International RL Blog

A hat-trick on either side of half-time by Danish winger Mads Hansen, one of seven debutants in their side, saw Denmark defeat Sweden 50-18 in Roskilde, in the final match of the 2016 Nordic Cup, already won by Norway. Five unanswered second-half tries sealed the win for the Danish XIII after the visitors had led three times in the opening half but ran out of steam. “We were especially pleased to introduce several debutants, who all did themselves proud,” said Danish RL President Richard Munk Naylor.  “These two sides have put on higher quality performances but that’s part of the process of bringing in new talent and the players gelling together. I have a feeling that both Denmark and Sweden will be better next year.” The hosts had to wait until the stroke of half-time before they took the initiative, Silas Mubanda going over for his second try to level the scores at 18-18. And in the final set of the half, a flowing move from the restart saw Hansen released down the right...

Sweden missed out on a chance to win the Nordic Cup after being caught out early on by their Scandinavian neighbours Norway in Stockholm. Sweden came into the game with high expectations, but were slow out of the blocks against a determined Norwegian team and found themselves 10-0 down after only nine minutes, thanks to two long range tries from Stephen Mwikaria. Being down so early left the hosts with a huge task and they were unable to respond until Chris Ah-Lam found himself enough room to barge over to reduce their arrears after 22 minutes. Both sides then began to battle and force chances in front of a passionate crowd. This led to tempers flaring up and some indiscipline to come in, with Maake Fakaosifolau spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin for a clumsy high tackle. This came between Norway extending their lead through a converted Jørgen Schmidt try and Sweden again fighting back with a well taken try from Sam Cammell.  The extra man proved enough for Norway to extend their l...