Italy 92 Russia 6

[kiwileaguefan]

Italy ran in 16 tries in a resounding 92-6 win over Russia in Padova in the opening game of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup European zone qualifiers.
Josh Mantellato led the way with 36 points from two tries and 14 goals in front of an enthusiastic, sun-drenched crowd.


The Azzurri led 36-6 at the break, Russia's sole touchdown coming from FC Vereya's Alexey Nikolaev, skipper Aleksander Lysokon kicking a goal.

 

[woodyk2]

close...ruskis nearly got em

 

[langpark]

It really is unfair that Minichello is allowed to play in these matches, makes it difficult to guage the true progress of the Italian products and their domestic league.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't let him play qualifiers, but play the WC if they make it...

 

[Evil Homer]

It really is unfair that Minichello is allowed to play in these matches, makes it difficult to guage the true progress of the Italian products and their domestic league.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't let him play qualifiers, but play the WC if they make it...

I understand where you are coming from, but honestly that's one of the dumbest suggestions I have seen.

 

[langpark]

if you understand where I'm coming from, how can it be one of the dumbest suggestions you've ever seen?


It's simple, the guy played origin this year, meaning his allegiances were with Aus. If Italy qualify with on merit (with those that have only ever represented Italy) then they deserve it. The ability to then bring in the Minichello's come WC time will hopefully reduce somewhat the blowout scorelines when they play the heavyweight teams...

 

[miguel de cervantes]

Damn, a real kick in the guts for Russia. Hopefully they can bounce back.

 

[Joe's Magpies]

Go Italy. Forza Azzurri.

 

[adamkungl]

if you understand where I'm coming from, how can it be one of the dumbest suggestions you've ever seen?


It's simple, the guy played origin this year, meaning his allegiances were with Aus. If Italy qualify with on merit (with those that have only ever represented Italy) then they deserve it. The ability to then bring in the Minichello's come WC time will hopefully reduce somewhat the blowout scorelines when they play the heavyweight teams...

Origin is irrelevant to the international game to everyone outside the ARL. He didn't play for Australia.

 

[Evil Homer]

if you understand where I'm coming from, how can it be one of the dumbest suggestions you've ever seen?


It's simple, the guy played origin this year, meaning his allegiances were with Aus. If Italy qualify with on merit (with those that have only ever represented Italy) then they deserve it. The ability to then bring in the Minichello's come WC time will hopefully reduce somewhat the blowout scorelines when they play the heavyweight teams...

I understand in so much that it's not a true reflection of the domestic strength. But realistically we want players like Minichiello to be playing for Italy as much as possible, to be honest I think it's much worse for the game when the likes of Hayne stick their hands up for Fiji come WC time but aren't really committed to those nations. From what I understand, Minichiello is 100% committed to Italy from now on so fair play to him, guys like this can do a lot of good for the game and I don't see what banning them would achieve other than shooting ourselves in the foot. Also, he's eligible and willing to play for Italy, so what justification can you have for banning him? Just because he's a good player? The wider issue here is dual eligibility, Minichiello shouldn't have been allowed to switch to Australia in the first place after representing Italy, but we're going over old ground here. As I said, he's eligible and clearly committed to the team so what would possibly be achieved by banning him from playing in qualifiers?

 

[Der Kaiser]

Personally in WC Qualifiers I would have it that a Nation cant have more than 6 Heritage players in. Its unfair for me to see the likes of Italy, Ireland and Scotland just fill their team with Aussies/Brits and use so few Native players. Serbia for example have done so well and done so much work in developing the game there. They dont deserved to get hammered by a team full of Heritage players from the NRL and Queensland Cup/NSW Comp. The rules should be tougher and make it more that the domestic players get more chance to play for their National team.

Regarding Minicello he shouldnt be allowed to play for Italy for me as he played SoO. The ARL said that SoO was only for players for Australia no other land. Other players like Uate have had to give up playing for Fiji to play SoO and others have been told (Think Mcguire from the Broncos) that he had to choose his Nation or SoO.

 

[adamkungl]

What is the "rule" regarding nation swapping?

 

[adamkungl]

Personally in WC Qualifiers I would have it that a Nation cant have more than 6 Heritage players in.

There is merit in this suggestion. Just looked at the Italian squad and it's not really a true reflection of the work both have done, and could be a disincentive for the Russians to even bother trying next time round.

 

[billy2]

Big result for Josh Mantellato.
The kid is only about 23 and has been the top pointscorer in the Newcastle comp 2 years running and has been in the NSW country side for the past 3 years i think.
The Knights could do worse than to give him a shot at the Centurions.

 

[NRLMad]

I just don't get what the big deal is.. so what if they play heritage players. They need to qualify for the World Cup in 2013 - once they qualify they'll get more sponsors & the local competition will get more money.

If you are look back at Lebanon - they were nowhere before the last 10 years. Heritage players started the comp there didn't they?

Now they have a full fledged competition.

http://www.lebrl.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_league_in_Lebanon

Rugby league is a team sport that has been played in Lebanon since 2002.


The seeds of rugby league in Lebanon in fact lie in Australia. A group of Australian-born rugby league players with Lebanese heritage, mostly from inner-city Sydney formed a side with a view to entering the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. They were accepted into the qualifying tournament on the agreement that they would aim to develop rugby league within the country they represent. They subsequently went on to win the qualifying competition, earning their place by beating Italy and Morocco of the Mediterranean group before travelling to Florida to defeat the USA, winners of the Pacific group.


In 2002 a domestic league was set up in Lebanon, initially with four university-based teams. Players from the domestic competition now feature in the national side, and a side composed entirely from Lebanese domestic players, known as Lebanon Espoirs has been formed.

 

[billy2]

Italy is just the sort of team we want in the world cup.
They can put up a competetive side, but more importantly they are a fertile growth area and they are a first world economy that can afford to buy TV rights and love their international sports.
They are coming out of left field as qualifiers, but they offer more potential income for the game than just about all the countries trying to qualify and half the ones who have qualified.
USA and Italy getting through is the dream result for the money crunchers.

 

[adamkungl]

Depends whether we want the qualifiers to be a contest of who will give the WC the best shake, or who has done the best development work.

From a competitive + short-medium term profitability point of view, the former is the most sensible.

Anyway Russia were always going to be up against it with no imports and did I read they haven't played an international in 3 years? The best way to see them improve is by playing more games against better opposition.

 

[Sam_the_man]

It really is unfair that Minichello is allowed to play in these matches, makes it difficult to guage the true progress of the Italian products and their domestic league.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't let him play qualifiers, but play the WC if they make it...

I completely agree with you. Ring ins like Mini shouldn't be playing these qualifiers. They should be allowed to play in the actual WC but not the qualifiers.

 

[Srbin]

People rules are bad... because in a team of 20 players you must have a minimum of 5 domestic players...what that means on match day that Italy had 15 Australian players and 2 domestic players and Russia had 17 domestic players...

I just remind you what happened 3 years ago in Euro Med Cup when Lebanon put side (full domestic side) to play vs Russian national team (full domestic) in Moscow...it was 80:0 for Russia...I think if Italy put full domestic side vs Russia that Russia will crash them with minimum 40-50 points...

 

[Evil Homer]

Personally in WC Qualifiers I would have it that a Nation cant have more than 6 Heritage players in. Its unfair for me to see the likes of Italy, Ireland and Scotland just fill their team with Aussies/Brits and use so few Native players. Serbia for example have done so well and done so much work in developing the game there. They dont deserved to get hammered by a team full of Heritage players from the NRL and Queensland Cup/NSW Comp. The rules should be tougher and make it more that the domestic players get more chance to play for their National team.

If player are eligible then there shouldn't ever be any restrictions on who a nation can select, if Italy are able to draw on a lot of heritage players then that's just the way it is. So long as they are committed to Italy, then there's no problem with that at all. The issues come when players start jumping ship and artificially raising the standard at certain times, which is why a one-nation-for-life rule is essential. Long-term, if the likes of Serbia continue to develop then they will eventually have a squad of their own players that are capable of competing without having to rely on heritage players and other nations' cast-offs, which will stand put them in a much healthier position. I think the Serbs are fully aware of this, their focus is on developing RL rather than chasing unwarranted international glory. Trying to artificially lower the standard of the comp in some way so that smaller nations can instantly compete would just be totally stupid and counter-productive. If we enforce a one nation for life rule, all of these problems will go away and there's no way anyone can complain about a level playing field.

As for your point about Origin, this has been covered many times. Origin is not an international match and isn't binding in any way.

 

[billy2]

Love to see an Italy v France match now.