MANCHESTER – The Cook Islands have got off the mark at the World Cup, averting an upset with a second half surge to win 18-12 at Leigh.
Second half tries from South Sydney forward Davvy Moale and former Bunnies man Steven Marsters were enough to get over a dogged Welsh side largely devoid of Super League talent.
John Kear, coach of Wales, has built a career on causing upsets in the Challenge Cup and brought all of his nous to the Dragons’ tactics. They kicked to corners, moved the larger Kukis around and forced their opponents to play out of their own end.
Rhodri Lloyd touched down a kick to get Wales started, before Anthony Gelling – now playing in the New Zealand domestic competition – struck back.
Ollie Olds, one of the two brothers from the Valleys Diehards club in Brisbane, then darted at the line and put Wales into an unexpected lead, though it was pegged back on the stroke of halftime by a penalty goal.
The second half gave the air of the Alamo as Wales fought to keep the Kukis out, but the repeated charges at the line eventually yielded results with the powerful Moale able to batter the door down and Steven Marsters crossed at the corner.
There was time for drama: Lloyd took a charge down and had the line ahead of him, but was hauled down with yards to go. As Wales regrouped and time elapsed, the Dragons had an overlap through Caleb Aekins but fumbled the pass.
Lebanon have staged a last-ditch bid to allow Adam Doueihi to play in Sunday’s crunch clash with Ireland, appealing the Match Review Panel’s decision to ban him after his sending off in last week’s defeat to New Zealand.
The Wests Tigers five eighth was dismissed for foul and abusive language, incurring a one match ban, but fought the charge at Tuesday night’s disciplinary. Under the World Cup rules, MRP decisions can be appealed – unlike in the NRL – and the Cedars will exert that right in attempt to free their playmaker ahead of their most important game of the tournament.
According the official match report from Atkins, Doueihi is alleged to have said “f*** me, c.***” in exasperation at a decision, but Lebanon insist that he said “give us a f***ing call”, which they contend is worthy of a lesser charge.
Should Doueihi fail, he could be banned for further matches, including Lebanon’s third game of the World Cup with Jamaica.
Mate Ma’a Tonga are set to keep faith in backrower Keaon Koloamatangi as a stand-in dummy half, with coach Kristian Woolf hinting that he might keep his role into next week’s clash with Wales
Koloamatangi was close to man of the match in Tonga’s opener with Papua New Guinea, starting as hooker before moving to a more familiar role when Soni Luke entered late in the first half.
“We’ll figure out whether we persist with it through the week,” said Woolf. “We just wanted to put someone in there who had the skill. He did a great job I thought, some of his passes weren’t right on point but he can defend there, keep it simple and he got us off to the right start.”
Koloamatangi was given the role due to a calf injury to his Souths teammate, Siliva Havili, who is not expected to be fit for the meeting with Wales in St Helens on Tuesday morning (AEDT).
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If you followed the recent Rugby League World Cup, you’ll probably have noted that the tournament has both passionate supporters and vocal detractors.
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