Mon 17 Oct: RLWC: France v Greece KO 7.30pm

[John Drake]

Discuss France v Greece here.

[tommyace]

Might be a good game this one 

[Damien]

Nice article on the struggles Greek RL has faced:

They played matches at midnight and in secret in the Athens mountains to avoid detection by police - Greece's journey to their first Rugby League World Cup was anything but straightforward.

It was only in August, almost three years after Greece qualified, that the Greek Rugby League Federation (GRLF) was recognised by the country's government as the independent governing body for rugby league there.

Before then, the team had been banned from playing matches on home soil for several years.

"One day they'll probably write a book about us," says captain Jordan Meads.

"It's been one heck of a journey, but we wouldn't have it any other way, and we take our hats off to other emerging nations that had to join us on that journey.

"We're a few months down the track of having rugby league as a legal entity within the country and, for us, we're keen to shed that victim mentality and see rugby league develop in a country that we know will respond really well to a sport like this."

Rugby League World Cup: Greece's incredible journey to World Cup debut - BBC Sport

[MatthewWoody]

Interesting game. Looking forward. 

 

La liste des 19 joueurs :
1. Morgan ESCARÉ

2. Arthur ROMANO

3. Samisoni LANGI

4. Matthieu LAGUERRE

5. Fouad YAHA

6. Arthur MOURGUE

7. Tony GIGOT

8. Jordan DEZARIA

9. Alrix DA COSTA

10. Lambert BELMAS

11. Benjamin JULLIEN

12. Paul SÉGUIER

13. Benjamin GARCIA

14. Eloi PELISSIER

15. Justin SANGARÉ

17. Mickaël GOUDEMAND

19. Corentin LE CAM

21. Maxime PUECH

23. César ROUGÉ

Edited October 17, 2022 by MatthewWoody

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

France by a cricket score....not sure where people get the idea it will be a good game ...seen Greece love at New River and they are league 1 standard or lower unfortunately 

[JonM]

1 minute ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

France by a cricket score....not sure where people get the idea it will be a good game ...seen Greece love at New River and they are league 1 standard or lower unfortunately 

They have several NRL players, plus a whole bunch from Qld Cup and NSW Cup and some players from the Championship and League 1. The question mark will be over the players from the Greek league who're in the matchday 17. On paper, I would probably have them ahead of Wales or Scotland.

Also France have a track record of not adding up to the sum of their parts. 

[Archie Gordon]

Really hoping the French can run through the gears tonight, give England a game, and then shock Samoa.

I don't like Mourgue and Gigot together though - Gigot takes on too much and overplays things. Mourgue and Rouge would be how I'd go.

See you all there.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, JonM said:

They have several NRL players, plus a whole bunch from Qld Cup and NSW Cup and some players from the Championship and League 1. The question mark will be over the players from the Greek league who're in the matchday 17. On paper, I would probably have them ahead of Wales or Scotland.

Also France have a track record of not adding up to the sum of their parts. 

Yes - I would have Greece as a bit of a poor man's Italy and Italy were very decent. Will be a tough game.

[Niels]

I'd like to see Greece win. I remember visiting Rhodes where their best team play. I think there was a Greek fan on the forum here who answered some questions about them.

A close game would be good also. 

 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

France by 30.

[Damien]

I can see this being a high scoring game. Greece are an unknown quantity and I can't say I recognise any of their players but hopefully they'll give it a good crack. France are, well, France.

[GeordieSaint]

All depends on which Gigot rocks up. France will win but I don’t think by a grand margin. 7-12pts.

[marklaspalmas]

Nowt against Greece at all, good luck to em, but I'd really like to see France do well in this competition. Some convincing performances and a quarterfinal place at least.

Important for the 2025 hosts to show up well.

They have an excellent assistant coach and obviously must be saving Gadwin Springer for the England match.

[MatthewWoody]

A long day of work but a rugby league match to watch in prime time.  

 

P.S.: well done to my favourite sports results site for separating rugby and rugby league:

[Dave T]

16 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Nowt against Greece at all, good luck to em, but I'd really like to see France do well in this competition. Some convincing performances and a quarterfinal place at least.

Important for the 2025 hosts to show up well.

They have an excellent assistant coach and obviously must be saving Gadwin Springer for the England match.

Yes. I'm looking forward to this, I think France need to start building up momentum and getting more games against nations other than England. They need to be seen as a nation that wins games, and wins them well, it's a bit boring if their fans always juts see a plucky performance against Eng or NZ. 

That said, in the interests of supporting underdogs, I also hope Greece give a good account of themselves. 

[Futtocks]

 

[Just Browny]

Hope Robinson is in Gigot's face telling him to play for the team and not bring out the round the man flick passes through the legs if France take the lead. With a sensible gameplan that team will win.

[Archie Gordon]

At the ground with tickets for a stand that isn't open.

[graveyard johnny]

a minutes silence for Olivia Newton John to be observed 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

15 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

At the ground with tickets for a stand that isn't open.

Are there any other people about or are you alone? 

[GeordieSaint]

3 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Are there any other people about or are you alone? 

Alone. He’s actually in Derby.

[Archie Gordon]

1 minute ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Are there any other people about or are you alone? 

Atmosphere is building. RugBee is here and there are flags on the pitch. Greek squad non-players enjoying themselves. Ticket guy told me 3.5k sold. 

[marklaspalmas]

40 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

Hope Robinson is in Gigot's face telling him to play for the team and not bring out the round the man flick passes through the legs if France take the lead. With a sensible gameplan that team will win.

If the rumours are true, I hope everyone is very gentle with Gigot and he's not hurt.

[Hate the rec]

Looks a poor attendance again.

[JimBronco]

Really hope Greece are competitive tonight