Part of the joy of watching any major international sporting event is tracking the progress of the so-called ‘minnows’.
Like becoming an instant expert in handball or fencing every four years during the Olympics, there’s something strangely alluring about backing the unbackable underdog – like Senegal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Eric the Eel in Sydney or the Jamaican bobsled team whenever you watch Cool Runnings.
And so it is with the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.
These part-time league nations – giants in more popular sports at home – are supposed to be making up the numbers, but so far have made the bulk of the entertainment, while pre-tournament favourites steamroll opponents with monotonous and inevitable ease.
Few have been as surprising as the USA Tomahawks, who upset Wales 24-16 in Wrexham on Monday morning (ADST) to top Group D and earn a quarter-final berth.
Competing in their first ever World Cup, the USA boast just four current NRL players, a few NSW or Queensland-based players, with others scattered around Europe and America.
Nevertheless, the Tomahawks have caused upset after upset over the last few weeks.
Kicking off with a pre-tournament 22-18 defeat of fourth ranked France, the Tomahawks earned a surprise 32-20 victory over the Cook Islands in the first round of the group stages, before the piece de resistance on Monday against Wales.
Not bad for a side whose plane tickets home were booked before the tournament even began.
“Under tournament rules, you are supposed to fly out two days after you are eliminated,” Tomahawks team manager Steve Johnson told Fairfax journalists after the Welsh victory.
“Well, we were booked to leave on November 9 – two days before the last pool game when we could always have still been alive. It shows how little was expected of us.”
Like the tournament organisers, Wales had different plans for the Americans, opening the scoring through Christiaan Roets with some impressive play down the left edge, before tries to Tomahawks captain Clint Newton and Matt Petersen gave the visitors an 8-4 halftime lead.
A solo effort from Parramatta Eels utility Joseph Paulo and a four-pointer to Tui Samoa extended the advantage after the break, before Newton’s second pushed the gap to 24-8 and ensured a historic win with 15-minutes still to play.
Wales mounted a late fight-back, but tries to Roets and Anthony Walker were too little too late as the Dragons – who are two-time semi-finalists and currently ranked fifth in the world – were unceremoniously dumped from the tournament.
The USA now prepare for their last group match against Scotland before most likely taking on Australia in the quarter-finals on November 16.
Hopefully someone can get refunds on those tickets back across the Atlantic.
In the other game on Monday morning, Italy recorded a draw with Scotland at a muddy ground in Workington in the cold north-west of England.
Leading 30-26 in the closing stages, Italy – featuring the Minichiello brothers, Anthony Laffranchi and Aiden Guerra, among others – conceded a great try to Ben Hellewell after an opportunistic chip-kick by Scottish playmaker Danny Brough.
The conversion missed and the hard fought match ended in an entertaining stalemate.
They say crunch end of the tournament over the next couple of weeks will produce the best football, but I reckon the minnows have nailed it so far.
None of the Tomahawks’ games will be forgotten anytime soon; neither will the Scotland-Tonga classic last week. And who could forget Italy’s first up win over Wales?
Even the lucky French win over Papua New Guinea had its fair share of entertainment – if the quality of play left a bit to be desired.
Anyone else looking forward to France-Samoa or Tonga-Cook Islands?
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