship out.

 

[Bulldog Force]

Got really boring towards the end of that game. Italy didn't look like they were trying but also had no team chemistry. That last try Lebanon scored made me feel really sorry for Italy. They are not a Rugby League nation... yet!

From what I saw in that video, George Ndaira was the halfback and captain for the Cedars.

 

[kuwaiti kev]

Get your official video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DgVxvYMkUA&feature=player_embedded

Definitely an Italian team full of union blokes - too chubby, too slow. This is rugby league boys, shape up or ship out.

Lol funny thing is their captain and from what I heard one of their best on the day is probably the chubbiest out there, BUT a true league player previously turning out for Keighley Cougars.

But you are correct in the fact that the majority of them are Union players. I'm just disappointed this squad looks much weaker than the team which won the Euro Shield, they seem to have had their real league players drop out and replaced them with Union heads (not through any fault of the management from all accounts). They have players turning out for French teams in the Elite1 the last couple of weekends!