LEBANON head coach Michael Cheika has revealed that the Cedars are aiming to organise Test matches against France and England at the end of 2024.
The international calendar has been the subject of much interest following the Rugby League World Cup at the end of 2022.
With England already playing France in a mid-season Test and a Series against Samoa looking positive later in the year, there has been clamouring for extra fixtures ahead of the World Cup in 2026.
Now, Cheika is hoping that Lebanon will provide a stern test against England later in the year.
“We’re hoping to get some Test matches this year against France, at the end of the season,” Cheika told The Bye Round podcast with James Graham.
“We’ve been talking to them. We were hoping to get a game in Lebanon but with everything that’s going on over there we’ll probably get a couple of games in France.
“Even when England when the Samoa thing didn’t work out we tried to talk to them too, because I think that’s a great opportunity for us to play Test matches over there, get the boys together again, give them a chance when we can have all our NRL players.
“We might try and do something in the middle of the year when we don’t have our NRL players as well.
“There’s a lot of Lebanese kids playing in SG Ball and Jersey Flegg, I want to keep that moving along for them so they can see somewhere for them to play inside the framework of the Cedars.”
Click here to purchase a digital edition of League Express.
Click here to purchase an online edition of League Express through pocketmags.com.
Click here to listen to our new League Express Podcast.
League Express is widely available from local newsagents across the north of England.
