International RL Blog

The Philadelphia Fight took the 2016 title as USARL Champions by defeating Jacksonville Axemen 42-20 in Boston.   Game gets off to slow start, but Fight finish the first half with the lead. For the first 30 minutes of the game, mistakes and penalties hindered both teams as they tried to take control.  With about ten minutes left in the first half, Philadelphia’s stand off, Joel Weeks scored the first try and after a successful Mike Timpano conversion, the Fight took a 6-0 lead over the Axemen. With less than two minutes left in the half, the Fight’s Jared Frymorer scored Philadelphia’s second try and with another Timpano conversion the Fight held a 12 point advantage over the Axemen.  Just before halftime, Jacksonville’s Jonathan Halter scored the Axemen’s first try and after Hayden’s conversion the halftime score was Philadelphia 12 – Jacksonville 6. Philadelphia take control in second half to win the USARL Championship. Philadelphia began the second half with...

Germany retained the Griffin Cup but only just, after an impressive display from a new-look Dutch side, the visitors holding on to triumph 8-6 in Rotterdam. The final hour of a tense match was scoreless following Emerson Werk’s converted opener for the hosts on eight minutes and tries by Jannek Hagenah and David Ziekursch’s for Germany. The two-point defeat was the closest the Dutch had come to the trophy, in June 2015 Germany won 46-12, the year before the Dutch were crushed 70-16 at home, and in 2013 their neighbours won 28-22. According to Thijs van der Zouwen, the Nederlandse Rugby League Bond president:  “The NRLB fielded our strongest national team yet. Never before have our players played so many matches during the domestic season, nor have we had so many trying out for the squad in the Netherlands. We had a great training camp in the week running up to the match. “Our national coach Kane Krlic selected a great set of lads that are all willing to work hard, listen...

Former Kangaroos and Queensland centre  Justin Hodges  says rugby league should introduce a Nines  World Cup  to help the game grow internationally. Writing for  NRL .com, Hodges said:  "Next year's Rugby League  World Cup  in  Australia ,  New Zealand  and  Papua New Guinea  will be a great showcase of the game but if we are to put rugby league in a position to compete for Commonwealth Games or Olympic glory we need to find a way to be more inclusive. "The emergence of the Nines concept has been hugely successful through the Auckland Nines and there was even a Commonwealth Rugby League  Championship  held in Glasgow two years ago in the lead-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. "As they have in the Rio Games, rugby sevens will feature at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and while it's a shame rugby league won't figure, it shows a path we should try to follow. "We've come a long way with the Auck...

An England supporter has started an online campaign to petition Wayne Bennett to only select players born in  England  or with an English parent for the national team. Bennett has been linked with attempts to entice the likes of  Blake Austin  and the Morris twins to elect for  England , with the trio qualifying through English grandparents. Dave Sinclair, from Leeds, has launched a  petition  aimed at Bennett. It states: "We, the fans, are unhappy about the rumours of the  England  Rugby League Team being flooded with Australian-born players, with tenuous links to English nationality. "We want our  England  team to be made up of English players, please. "If they weren't born in  England  or have an English parent (not grandparent) then they shouldn't take the jersey. This is the international game, not club rugby. It's about making the best of what you have, not sneaking 'ringers' (who might not actuall...

An experienced Belgian team got off to a winning start in the Triangular series after a dominant second half performance saw them power past a German side who must now beat the Netherlands to avoid the wooden spoon. Germany took an early lead in Dusseldorf through their captain Mawuli Amefia, but struggled to keep their more experienced opponents at bay, with strong running and decisive passing putting Leclerq and Bertrand over for well taken tries. Despite the pressure on their line, the Germans began to get into the game and came close on several occasions to finding a try, only to be held up as they attempted to truck it up the middle, rather than sending it out to the wing. The pressure finally told and Amefia got his second try with a quick turn of pace that saw him speed clear, with Keinhorst adding his second conversion to give Germany a 12-10 lead at half time. The game continued at a ferocious pace in the second half with both sides trying to force a way through. This brou...

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...

A total of 19 coaches have graduated from the first level 1 course held in the municipality of Kadikoy, on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey. The course, which featured men and women, was led by Serbian Rugby League Federation coach educator Slobodan Manak. The local council provided a conference room and pitch, participant and Turkey RL board member Oytun Çölok commenting: “I have learned a lot of things about coaching generally and the basics of rugby league, it was very good. We have had so much help that I feel we are at the beginning of something very special.” Following the course, the initial domestic activity in the country saw 140 players take part in a five-a-side league tournament on Kadikoy beach, involving 12 male and three female teams. In all, six clubs and three university sides took part encompassing the cities of Istanbul, Edirene, Eskisehir and Konya, with over 40 games played. Kadikoy beat Ottomans in the men’s final with the hosts also winning the female ...

The United States has submitted a bid for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup as it seeks to host the tournament for the first time. England, which hosted the competition in 2013, has already announced it will bid for 2021. The USA proposal has been put forward by Sydney-based sports marketing company Moore Sports International. If the bid is successful, it would be the first time the competition has been held outside Australasia and Europe since it began in 1954.

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...

USA 54 Jamaica 4.   The USA Hawks played their first competitive game of the year and proved just too strong for the developing Jamaica Reggae Warriors.  Jamaica will head home from this series having suffered two defeats but had invaluable time together as a squad and this will set them up for future encounters. The deciding game of the Americas RL Championship will be the USA vs. Canada in Toronto on Sept 24