Lebanon Rugby League Team

2000 World Cup

The core of the Lebanese team was made up of Australians born in Sydney or raised there. In 1998, they had their debut game against Japan in Tokyo and defeated it 52:28. They took part in the qualification of the Mediterranean region for the World Cup, defeating the Italian team 36:16 and defeating the Moroccan team 104: 0, with Lebanese captain Hazem El Masri scoring 48 points per match, which no one had succeeded before, and this victory helped Lebanon win first Mediterranean Cup . In the decisive match for a ticket to the World Cup, the Lebanese faced the US team and defeated it 62: 8. The match was marked by the fact that the players of the national teams of Lebanon and the USA staged a brawl in the parking lot, as a result of which the American wing Tony Fabry needed to see a doctor ^[1] .

The team fell into a difficult group with the New Zealanders as favorites, the high-class team of Wales and the outsider - Cook Islands. The team lost 0:64 to New Zealand devastatingly in Gloucester, where the match took place in rainy weather with strong winds, and coach John Elias after the game said that his team was exhausted. The Lebanese national team in the second match missed four attempts by Wales, before they opened the score to her points Michael Curie in the 35th minute thanks to the attempt. In the second half, Hassan Saleh made two more attempts, but the team did not manage to catch up with Wales, losing 22:24. In the third match, the “cedars” were inferior to the Cook Islands team 10:22, and only five minutes before the end of the match, Hazem El Masri made a second attempt, and center Charles Bayey saved the team from defeat, equalizing the score 22:22. Only due to the best point difference (even if it was negative) did the Lebanese leave the last place in the group, but did not get into the playoffs.

Mediterranean Cup

In 2002, Lebanon defeated the French national team in Tripoli with a score of 36: 6 in the presence of 16,713 spectators and defended the Cup ^[2] . In 2003, they with great difficulty defended the title of Cup winners, winning 26:18 against the same French thanks to the efforts of Wissam El Masry in the last minute. In 2004, the team defeated Moroccans and Serbs in a row, reaching the final again against France. Before the break, the French “burned” at 8:30, in the second half Toufik Nicholas and Ahmed Al-Masri recorded a victory of 42:14. In that match for the French, Tom Bosque played, a future participant in the 2007 Challenge Cup Final as part of the Catalan Dragons.

2008 World Cup selection

Until November 2006, Lebanon did not hold matches until it entered the qualifying tournament with the teams of Russia and Ireland . The Lebanese beat the Russians with a score of 22: 8 at the New River stadium in North London, later the Bears defeated Ireland, and in order to keep the first place in the group, the Lebanese had to beat Ireland. In the first half, the Lebanese led 10-0 thanks to the efforts of Daniel Sheikh (not implemented) and John Coborsi (implemented). In the first six minutes of the second half, the Irish made two attempts, realizing them, and went ahead. A little later, Chris Salem intercepted the ball near the line of the test zone and then ran through the entire field, attempting and leading the Lebanese forward, but the Irish saved the game and ended the match in a draw 18:18.

In October 2007, the Lebanese defeated the Russians in Moscow with a score of 48: 0, scoring nine attempts in a row, and the next game against Ireland decided everything, and since the Irish were ahead in terms of the best points difference, the Lebanese were happy with the victory. Darren Marun said after the match with Russia that the cedars needed to change a lot in their game. Due to the difficult political situation in the country, the home match was moved to English Dewsbury . The Lebanese lost in the first half 12: 4, having brought in an attempt by the efforts of George Ndair , and then Chris Salem returned them to the game. In the 63rd minute, Charlie Nora prop was removed and 12 Lebanese remained on the field. Frank Samia successfully helped carry out the attempt, and the Lebanese came ahead with a score of 18:16, but the Irish at the last minute earned a free kick after a seizure that was not carried out according to the rules, and evened the score, earning their ticket.

The Lebanese went to a consolation tournament, where they also played the teams of Wales , USA and Samoa . The first game was held in the English Widnes against Wales: the Lebanese broke the resistance of the “dragons”, despite the fact that they led the score quite late at the end of the first half. Chris Salem brought in three attempts out of nine Lebanese, and the Welsh brought in only five. This victory extended the win-win series of Lebanese to 13 matches, thus breaking the Australian record - a series of 12 games without defeats to the “kangaroo” lasted from 1999 to 2001. In a parallel match, the US lost to Samoa, and the Samoans became an opponent of Lebanon. The game was held in Federston for the 10th ticket to the World Cup. The Samoans crushed the Lebanese: in the first half they were 28: 8 (George Ndair brought in an attempt at the “cedars”), and in the second they brought the matter to a victory of 38:16. The Lebanese brought four attempts per match and did not realize any of them ^[3] .

2013 World Cup selection

In one group, Lebanon included Serbia , Italy and Russia . Despite the victories over the Serbs and Russians, Lebanon tied with Italy on October 29 at 19:19 in Belgrade, and the Italians entered the World Cup thanks to the best points difference, leaving the Lebanese without a tournament.

2017 World Cup

Selection

Lebanon was supposed to participate in a match in Dubai against the South African national team , which determined who would go to the 2017 World Cup. However, in the end, it was decided to conduct a series of two matches: development director of the UAE Rugby League Sol Mokdad was arrested after a complaint from the UAE Rugby Union ^[4] . The Lebanese won with a total score of 90:28, adding six attempts to the account of Travis Robinson , and entered the World Cup for the first time since 2000.

Group Stage

Lebanon fell into the group to Australia, England and France, and three teams made it to the quarterfinals. It was expected that the "fourth superfluous" will be the team of Lebanon, made up of Lebanese Australians who played in Australia. The leaders of this team were the NRL star captain Robbie Farah , who had previously played for Australia , and the rookie Mitchell Moses . At the Canberra Stadium in the first game against France, the Lebanese sensationally defeated the Chauntecleurs with a score of 29:18 thanks to two attempts by Travis Robinson, who made six attempts in the qualifying playoffs, and won the first victory in the group. They lost to the British with a score of 10:29 and the Australians 0:34, but against the Australians the score could be larger if it were not for the Lebanese defense.

Playoffs

The Lebanese team, having beaten France, guaranteed themselves access to the playoffs. In the quarterfinals, Tonga defeated them 24:22, and the Lebanese were a little short of saving the match. The quarter-finals provided Lebanese with an automatic qualification for the next World Cup.

Here is the application of the Lebanese national team for the 2017 World Cup ^[5] . Rice Robinson , who was injured, was excluded from the application and replaced by Daniel Abu Slyman ^[6] .

Lebanon has held 51 games since 1998 at the end of the group stage of the 2017 World Cup since 1998 (an average of three matches per year). Most of them are friendly matches or games of the Mediterranean Cup (Lebanon invariably won in all five Cup draws). Of the 51 games, the Lebanese won 33, accounting for 65% of victories. Four matches were won against France, five matches against Italy (the share of victories is 80% and 71%, respectively). Against the three leading national teams of the world - Australians, New Zealanders and the British - Lebanon played one match and lost in all cases. In total, during the history of Lebanon's appearances, meetings were held against 20 national teams of the world, 7 of them against Italy, 5 against France and Morocco. Below are statistics from 1998.

World Championship

Lebanon participated in world championships twice: in 2000, lost two matches and tied a game against New Zealand. In 2017, he returned to the World Cup, beating the South African team in a two-match playoff series. France won in the group 29:18 and reached the quarter finals, guaranteeing themselves automatic participation in the 2021 World Cup.

• Rugby League in Lebanon

• Official site of the Lebanese Rugby League Federation