Reggae Warriors end World Cup campaign against Lebanon today
Jamaica’s Reggae Warriors face Lebanon in their final Group C game at the Rugby League World Cup in hopes of a first-ever win today.
Despite losses in their previous two fixtures, Jamaica had moments to celebrate, with their first points, then their first try against Ireland and New Zealand, respectively.
Jamaica lost 48-2 to Ireland, then 68-6 to New Zealand, who are ranked first in the world and are favourites to win the tournament.
It won’t get any easier for Romeo Monteith’s boys as Lebanon are in with a chance of advancing to the quarter-finals with a win today after a 32-14 win over the Irish last week.
Jamaica went back to the drawing board after the Ireland game, where Assistant Coach Jermaine Coleman lamented the attacking side of their game. They showed improvement against the Kiwis, not only completing a try but also using clever effective short kick-offs, which brought the crowd at Hull to its feet.
“Going into the game it was all about us,” Jamaica Captain Ashton Golding said after the New Zealand game. “What we can do on the field and what we can do off the field, hopefully we can capture people’s imaginations, from one to 17. I’m so proud of the boys, there were 17 leaders out there.”
Jamaica will not only look to Golding for a solid performance, but also more tries from Ben Jones-Bishop, who has now completed 300 international games for the Reggae Warriors. Winger Mo Agoro and and scrum-half Kieran Rush are also expected to feature. Alex Young should replace Andrew Simpson on the wing and Jordan Andrade could retain his place with Khamisi McKain, Jy-Mel Coleman, and Aaron Jones-Bishop (Ben’s brother) also likely to start.
Lebanon star man and captain, Mitchell Moses, says they will not take Jamaica lightly.
“We’ve got Jamaica in a big game,” he said. “They tried their guts out against New Zealand and they are going to come out fired up and ready to spoil everything for us, so we need to weather the storm. Our full focus is on Jamaica.”
Today’s game at Leigh Sports Village kicks off at 7:00 am.
