Pool Matches - Week 3: Lebanon v Jamaica preview
Lebanon look to complete easy layup against Jamaica to book 2nd straight Quarter Final berth
In terms of getting results in matches they weren't supposed to, Lebanon have been the "fairy-tale" of the world cup so far. Coming into the tournament, they were expected by many, bookmakers included, to bow out in the group stages, with Ireland more fancied to take second position in Group C.
However, when the two sides clashed last week, it was clear that Lebanon were the better team across the park, streaking out to a 20-point lead early in the match and going on to win by 18 in a convincing display.
To confirm a spot in the quarter finals, as they did in 2017, they only need to win this one against Jamaica, or lose by 6 or less. In other words, if you're a Lebanon fan, you might as well start celebrating.
As for their opponents, Jamaica have captured the hearts of Rugby League fans for different reasons. They haven't been competitive in their matches, but they weren't expected to be. Instead, they were able to achieve the more realistic goal of getting over the line last week against the powerhouse that is New Zealand, and watching that game you'd have to say it was met with the loudest cheer of the day, despite the Kiwis scoring 68 points of their own.
Considering Ireland disposed of Jamaica by 46 points, and Lebanon have proven themselves to be better than Ireland, it's hard to see this game resulting in anything but a landslide to the Lebanese.
In team news, Adam Doueihi is back for Lebanon and will start at fullback in place of the injured Jacob Kiraz. It means Khaled Rajab will keep his spot at five-eighth, while Bilal Maarbani is in at centre for Brad Morkos, who moves to the bench. In the forwards, Jaxson Rahme will start at prop for Kayne Kalache. Michael Tannous will come into the 17 to round out the changes.
For Jamaica, Alex Young replaces Andrew Simpson on the wing, while Jordan Andrade is the only interchange survivor, the three new faces being Khamisi McKain, Jy-Mel Coleman and Aaron Jones-Bishop.
Who to watch: He's probably been the man mentioned in every other Lebanon preview so far, but how can you watch one of their games without having all eyes on Mitchell Moses? Handicap wise, last weeks game against Ireland was the closes of the tournament so far, and Moses was a huge reason as to why Lebanon were able to blow Ireland out of the water early on. He had two try assists and a further try involvement, which included a vintage no look inside pass for Jacob Kiraz to go over in the 24th minute, while he also had two line break assists and ran for 143 metres. It's pretty obvious that Moses will again be electric against Jamaica, however it'll be interesting to see what he can produce against Australia in the Quarter Final in the likely event they advance.
For Jamaica, halfback Kieran Rush had an up and down game last week against New Zealand. It looked as though they came in with a game plan to kick early in the tackle count whenever they got into decent attacking position against the Kiwis, and it was a gameplan that obviously wasn't working the more they tried it. Still, Rush persisted with it, which I suppose is to be expected from a player of his calibre against 17 of the best in the world. Still, it'd be nice to see Rush be a bit more open to adapting and changing his plan on the run depending on what unfolds during the game against Lebanon. He was eventually rewarded with a try assist (that ironically came from a kick on the last) to Ben Jones-Bishop in a memory the young man will no doubt treasure for years to come.
