Valiant Lebanon lose to England in Rugby League World Cup
Stoic Lebanon put on a brave performance against England in the Rugby League World Cup in a gripping game.
3 min read
04 Nov, 2017
Lebanon (in green) made England work hard for their two points [Getty]
Lebanon's rugby league team put on a brave performance against England on Sunday, losing 29-10 in a thrilling 80 minute game.
The Cedars made England work hard for their first win in the 2017 World Cup with Lebanon scoring two tries and one conversion.
Lebanon are ranked 18th in the world and battled the third ranked team hard with tries from Nick Kassis and Jason Wehbe. But it wasn't enough to topple England who took the two points.
The game was marred incident when an England player allegedly bit Lebanon's Robbie Farah. "You never like seeing those things on a footy pitch - and I reacted," Farah said.
The two teams were level at one point in the game and it follows a shock win by The Cedars against France in the first game of the tournament.
England coach Wayne Bennett was furious about his team's display saying the performance "wasn't good enough".
Yet Lebanon in many ways were playing on home turf with most of the team born in Australia.
Sydney, where the game was played, is also home to 200,000 Lebanese-Australians many if whom were at the stadium to cheer on their team.
Few expected Lebanon to win and the team's stoic performance won respect from rugby fans across the world.
Some England fans remained bitter despite the win about the team Lebanon fielded being mostly made up of Australians.
Most rugby fans were simply surprised Lebanon had a team.
Some made fun at the other big story coming from Lebanon that day.
The Cedars made England work hard for their first win in the 2017 World Cup with Lebanon scoring two tries and one conversion.
Lebanon are ranked 18th in the world and battled the third ranked team hard with tries from Nick Kassis and Jason Wehbe. But it wasn't enough to topple England who took the two points.
The game was marred incident when an England player allegedly bit Lebanon's Robbie Farah. "You never like seeing those things on a footy pitch - and I reacted," Farah said.
The two teams were level at one point in the game and it follows a shock win by The Cedars against France in the first game of the tournament.
England coach Wayne Bennett was furious about his team's display saying the performance "wasn't good enough".
Yet Lebanon in many ways were playing on home turf with most of the team born in Australia.
Sydney, where the game was played, is also home to 200,000 Lebanese-Australians many if whom were at the stadium to cheer on their team.
Few expected Lebanon to win and the team's stoic performance won respect from rugby fans across the world.
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— The Rugby League Hub (@TheRLHub) November 4, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post
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— JoeySweetpea🤠🤠🤠🤠 (@joeysweetpea) November 4, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post
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— Chris King (@NorthernWrites) November 4, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post
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Some England fans remained bitter despite the win about the team Lebanon fielded being mostly made up of Australians.
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— Steve Adams (@SteveLAdams) November 4, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post
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Most rugby fans were simply surprised Lebanon had a team.
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]— Dr Linda Duffy (@sportspsycoach) November 4, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post
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Some made fun at the other big story coming from Lebanon that day.
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— Simon Charles (@SChrles) November 4, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post
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