Rice is on its way to the quarter-finals

Michael Chica’s smile matches the joy of his players. The Australian coach of Lebanese descent out of 13 Cedar could enjoy the performance of his men who, on the strength of their first victory in the competition (32-14) against Ireland, knocked out their direct opponent for second place in the group. .

A week after their impressive opening performance against world number one New Zealand, which did not stop them from accepting defeat (34-12), the Lebanese had already had to win to preserve their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages and thus repeating their performance. In the previous practice in 2017 (they narrowly lost 22-24 to Tonga in the quarter-finals).

In light of a very well-balanced showdown on paper between 13th Clover and Cedar, respectively, the 12th and 13th nation in the world, the latter came close to this crucial meeting deprived of one of his best elements: opener Adam Douaihy, who was sent off in a recent match against the New Zealander for gestures towards judgment.

Moses shows the way

In the absence of their playmaker, Michael Chica’s team was able to count on Mitchell Moussa on the great days, the unsettling easy-going, who brilliantly led the Lebanese attack from start to game finish.

Half of the Parramatta Ailes in the Australian Rugby League (the Australian Rugby League in which almost all members of the Lebanese national team play) scored more than a third of his team’s points (12 out of 32). The title of “Man of the Match”.

After a quarter of an hour that looked like a lookout round, the Irish came close to opening the scoring. But thanks to Jacob Kiraz’s knockout save, and he recovered a kick in the goal, the score stayed 0-0 for a short time. Because in the next procedure, the first points in the game are scored after a penalty kick by Moses (2-0, 16′).

Despite the influence the Irish have put into their wizards, Team Cedar makes a profit and does better than resisting. Capitalizing on one of the many successful captures made by the Lebanese defense (in rugby league, a player has the right to object to possession of the ball in his opponent’s arms as long as the latter remains on his feet), Moussa inherits the ball within 22 opponents. yards. After the first penetration of the right wing of Jacob Kiraz, the ball returns to him and perfectly directs the match on the other side. And when good double passes arrived, Reese Robinson threw himself into the Irish goal to score the first attempt in the match, at the end of the line, Moses turned it (8-0, 20).

On their way, Cedars were tied up two minutes later and doubled up by Kiraz who leveled under the rolls at the conclusion of a combination started by Moses, again, out of the scrum. Nephew of Ben Elias, the former Australian international, born in Lebanon and star of the Balmain Tigers in the 1980s and 1990s, is turning once again (14-0, 23 min).

Dumbfounded by the efficacy of Michael Chica’s men, XIII of Clover fails to contain the needless Lebanese waves of exacerbating the outcome. Josh Mansour, the game’s top scorer against the All Blacks, receives a short red card from the Irish before releasing Brad Morkus who equalizes at the end of the streak. Musa continued his flawless footwork and raised the score to 20-0 (31 minutes).

But one minute after the first attempt was rejected by video refereeing for a striker, the Irishman finally occupied the 22 Lebanese meters and found the error 4 minutes from the end of the first half by Louis Senior. Ed Chamberlain (20-4) missed the turn, however. The scoreboard won’t move until Mr Gee, the Australian referee of the meeting, has all these beautiful people back in the locker room.

Two attempts in quick succession

The two teams were reduced to 12 in the first ten minutes of the second season, Jalal Bazzaz and Rob Mulhern after they were punished with a yellow card for exacerbating a quarrel just before the end of the first half, the Lebanese and Irish start this second half in the picture. from the first show.

Pushed by the last attempt they scored at the end of the first part, the Irish surprised the Lebanese rearguard once again. In a nice pass by Joe Keys, Senior scored twice, taking the score to 20-10 (49 minutes) after a conversion.

Gradually seeing Clovers, Cedars, with much greater offensive potential, decided to hit the throttle again. Moses still on the stick, planted inside a well-felt hook to serve Mansur, who promptly brought it back to him. The latter then fired Eli Zahem into the Promised Land to score the fourth attempt (26-10, 55′).

As in the first period, Reds and Whites do not need to drive the point home. Through Abbas Miski, they scored in quick succession and regained their lead by 20 points in an hour (30-10, 59).

After a final penalty kick from Moussa, a true catalyst for the Lebanese game and author of 6 of 7 on foot (32-10), he and his teammates had put a calm end to the match. In numerical superiority after an Irish player was disqualified, they would only be bothered by Ed Chamberlain’s honor attempt two minutes before the time (32-14, 78).

The only shadows on the board are the injuries of valuable linebackers Jacob Kieraz and Kane Kalach, who were sent to the hospital after a head trauma during a duel with Jaimin Jolev.

“It’s not over yet”

To the cheers of a large Lebanese crowd that came in droves for this meeting in Lee on the outskirts of Manchester, the Cedars team imposed themselves in style and opened the way to the quarter-finals. The poor Jamaican team, largely defeated (68-6) by the New Zealanders, shouldn’t weigh much against the offensive power shown by Rice during their first two matches in the competition.

They have already qualified for the second round in 2017, where they revealed themselves before the eyes of the world, about to once again invite themselves to the table of the best eight countries in the world. Something to delight their coach, Michael Checa, who will have to part with attending the other selection meeting he’s in charge of, Argentina’s Pumas in Rugby Union, who will compete, the day after a potential quarter-final. Lebanese, test match against the fifteenth of England.

“I don’t like to shout victory quickly: it’s not done until it’s done, warns the former coach of Australia, Leinster or St Francis. When Fiji faced Uruguay in the last World Cup (rugby in Japan in 2019), everyone thought it was over, as He recalls. Then Uruguay came back and won everyone (30-27, a defeat by Fiji. I don’t even want to think about it. We want to improve as much as possible and approach every game with the same mentality.”

Requirement unsurprisingly shares “Man of the Match”, who also played for several years in the Wallabies jersey. “We started very well, but we could certainly have been more consistent throughout the match. That’s what we will try to do in the next match, according to Moses’ analysis, we are already planning for the next meeting against Jamaica. There are no easy matches. They will give everything against us, and we have to show the same. Flip to reach the quarter-finals. »

Far from igniting, the Lebanese rugby players seem determined to win the ticket to the next round in style. Qualification guarantees an additional place for the 13th round of the Cedars in the 2025 World Cup. Without wanting to skip the stages, it is first and foremost time for the match against Jamaica (Sunday 30 October at 2pm Beirut time), perhaps before the Australian double champions find themselves in the quarter Final.