2017 Rugby League World Cup qualification (Europe play-off)

The 2017 Rugby League World Cup Europe qualification play-off was a rugby league match that was played on 4 November 2016 at Leigh Sports Village in England. The match decides who was the final European country to qualify for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, with Italy defeating Russia 76–0.^[1]

2017 (2017) World Cup qualification (Europe play-off)  ()
Leigh Sports Village hosted the match.
Italy Russia (FIRL) (RRLF) 76 0
1 2 Total ITA 46 30 76 RUS 0 0 0
Date	4 November 2016
Stadium	Leigh Sports Village
Location	Leigh, England
Man of the Match	Terry Campese (Italy)
Referee	Chris Campbell (England)
Attendance	450
Broadcast partners

Background

On 3 October 2014, the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying competition was announced with three more qualification places being announced for European countries after England, France and Scotland had already qualified courtesy of reaching the 2013 World Cup knock-out stage.^[2]

In the final round of European Qualification there were two groups of 3 with the countries that topped both pools advancing straight into the 2017 World Cup while the teams placed second headed into a one-off play-off match held at the Leigh Sports Village to see who will be the 14th and final country to qualify for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

Italy qualified for the play-off match after finishing second in group A. They were almost in no need of a play-off match after being 40 minutes away from causing a shock result over Wales in Monza.

Opposing Team	For	Against	Date	Venue	Attendance
Serbia	62	14	22 October 2016	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade	1,037
Wales	14	20	29 October 2016	Stadio Brianteo, Monza	839

While Russia qualified for the play-off match after finishing second in group B.

Opposing Team	For	Against	Date	Venue	Attendance
Spain	40	6	15 October 2016	Fili Stadium, Moscow	427
Ireland	16	70	29 October 2016	Carlisle Grounds, Bray	867

Squads

Both teams squads remained unchanged throughout the qualifiers.

Italy

• Coach:   Cameron Ciraldo

Club Team	Players
Blacktown Workers	Dean Parata
Brianza Tigers	Patrik Ziliotti
Cairns Brothers	Joel Riethmuller
Canterbury Bulldogs	Joe Tramontana
Cronulla Sharks	Jayden Walker
Hull Kingston Rovers	Terry Campese, Josh Mantellato
Lézignan Corbieres	Christophe Calegari
Lions Brescia	Giuseppe Pagani
Mackay Cutters	Gavin Hiscox
Newcastle Thunder	Gioele Celerino
Northern Pride	Justin Castellaro, Ryan Ghietti, Col Wilkie
North Queensland Cowboys	Kieran Quabba
Oldham R.L.F.C.	Richard Lepori
*Sacramento Express	Mirco Bergamasco
St. George Illawarra Dragons	Shannon Wakeman
South Wales Ironmen	Chris Vitalini
Townsville Blackhawks	Brenden Santi
Windsor Wolves	Ryan Tramonte
Wyong Roos	Chris Centrone

• * Denotes a rugby union club.

Russia

• Coach:   Denis Korolev

Club Team	Players
CSKA Moscow	Kirill Kosharin
Dinamo	Viacheslav Eremin, Andrey Kuznetsov
*Ivanovo White Sharks	Ivan Troitskii
RC Lokomotiv Moscow	Vadim Buryak, Leonid Kalinin, Maxim Tsinkovich
Nara	Petr Botnarash, Mikhail Burlutskii, Sergey Gaponov, Anatoly Grigorev, Sergei Konstantinov, Aleksandr Lysokon, Maksim Suchkov, Denis Tiulenev, Vladimir Vlasyuk, Nikolay Zagoskin
Moscow Fili	Anton Iunisov, Iustin Petrushka
Moscow Storm	Dmitry Bratko, Igor Chuprin, Vadim Fedchuk

• * Denotes a rugby union club.

Match details

2017 Rugby League World Cup Europe qualification play-off

4 November 2016 20:00 GMT (UTC+0:00)

Italy	76 – 0	Russia
Tries: Castellaro (2), Cerruto (2), Lepori (2), Wilkie (2), Campese, Celerino, Centrone, Santi, Wakeman, Walker Goals: Campese (10/14)	Report (RLIF)

Leigh Sports Village, Leigh Attendance: 450 Referee: Chris Campbell (England) Player of the Match: Terry Campese (Italy)

FB 1   Mason Cerruto WG 2   Chris Centrone CE 3   Justin Castellaro CE 4   Colin Wilkie WG 5   Richard Lepori FE 6   Terry Campese HB 7   Ryan Ghietti PR 8   Shannon Wakeman HK 9   Dean Parata PR 10   Gavin Hiscox SR 11   Jayden Walker SR 12   Brenden Santi LK 13   Joel Riethmuller Substitutes: BE 14   Joseph Tramontana BE 15   Ryan Tramonte BE 16   Giuseppe Pagani BE 17   Gioele Celerino Coach:    Cameron Ciraldo

FB 2   Maksim Suchkov WG 14   Vadim Tsynkovich CE 3   Leonid Kalinin CE 1   Nikolay Zagoskin WG 5   Vadim Buryak SO 6   Aleksandr Lysokon SH 7   Denis Tiulenev PR 16   Vadim Fedchuk HK 9   Vladimir Vlasyuk PR 10   Ivan Troitskii SR 11   Andrey Kuznetsov SR 12   Mikhail Burlutskii LF 13   Viacheslav Eremin Substitutes: BE 8   Sergei Konstantinov BE 17   Igor Chuprin BE 18   Dmitry Bratko   Coach:   Denis Korolev

With the win Italy became the 14th, and final, team to qualify for the 2017 World Cup.

References

1. "Italy take the final RLWC2017 place". Rugby League International Federation. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
2. QUALIFICATION DETAILS FOR 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP ANNOUNCED 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, rlef.eu.com, 3 August 2014