Monteith ‘proud’ after Rugby League World Cup campaign
Jamaica Head Coach Romeo Monteith says that, in spite of three defeats at the Rugby League World Cup, he is proud of the effort shown by the team throughout the tournament.
The Reggae Warriors went down to Lebanon 74-12 in Leigh, England, yesterday, meaning a third-straight loss in Group C.
In spite of conceding 13 tries, the most in the three games, Jamaica improved on their last attacking display against New Zealand, by scoring two tries yesterday. They were by Mo Agoro and Jordan Andrade, while James Woodburn-Hall and Kieran Rush each got a goal for the team.
“To go up against some of the best players in the world over the three games, and battle to the end in every game is something we are extremely proud of,” Monteith told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
Jamaica started off brightly with Keenen Tomlinson coming close to scoring their second-ever World Cup try in the second minute of the game. But it was ruled out by the video referee.
That was as close as Jamaica came in the first half as the Cedars took control after.
Michael Tannous got the scoring started for Lebanon then Abbas Miski, Elie El-Zakham, and Reece Robinson extended the score to 24-0 by the end of the first quarter.
Khaled Rajab, Charbel Tasipale, and Josh Mansour extended the score to 48-0 at the half.
There were further tries from Man-Of-The-Match Adam Doueihi, Tasipale, and Tony Maroun before Mansour completed his hat-trick, and Miski had the final for the Cedars.
But the biggest cheers in the stadium came with Agoro and Woodburn-Hall’s tries.
Lebanon advance to the quarter-finals to face defending champions Australia, but Doueihi praised Jamaica’s effort after the game.
“I thought our first half was really clinical,” he said. “We knew if we started right and got into the arm-wrestle then points would come but full credit to Jamaica, they have turned up this tournament.”
But Monteith was not satisfied with the team’s edge defending.
“Firstly, congrats to Lebanon on getting through to the quarters,” he said. “I thought there was plenty of effort from us overall, but our edge defence was not good enough today. We threw a lot into our attacking sets and got two tries as the reward. We couldn’t have asked for more from this group.”
Jamaica is the first Caribbean nation to qualify for a Rugby League World Cup.
