LEBANON have been hit by thieves at their hotel ahead of their World Cup clash with Jamaica.
News Corp has revealed that police were called to the Cedars hotel on Friday night after team gear and laptops containing sensitive information were stolen.
There had been concerns that the Cedars may have had to play in another jersey against Jamaica following the theft of their kits, but they were later found on a local building site.
Lebanon are set to go head to head with Jamaica with victory confirming the Cedars’ quarter-final spot with a fixture against Australia beckoning.
That would bring Lebanon boss Michael Cheika up against Mal Meninga and the latter has had a number of kind words for the former.
“I have only met him a couple of times,” Meninga said.
“Obviously he is astute and he has some great staff there. He has some great players in his footy team, smart players as well.
“So they will come with a really definite plan about how they are going to upset us.”
Cheika has spoken out about a potential move to the NRL, with Meninga fully supportive of the current Argentina rugby union boss.
“I think there has been a lot of really good examples of leagies going to union. You look at Les Kiss is a good example.
“They all started off with specific roles at clubs, particularly defensively, and they became head coaches.
“There is no reason why [it can’r work] particularly in Australia, where we all grow up with league and union, so we have a really good understanding of both codes.
“We’re not foreign to it all. I know Michael has done a bit of work with the Roosters. He has [Roosters assistant] Matty King there and some really good staff around him.
“There is no reason why he can’t transfer over to our game and do well.”
