RLWC21 Round-Up

• Five Warriors featured in the opening round of group games in RLWC21.
• Abbas Miski scored as Lebanon fell short against New Zealand.
• Four Warriors were on the winning side as England and Ireland both registered victories.

Five Warriors featured in the opening round of the Rugby League World Cup 2021 over the weekend.

England 60-6 Samoa

Shaun Wane’s side romped to victory on Saturday afternoon as they kicked off the competition in style with a huge win over Samoa at St James’ Park in Newcastle.

Wigan’s Mike Cooper was on the interchange bench for England, with John Bateman unavailable through suspension and Kai Pearce-Paul missing out. It was a dominant performance from the England side as they flew into the lead at the break, before running away with the game in the seond forty for a 60-6 victory to place them top of the group after the first round.

Jamaica 2-48 Ireland

Sunday saw Jamaica and Ireland go face-to-face at Headingley Stadium as the Reggae Warriors made their World Cup debut.

Wigan’s Liam Byrne and Toby King both started, with James McDonnell on the interchange bench. A good opening 10 saw both sides go toe to toe, before Ireland scored three tries in quick succession to peel away into a good lead. Second half tries included efforts from new signing Toby King and departing James McDonnell to see Ireland to a solid 48-2 win to put them top of Group C.

58: TOBY KING 👑 TRYYYY!

After some broken play we work it well and Rushton places a lovely kick for Toby to ground!

Keyes adds the two! ✌️

2-28#JAMIRE #IrelandRL • #RLWC2021 pic.twitter.com/w1ySMAOJ76

— Rugby League Ireland (@Irelandrl) October 16, 2022

New Zealand 34-12 Lebanon

Abbas Miski started for Lebanon as they faced New Zealand at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington on Sunday night.

A fierce first half saw the Cedars trail narrowly to the Kiwis, and they battled back at the start of the second half as Abbas Miski crossed to cut the deficit, though the New Zealand side proved too strong as they came away with the 34-12 win.

🇱🇧 We've got a game on our hands here!

Lebanon fire back quickly after half time with an Abbas Miski try to close the gap to six.#RLWC2021 | @BBCSport | @LebanonRL | #NZLLEB pic.twitter.com/Sl8nvNbIyN

— Rugby League World Cup 2021 (@RLWC2021) October 16, 2022

In the other games, Australia started their campaign with a 42-8 win over Fiji and Scotland were blown away by Italy who won 28-4 at Kingston Park in Newcastle.

The second round of group games starts on Friday 21st October, with plenty of Warriors set to be in action again. For the full schedule, tickets and more click HERE.