Rugby League World Cup continues with Pool C action featuring Lebanon v Ireland which is a combination of countries you’d expect to hear on a World News service than going Head to Head in a Rugby League World Cup, but here we are.
Our Group C Lebanon v Ireland Match Centre has a preview, stats, team lists before the game and a summary of the match afterwards. More than you could ever need or want.
If you want more information on all the squads – follow this link here.
Lebanon 32 Ireland 14 Match Summary
It’s a big game, a likely shootout for the second spot into the knockout stage for Group C. The big news for this game was the suspension of Adam Doueihi for abusing a referee, he would be missed as one of Lebanon’s better players in their first week loss to New Zealand.
It didn’t seem they’d miss Doueihi too much early as Lebanon had the upper hand for the early part of the game. Mitchell Moses was looking sharp early, as was his main rival for the match in Luke Keary for Ireland. But Ireland had their early chances too, in among the errors and penalties in the early stages.
It was through a penalty that the scoring was opened up for the game by Lebanon as Mitchell Moses took advantage and added two points for Lebanon.
Just after the game passed the halfway mark of the first half Lebanon put on the first try of the game. Veteran centre Reece Robinson sliding in to score in the corner, after Mitchell Moses handled the ball twice in the ball movement and threw the final pass to Robinson. Moses converted from the sideline to extend the lead to 8-0.
Ireland continued to gift Lebanon with penalties and errors, and not long after their first try fullback Jacob Kiraz. The crisp inside-outside play with halves Khaled Rajab and Mitchell Moses exchanging passes and the found a charging Kiraz who powered to the line to score. Moses converted for a 14-0 lead.
There was plenty riding on the game, and that was in evidence as tempers boiled over just before the 30th minute with an impromptu melee.
Lebanon handled that better and scored their third try of the match not long after. Fresh from a short drop out from Ireland, Josh Mansour jumped best to take the ball, and then then did a Gene Miles over the top pass style ball to Brad Morkos who powered towards the line to score. Moses had his kicking boots on today with another conversion to make it 20-0. Lebanon were well on top now.
But that didn’t stop Ireland scoring just before half time as winger Louis Senior slid into the corner and did well to keep the ball in play to score Ireland’s first try of the match. It came through a midfield scrum close to the line and Luke Keary floated the wide ball to Senior. The NRL halves having quite the say about the complex. The conversion was missed and the score remained 20-4.
Lebanon blew a chance just before half time to score again as they threw the ball around, and the final sideline tackle saw another melee after the siren sounded. Each team lost a player to the sin bin also as a very interested first half ended. The half time score was 20-4, but there was plenty more to come from this game.
HALF TIME – LEBANON 20 IRELAND 4
The second half opened up with errors and penalties from both sides, though it has to be said that Lebanon continued to look the much stronger side.
Despite that, Ireland managed to be first to score in the second half through Louis Senior, but it was set up with a bullet-like cut out pass to the winger from Irish halfback Joe Keyes down the blind side. The sideline conversion was nailed and the score tightened to 20-10 with half an hour to play.
Lebanon responded within five minutes as Elie El-Zakham dived over in the corner, and no surprise that Mitchell Moses set up the try with a good old fashioned wrap around with Khalil Rahme. The conversion pushed the score out to 26-10.
Lebanon score quickly afterwards when Abbas Miski charged into the corner and got the ball down in time despite close attention of Irish defence. The final pass thrown by Jacob Kiraz.
Ireland’s chances of any comeback took a dive with ten minutes to go when Irish prop Liam Byrne was sent to the sin bin for a late hit on Mitchell Moses. Moses added two points for the goal as well, and Lebanon led 32-20.
A consolation try for Ireland with four minutes to go as Ed Chamberlain finished off a move in the corner set up by the speed of Luke Keary. The conversion was missed at the score stayed 32-14. Not bad to score with a player down though.
Lebanon were quite impressive, backing up their creditable performance against New Zealand in their first game. And without Adam Doueihi, although his replacement Khaled Rajab showed plenty in his absence. They have enough to get through to the knockout, and might annoy Australia in the likely knockout final. However, sadly for Lebanon they will have to face their next opponent without Jacob Kiraz who went off with a HIA and given how groggy he was, he won’t be back in time for the next game at least.
For Ireland, errors and penalties cost them the chance of building momentum, and not even an in-form Luke Leary was able to make the difference despite trying his hardest.
FINAL SCORE
LEBANON 32
Tries: Reece Robinson 20′ Jacob Kiraz 24′ Brad Morkos 30′ Elie El-Zakham 53′
Goals: Mitchel Moses 4/5 Conv 2/2 Pens
IRELAND 14
Tries: Louis Senior 36′ Louis Senior 47′
Goals: Ed Chamberlain 1/3 Conv
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
3 Pts – Mitchell Moses
2 Pts – Jacob Kiraz
1 Pt – Khaled Rajab
POINTS OF INTEREST
- The Irish national anthem sounds similar to the AFL club songs in Australia, which means it is great.
- Check out the hit Louis Senior put on a Lebanon player at around the 19 minute mark. It wasn’t his only big hit, but that was his best. A bit of a weapon really. Ireland’s best with Luke Keary.
- Haven’t seen too many melees at a Rugby League World Cup, but at least it was a good sign that there was a healthy rivalry between the sides. Hasn’t been much of that this week in the #RWLC2021.
Lebanon v Ireland Teams
LEBANON
1 Jacob Kiraz
2 Josh Mansour
4 Brad Morkos
16 Reece Robinson
5 Abbas Miski
18 Khaled Rajab
7 Mitchell Moses
8 Kayne Kalache
15 Andrew Kazzi
19 Khalil Rahme
11 Elie El-Zakham
12 Charbel Tasipale
13 James Roumanos
3 Bilal Maarbani
14 Anthony Layhoun
17 Jalal Bazzaz
20 Jaxson Rahme
IRELAND
1 Richie Myler
5 Innes Senior
3 Ed Chamberlain
4 Toby King
20 Louis Senior
6 Luke Keary
7 Joe Keyes
8 Liam Byrne
16 Brendan O’Hagan
10 Jaimin Jolliffe
11 James Bentley
12 Frankie Halton
13 George King
9 Joshua Cook
15 Harry Rushton
19 Rob Mulhern
22 James Hasson
Lebanon v Ireland Stats
- As you can see above, two-thirds of the games between these nations have been draws.
Lebanon v Ireland Preview
Ireland sit atop of Group C after the first round of matches having easily beaten Jamaica in their first clash of the World Cup. They looked quite good too, but a little hard to judge given the opposition.
Lebanon were quite competitive against New Zealand in their opening match of the World Cup – it was still 18-12 after Lebanon opened the second half scoring, but the New Zealand scored three very quick tries and Adam Doueihi was sent off in that five minute period which killed Lebanon’s chances.
Like a lot of games this round, it is a battle of the two teams most likely to go through to the knockout stage, and Ireland being the team with the win on the board has the big advantage going into this clash. The likely opponent is Australia, so first round of the knockout is as far as they’re going to get.
With these teams seemingnly evenly matched going into this clash, and the history of draws, perhaps this will be the first stalemate of the World Cup.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Luke Keary is an obvious choice, but is also hard to go past him as a quality player to watch. It would have been a great H2H with Adam Doueihi if the Lebanon five eighth wasn’t sent off and banned for a week for abusing the referee. He is appealing, so for the game’s sake let’s hope he gets to play.
That may leave it up to Mitchell Moses to steer Lebanon, which of course the Parramatta halfback is well capable of.
PREDICTION
Lebanon 30 Ireland 18
