2018 Emerging Nations World Championship

The 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship (ENWC) was a rugby league tournament held for Tier Two and Tier Three nations, the third edition of the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.

2018 (2018) Emerging Nations World Championship  ()
Number of teams	11
Host country	Australia
Winner	Malta
Matches played	22
Attendance	8,532 (388 per match)
Points scored	1025 (46.59 per match)
Top scorer	Ethan Niszczot (60)
Top try scorers	Chippie Korostchuk (6) Justice Utatao (6)
Tournaments  < 2000

Background

Several nations that had not qualified, or were not eligible to qualify, for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup planned to contest an Emerging Nations tournament in Sydney in 2017 alongside the World Cup. However this tournament did not get support from the Rugby League International Federation, and did not go ahead.^[1]

On 29 March 2017, the Rugby League International Federation announced that Australia will be host the tournament in 2018.^[2] The two-week-long tournament will be held in Western Sydney, New South Wales with games taking place in Windsor, St Marys and Cabramatta.^[3]

Teams

Ten teams were already confirmed for the tournament by March 2017^[2] with a number of others later also announcing their participation.^[4][5][6] 15 teams were expected to compete, though Canada, India, Latvia, and Thailand were not included in the final draw, for unspecified reasons.

Nation	Coach	Notable players	RLIF Rank (Jul 2018)
Greece	Steve Georgallis	Stefanos Bastas, Michael Korkidas, Jordan Meads^[7]	26
Hong Kong	Jason Fairleigh^[8]	–	45
Hungary	Jonathan Wilson	Stuart Flanagan^[9]	21
Japan	Viliami Ahosivi	Gehamat Shibasaki^[10]	41
Malta	Peter Cassar &   Aaron McDonald	Tyler Cassel, Jarrod Sammut,^[11] Sam Stone^[12]	18
Niue	Brendan "Bman" Perenara	Zebastian Lucky Luisi, Eddie Paea, Sione Tovo^[13]	34
Philippines	Arwin Marcus	Shane Gray, Payne Haas ( ),^[14] Paul Sheedy^[15]	27
Poland	Lee Addison^[16]^[17]	Harry Siejka^[18]	–
Solomon Islands	John Jewiss &   Luke Heckendorf ^[19]	–	42
Turkey	Scott Hartas	Emre Guler, Aidan Sezer, Jansin Turgut^[20]	–
Vanuatu	Lionel Harbin^[21]	Alehana Mara^[22]	36

Four multi-country regional teams will compete in a parallel tournament.^[2]

Region	Organising body	Eligible countries
Africa	Africa United Rugby League	54 sovereign states of Africa.^[23]   Algeria,   Angola,   Benin,   Botswana,   Burkina Faso,   Burundi,   Cape Verde,   Cameroon,   Central African Republic,   Chad,   Comoros,   Congo,   Cote d'Ivoire,   Djibouti,   DR Congo,   Egypt,   Equatorial Guinea,   Eritrea,   Ethiopia,   Gabon,   Gambia,   Ghana,   Guinea,   Guinea-Bissau,   Kenya,   Lesotho,   Liberia,   Libya,   Madagascar,   Malawi,   Mali,   Mauritania,   Mauritius,   Morocco,   Mozambique,   Namibia,   Niger,   Nigeria,   Rwanda,   São Tomé and Príncipe,   Senegal,   Seychelles,   Sierra Leone,   Somalia,   South Africa,   South Sudan,   Sudan,   Swaziland,   Tanzania,   Togo,   Tunisia,   Uganda,   Zambia, and   Zimbabwe.
Latin America	Latin Heat Rugby League	23 sovereign states in the Americas, plus Puerto Rico.^[24]   Argentina,   Belize,   Bolivia,   Brazil,   Chile,   Colombia,   Costa Rica,   Cuba,   Dominican Republic,   Ecuador,   El Salvador,   Guatemala,   Guyana,   Haiti,   Honduras,   Mexico,   Nicaragua,   Panama,   Paraguay,   Peru,   Puerto Rico,   Suriname,   Uruguay, and   Venezuela.
Mediterranean	Mediterranean Rugby League
South East Asia	ASEAN RL Association

Venues

 

 

Cabramatta

 

Kellyville

 

St Marys

 

Windsor

 

Sydney CBD

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The venues are located in the Western region of the Sydney metropolis.

• Cabramatta: New Era Stadium, home of the Cabramatta Two Blues, has previously hosted four international fixtures: Philippines vs Serbia (2016), Philippines vs Malta, Lebanon vs Malta, and Malta vs Hungary (all 2017).
• Kellyville: Kellyville Ridge Reserve, all-weather synthetic pitch previously unused at any level, hosted games on 7 October as Cabramatta was closed due to flooding.^[25]
• St Marys: St Marys Leagues Stadium, home of the St Marys Saints, has previously hosted six international fixtures: Fiji vs Tonga, Samoa vs Cook Islands, Lebanon vs Malta (all 2006), Lebanon vs Malta (2015), Malta vs Hungary, South Africa vs Malta (both 2018). It contains a 520-seat grandstand and has a total capacity of 7,000.^[26]
• Windsor: Windsor Sporting Complex, home of the Windsor Wolves, has not previously hosted an international fixture.

Pool stage

Main article: 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship pool stage

Tournament fixtures were announced on 17 July 2018.^[27]

Key to colours in pool tables
	Advances to Cup play-offs (1st to 4th places)
	Advances to Trophy play-offs (5th to 8th places)
	Advances to Bowl play-offs (9th to 11th places)

Pool A

1 October Malta   36 – 10   Philippines Windsor 4 October Malta   16 – 26   Niue St Marys 7 October Philippines   12 – 24   Niue Kellyville^[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1   Niue 2 2 0 0 50 28 +22 4 2   Malta 2 1 0 1 52 36 +16 2 3   Philippines 2 0 0 2 22 60 −38 0

Pool B

1 October Greece   18 – 20   Hungary Windsor 4 October Hungary   18 – 13   Vanuatu St Marys 7 October Greece   38 – 0   Vanuatu Kellyville^[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1   Hungary 2 2 0 0 38 31 +7 4 2   Greece 2 1 0 1 56 20 +36 2 3   Vanuatu 2 0 0 2 13 56 −43 0

Pool C

1 October Solomon Is.   22 – 30   Turkey Windsor 4 October Japan   0 – 60   Turkey St Marys 4 October Hong Kong   6 – 62   Poland St Marys 7 October Solomon Is.   32 – 12   Hong Kong Kellyville^[25] 7 October Japan   6 – 58   Poland Kellyville^[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1   Poland 2 2 0 0 120 12 +108 4 2   Turkey 2 2 0 0 90 22 +68 4 3   Solomon Islands 2 1 0 1 54 42 +12 2 4   Hong Kong 2 0 0 2 18 94 -76 0 5   Japan 2 0 0 2 6 118 -112 0

Play-offs

Main article: 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship play-off stage

Plate

9 October   Solomon Islands 44 – 22   Japan Windsor 11 October   Hong Kong 30 – 32   Japan Cabramatta 13 October   Solomon Islands 56 – 14   Hong Kong St Marys

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 9   Solomon Islands 2 2 0 0 100 36 +64 4 10   Japan 2 1 0 1 54 74 -20 2 11   Hong Kong 2 0 0 2 44 88 -44 0

Trophy

10 October   Philippines 29 – 16   Turkey Cabramatta 10 October   Vanuatu 4 – 44   Poland Cabramatta 13 October   Turkey 27 – 26   Vanuatu St Marys 13 October   Philippines 10 – 14   Poland St Marys

Trophy semi-finals 5th place final                 10 October – Cabramatta       Philippines 29   13 October – St Marys     Turkey 16     Philippines 10   10 October – Cabramatta     Poland 14     Vanuatu 4       Poland 44   7th place final     13 October – St Marys       Turkey 27       Vanuatu 26

Cup

10 October   Niue 16 – 8   Greece Cabramatta 10 October   Hungary 10 – 20   Malta Cabramatta 13 October   Greece 26 – 18   Hungary St Marys 13 October   Niue 16 – 24   Malta St Marys

Cup semi-finals 1st place final                 10 October – Cabramatta       Niue 16   13 October – St Marys     Greece 8     Niue 16   10 October – Cabramatta     Malta 24     Hungary 10       Malta 20   3rd place final     13 October – St Marys       Greece 26       Hungary 18

Final positions

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD
1	Malta^Cup Winners	4	3	0	1	96	62	+34
2	Niue	4	3	0	1	82	60	+22
3	Greece	4	2	0	2	90	54	+36
4	Hungary	4	2	0	2	66	77	-11
5	Poland^Trophy Winners	4	4	0	0	178	26	+152
6	Philippines	4	1	0	3	61	90	-29
7	Turkey	4	3	0	1	133	77	+56
8	Vanuatu	4	0	0	4	43	127	-84
9	Solomon Islands^Plate Winners	4	3	0	1	154	78	+76
10	Japan	4	1	0	3	60	192	-132
11	Hong Kong	4	0	0	4	62	182	-120

References

1. Mascord, Steve (23 February 2017). "In the world of international rugby league, rebellion is in the air ... again". Theage.com.au. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
2. "Emerging Nations World Cup confirmed for Sydney 2018". Rlif.com. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
3. Pettigrew, Riley (30 March 2017). "RLIF confirms 2018 Emerging Nations World Cup". The Roar. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
4. "Historic Honiara Test match announced". Vanuatuindependent.com. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
5. "Japanese Samurais set to take part in second Emerging Nations tournament". asiapacificrl.com. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
6. "India set to make their international debut at Emerging Nations World Championship". asiapacificrl.com. 26 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
7. Walter, Brad (19 September 2018). "Coaching rivals to team up for Greece". NRL.com. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
8. "Hong Kong confirms coaching squad for Emerging Nations". Asia Pacific RL. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
9. "The Hungarian Rugby League Federation has named their squad to play in the Rugby League Emerging Nations World Championship in Sydney". Facebook. Magyar Bulls Ausztrália. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
10. "Japan name Shibasaki brothers in squad for Emerging Nations". Asia Pacific RL. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
11. "Sammut Declares Emerging Nations Intentions Ahead of Hungary Test". Facebook. Malta Rugby League. 10 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
12. . RLENWC.com. 22 September 2018. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
13. "Niue announce squad for Emerging Nations World Cup". RLIF. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
14. Walter, Brad (19 May 2018). "Haas can help grow game in Asian community". NRL.com. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
15. 24 September 2018. . RLENWC.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
16. "Polska Rugby XIII pragnie ogłosić, że nowym trenerem drużyny reprezentującej nasz kraj podczas Emerging Nations World Championship w Sydney został ceniony szkoleniowiec - Lee Addison". Twitter (in Polish). Polska Rugby XIII. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
17. Greenard, Tom (24 August 2018). "Logan school teacher Lee Addison to coach Poland's national rugby league team". ABC. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
18. "Coach Lee Addison has named his 23 man sqaud (sic)for the Emerging Nations World Cup with 1 more player to be added to the squad". Facebook. Polska XIII Exiles Australia. 23 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
19. "Late surge not enough for Solomon Island rugby league team". Radio NZ. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
20. . RLENWC. 21 August 2018. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
21. "Vanuatu Rugby League primed for Emerging Nations opportunity". Radio NZ. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
22. "Interchange Vanuatu Rugby League Name Team for Rugby League Emerging Nations World Championship". Facebook. Vanuatu Rugby League. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
23. . africa-unitedrl.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
24. "Latin Heat player trials". QRL.com.au. 14 August 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
25. . RLENWC.com. 5 October 2018. Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
26. "St Marys Leagues Stadimum". AUStadiums. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
27. "Draw Announced for Emerging Nations World Championships". RLIF. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.

External links

• RLENWC.com 26 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine