Sun 23 October: RLWC: Lebanon v Ireland KO 2.30pm

[JonM]

1 hour ago, BladeHearts said:

Does anyone know if this Lebanon side is getting any media attention back  in Lebanon?

Certainly seeing Lebanese social media that covers other sports (e.g. basketball and football) carrying news about these games.

[Guest]

Just caught up with the game. Very happy for Lebanon.

Have the Senior brothers been banned from the gym? The difference in physiques of full time players is quite marked. 

[Young Blood]

3 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Must try harder, YB.  You were a whole four points out!  (Well done!)

Thanks I had it until Ireland scored in the last 5 minutes. 

[GUBRATS]

57 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Just caught up with the game. Very happy for Lebanon.

Have the Senior brothers been banned from the gym? The difference in physiques of full time players is quite marked. 

The Seniors have been full time for years 

[Number 16]

You've gotta question. 

The anthems... the Aussie Lebanese sang. The English Irish mumbled. 

It meant more to one team?

Question.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

The Seniors have been full time for years 

I know. But the difference is marked.

[Damien]

 

 

[Tippytoe]

32 minutes ago, Leonard said:

I know. But the difference is marked.

More meat on a butchers pencil. 

[Tex Evans Thigh]

When Ireland look back at that they will be very disappointed. So many errors and needless penalties they were never going to be in the game against a well-matched opponent. Ireland could have won that game if they had turned up and got into the grind but Lebanon were great value for their win and have some exciting looking players.

I concur, it would be good if anyone could confirm if this is getting any coverage in Lebanon. I said at the last world cup, if you were a casual Lebanese sports fan and you saw you were beating nations like France and Ireland in a world cup it would surely peak your interest.

[StandOffHalf]

5 hours ago, redjonn said:

I was surprised the ref was so lenient.  Let too many head shots go... bryne could have been off a number of times.

I feel as though they went out to disrupt Lebanon by roughing them up.  I ended up pleased with them being stuffed.

Yeah, high shots, cannonballs, ruck interference, just niggle across the board. I wouldn't have minded earlier yellows from the ref.

It was an incredibly disappointing and off-putting approach and mindset.

[Niels]

1 hour ago, StandOffHalf said:

Yeah, high shots, cannonballs, ruck interference, just niggle across the board. I wouldn't have minded earlier yellows from the ref.

It was an incredibly disappointing and off-putting approach and mindset.

Yes I agree.

They were totally outcoached. They also don't have the temperament or self control to succeed with that sort of game. 

They should have tried to play and use their good half back more.

[StandOffHalf]

7 minutes ago, Niels said:

Yes I agree.

They were totally outcoached. They also don't have the temperament or self control to succeed with that sort of game. 

They should have tried to play and use their good half back more.

Too many hot-heads just let things snowball - if that's the right word (little nod to Nobby, haha). I really think it was a case of them never settling and then letting things unravel.

Lebanon played some nice stuff but IE were their own worst enemies out there. They really needed to park the niggle and switch on. The game passed them by.

Edited October 23, 2022 by StandOffHalf

[Londonbornirishbred]

I thought Ireland were poor. That's not to detract from Lebanon, but we never really turned up. I think many have mentioned it before, but the smaller nations NEED an International Window where they can gather and play maybe 3 games each year WITH ALL THEIR PLAYERS RELEASED. Until then, I don't see anyone challenging the Big 3 for at least a generation.

[Young Blood]

We need games between Fiji, France,  Cook Islands, Italy , PNG, Ireland , Lebanon and Wales . 

 

[Madrileño]

4 minutes ago, Young Blood said:

We need games between Fiji, France,  Cook Islands, Italy , PNG, Ireland , Lebanon and Wales . 

 

I see you mention PNG. 

Do you think they could ever get to the stage where they could compete with England? Or do you think that the English are just too strong for them?

[Young Blood]

27 minutes ago, Madrileño said:

I see you mention PNG. 

Do you think they could ever get to the stage where they could compete with England? Or do you think that the English are just too strong for them?

100% they are mad about rugby league with proper investment no reason why they cant beat a tier one nation. 

They beat England or (Great Britian) already

Edited October 24, 2022 by Young Blood

[Young Blood]

11 hours ago, SydneyRoosters said:

This is really poor from the Irish, they have not lived up to there potential. I’m 90% sure Wales would beat them fairly comfortably.

What? Lebanon done what was expected of them . Lebanon just a better all round team remember they gave NZ a good run for their money and needed brillance from Manu to win that game . They are clearly second best NH team 

[north yorks trinity]

Just caught up with the game.

If anyone wants an object lesson in game management , just watch Ireland...and do the exact opposite.

It was disappointing as I was looking forward to a close contest but the fact that two of the main architects of Ireland's downfall were Liam Byrne and James Bentley was some consolation. No idea if there's generally any correlation between the two very nebulous concepts of rugby IQ and conventional IQ, but I suspect Bentley isn't challenging the leaderboard for either.

[SydneyRoosters]

3 hours ago, Young Blood said:

What? Lebanon done what was expected of them . Lebanon just a better all round team remember they gave NZ a good run for their money and needed brillance from Manu to win that game . They are clearly second best NH team 

First of all Lebanon definitely didn’t have the better the better team on paper, and your joking right, Second best NH team , That’s one of the stupidest rugby league takes I’ve ever heard.

[Young Blood]

6 minutes ago, SydneyRoosters said:

First of all Lebanon definitely didn’t have the better the better team on paper, and your joking right, Second best NH team , That’s one of the stupidest rugby league takes I’ve ever heard.

Lebanon are clearly 2nd best NH team they beat France last World Cup took care of Ireland, Wales and Italy this year. Oc course Lebanon have better team on paper then Ireland they beat them easily without their 2nd best player.

[jim_57]

3 minutes ago, Young Blood said:

Lebanon are clearly 2nd best NH team they beat France last World Cup took care of Ireland, Wales and Italy this year. Oc course Lebanon have better team on paper then Ireland they beat them easily without their 2nd best player.

They may well be as you say they have the results to back it up last 5 yearsz The problem is while Lebanon is northern Hemisphere their players are mostly all Southern Hemisphere based so regular games against European teams isn’t easy.
 

They definitely should be over for a Northern Hemisphere tournament with England, France, Ireland etc once every World Cup cycle. 

[Griff]

14 hours ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:

There is two main themes coming out of this World Cup ;

Firstly, Teams of predominatly NRL players or teams with a mixture of current and past -NRL players (and I include England in this) are towelling sides made up of Super League and championship players. To hear Brian Noble and Kyle Amor talking up Ireland to beat the Western Sydney boys (that's Lebanon to you) was comedy gold and, fair play to Kyle he spoke of his embarrassment post game over that.

If expansion of the game in the UK adopts the "field of dreams" approach (i.e stick up a pair of Rugby posts and they will come) then International Rugby League, sticking with the Film analogy, adops the "Hamburger Hill" approach.(i.e take ground at high cost then abandon it)  In 2000 Ireland had a game in Belfast in 2013, theyin  played Cork,this year nowhere near the Emerald Isle. They have no creduible international programme outside of the World Cup, at which point a heritage side is cobbled together of Super League and Championship players with a sprinkling of NRL players some of which have swopped nationalities in between World Cups.

If you really want to grow the game then you have to have sides with a credible international programme, playing in the country they represent with players making a commitment to represent that country.alone.

The game, it was a (ball) steal for the cedars which would have made Gavin Clinch proud. Pleased to see Abbas Miski back in action. When he played for the London Broncos he stood out much like seeing Eric Clapton busking on the London Underground. Whlie on a Broncos theme, if Cedars Coach Michael has to Cheika his diary to juggle between the Cedars and Pumas, the Tony "sniffer" Rea is on hand to take the training session.

Pleased for my friends in the Western Sydney Lebanese community.

 

Ireland have never played in Cork.

[jim_57]

4 hours ago, Young Blood said:

We need games between Fiji, France,  Cook Islands, Italy , PNG, Ireland , Lebanon and Wales . 

 

Australia, NZ, England, Tonga & Samoa should be mixing it with those teams as well as each other. 

[Young Blood]

2 minutes ago, jim_57 said:

They may well be as you say they have the results to back it up last 5 yearsz The problem is while Lebanon is northern Hemisphere their players are mostly all Southern Hemisphere based so regular games against European teams isn’t easy.
 

They definitely should be over for a Northern Hemisphere tournament with England, France, Ireland etc once every World Cup cycle. 

I agree they need more internationals even a Mediterrean Cup between Italy, Greece , France and Lebanon will be nie to see.

[SydneyRoosters]

15 minutes ago, Young Blood said:

Lebanon are clearly 2nd best NH team they beat France last World Cup took care of Ireland, Wales and Italy this year. Oc course Lebanon have better team on paper then Ireland they beat them easily without their 2nd best player.

“They beat France last World Cup”, Obviously you have no idea about the French team, every single player in the squad is a first grader and they have some top top players. France would absolutely destroy Lebanon.