Fresh off their maiden World Cup win last weekend, Lebanon will be looking to spring another upset when they take on England this Saturday night in Sydney.
Having never won before in World Cup history and needing to win at least once to qualify for the knockout rounds, Lebanon and France were locked at 18-all before the Cedars closed out the match in style to send the Lebanese crowd in to wild celebrations.
They’ll head to Sydney now full of confidence with nothing to lose in their final two games and will fancy their chances at producing another upset against an England side who showed plenty of fight against Australia in the tournament opener in Melbourne.
Losing Sam Burgess is certainly a blow for Wayne Bennett’s side, with the Rabbitohs forward hopeful of returning later in the tournament. However, despite his omission, England should still have enough class and talent to better their opponents this Saturday — helped also by the few changes Lebanon have made to their team from last week.
With Australia likely to run up a big score against France, England will want to get on the board for their first win of the World Cup and may rack up the points in the process.
Group A: England vs. Lebanon
MATCH DETAILS
Date — Saturday, November 4, 2017
Time — 8:00pm AEDT
Venue — Allianz Stadium, Sydney
LIVE STREAM AND TV INFORMATION
Live Stream — Channel 7’s https://7live.com.au/ (Australia only)
TV — Click here for a full country-by-country list of TV broadcasts.
TEAM NEWS
England |
|
Lebanon |
Jonny Lomax |
1 |
Daniel Abou-Sleiman |
Jermaine McGillvary |
2 |
Travis Robinson |
Kallum Watkins |
3 |
Bilal Maarbani |
John Bateman |
4 |
Adam Doueihi |
Ryan Hall |
5 |
Abbas Miski |
Gareth Widdop |
6 |
Mitchell Moses |
Luke Gale |
7 |
Robbie Farah (capt.) |
Chris Hill |
8 |
Tim Mannah |
Josh Hodgson |
9 |
Michael Lichaa |
James Graham |
10 |
Alex Twal |
Ben Currie |
11 |
Chris Saab |
Elliot Whitehead |
12 |
Ahmad Eliaz |
Sean O’Laughlin (capt.) |
13 |
Nick Kassis |
Alex Walmsley |
14 |
Mitchell Mamary |
Chris Heighington |
15 |
Ray Moujalli |
Thomas Burgess |
16 |
Jamie Clark |
James Roby |
17 |
Jason Wehbe |
Reserves (ENG) — George Williams, Mike McMeekan, Mark Percival, Stefan Ratchford
Reserves (LEB) — Elias Sukkar, Anthony Layoun, Andrew Kazzi, James Elias
RLWC STANDINGS — POOL A
|
Played |
Won |
Lost |
F/A |
Points |
Australia |
1 |
1 |
0 |
+14 |
2 |
Lebanon |
1 |
1 |
0 |
+11 |
2 |
France |
1 |
0 |
1 |
-11 |
0 |
England |
1 |
0 |
1 |
-14 |
0 |
HISTORY
Saturday’s game will be the first meeting between Lebanon and England — the first time that England will have played against a country from Asia since the 2004 European Nations Championship when they comprehensively thrashed Russia 98-4.
PLAYER TO FOLLOW — Jermaine McGillvary, England
The highlight for England in the opening game was the potency of their left edge, and the combination of Gareth Widdop and Jermain McGillvary is certainly one to watch going forward. The powerful winger notched up an impressive 207 metres, two linebreaks and a try against Australia, and with a bit more luck, it could have easily led to more than the one try for England. He’ll come up against a Lebanon left edge that looked shaky at times against France, which could lead to a big night for the Englishman.
PREDICTION
There’s no doubt that after their thrilling win down in Canberra, Lebanon will come in to the game with plenty of confidence and belief that they can spring another upset. However, we just can’t see it happening. England have too much talent and too much to lose, while the subtle changes that Lebanon have made to their squad from the opening game perhaps make them not quite as strong for this one. The Cedars will come out firing and will keep it close early, but England will pull away late. England by 20.
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