Another weekend of international rugby league has come and gone with Wales proving they are the second best team in Europe and New Zealand showing they’re worthy of their world number one status.
Wales defeat Ireland to win European Championship
Wales showed why they were worthy of being European Champions, defeating Ireland.
The Dragons opened their tryscoring early in the game after Dewsbury winger Dalton Grant continued his outstanding tournament with a try off the scrum.
After an Ireland knock-on, Welsh fullback Lewis Reece reacted by putting the ball over the line, he was followed by All-Gold teammate Steve Parry who dived over from dummy half to see Wales streak ahead 18-0.
Wigan second-rower Rhodri Lloyd ensured Wales had a convincing lead going into the second half by taking advantage of a loose ball for Wales’ fourth try of the first half. Wales led Ireland 22-0 at half-time.
Ireland improved drastically in the second half but remained quiet with Elliot Kear securing the win for Wales. Wales were awarded a penalty with Courtney Davie taking advantage of it to kick the goal.
Ireland didn’t give up however with Callum Mulkeen scoring in the corner. At the end of the day however Ireland just weren’t convincing enough in the end with Wales running away 30-4 victors and being crowned European Champions.
Earlier in the day, France defeated 2014 Champions Scotland 32-18 in Avignon.
Both Wales and Ireland will have an opportunity to qualify for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup after the European qualifying draw was released earlier in the week.
Wales will host Serbia before heading to Italy while Ireland will host Russia after playing their first game in Spain.
Wales 30 (Tries: D.Grant, L.Reece, S.Parry, R.Lloyd, E.Kear; Goals C.Davies 5/6) defeated
Ireland 4 (Tries: C.Mulkeen; Goals: L.Finn 0/1)
New Zealand take Baskerville Shield to third Test tie-breaker
The New Zealand Kiwis defeated England at Olympic Stadium to level the series 1-1 and bring it to a tie-breaker to be played in Wigan.
It was quiet game with the scores level at half-time after Gareth Widdop and Issac Luke both scored penalty goals to settle for a scoreline of 2-2 at the end of the first half.
England showed a gutsy performance in the first session after weathering an early Kiwis onslaught with last-ditch tackles and a try saver by Joe Burgess who knocked down Jordan Kahu’s pass to Jason Nightingale which would have seen the Dragons winger score.
Their defensive line eventually cracked just two minutes into the second half with Shaun Kenny-Dowall etching the Kiwis in front after Tohu Harris showed great control over the ball.
England’s defence began to fall apart again with a 62nd minute scare that almost saw Peta Hiku go over only to be stopped by Brett Ferres.
Issac Luke had a chance to give the Kiwis a victory with a penalty goal but he missed from easy range. James Graham got to Josh Hodgson’s grubber kick to score, only for referee Gerard Sutton’s on-field decision to be overturned by video referees Phil Bentham and James Child after it was found that Graham failed to ground the ball.
The 44,393 crowd were kept on their seats right until the death after Kodi Nikorima came close to scoring let down just before the line where he lost the ball as was highlighted in the replays.
Jordan Kahu put the game to bed with a field goal to prove that the Kiwis’ are still deserving of their world number one ranking.
New Zealand 9 (Tries: S.Kenny-Dowall; Goals: I.Luke 1/2, J.Kahu 1/1; Field Goals: J.Kahu 1) defeated
England 2 (Goals: G.Widdop 1/1)
The Baskerville Shield will come to an end next week when England and New Zealand do battle once again.
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