Men's World 9's : 2019

The first attempt at this competition was a bit of a hit and miss affair. I'll outline how I saw those and then the comp itself.

Hits: There was some exciting action and due to the shortened duration of the games there were not a feeling of embarrassing lop sided results. There were upsets too as can happen in this format.

Misses: The England side was deprived of many good players (I won't go into why here) which detracted. Future events need better scheduling to avoid conflicting with other competitions. The crowds were disappointing.

Overall it was a concept that delivered. It needs to be taken more seriously and expanded upon, making it a festival of open Rugby league.

First Round
Pool A		W	L	Pt	PD	Results
1	Australia	3	0	6	+69	Australia	25-12	NZ
2	NZ	2	1	4	+34	PNG	27-10	USA
3	PNG	1	2	2	-10	NZ	18-17	PNG
4	USA	0	3	0	-93	Australia	41-11	USA
						NZ	46-0	USA
						Australia	26-0	PNG
Pool B		W	L	Pt	PD	Results
1	England	2	1	4	+52	Lebanon	12-8	France
2	Lebanon*	1	2	2	-4	England	25-4	Wales
3	France	1	2	2	-21	France	23-6	Wales
4	Wales	1	2	2	-27	Lebanon	16-13	England
						Wales	25-14	Lebanon
						England	38-4	France
Pool C		W	L	Pt	PD	Results
1	Samoa	3	0	6	+32	Cook Is	30-7	Tonga
2	Cook Is	2	1	4	+12	Samoa	32-17	Fiji
3	Tonga	1	2	2	-23	Samoa	17-4	Cook Is
4	Fiji	0	3	0	-21	Tonga**	21-17	Fiji
						Cook Is	12-10	Fiji
						Samoa	24-20	Tonga

Finals
Semi Finals
NZ	22-6	England	Australia	25-8	Samoa
Grand Final
Australia	24-10	NZ	Winners Australia

*Lebanon stripped of two points for fielding an ineligible player.

**Extra time match

SL Teams Rated : 2019 Top Teams

The teams that made it to the playoffs are ranked here. With only five sides left to fight to the final, hopes would be high. but only two make the final and only one returns home triumphant.

5th: 32 points, Warrington (Cheshire).

A top performing side for most of the year and winners of the cup, coming in fourth was a let down. Form had deserted them and they lost the eliminator match straight up 12-14 to Castleford at home. Even the fans didn't bother turning up in numbers, perhaps they had already seen the writing on the wall.

4th: 30 points, Castleford (Yorkshire).

The club didn't reach great heights in 2019 but got to the last five. This was one team in the playoffs I gave no chance of making the final but they did upset Warrington before meeting their Waterloo against Salford , losing 22-0.

3rd: 36 points, Wigan (Lancashire).

This was a peculiar year, with a slow start and improved performances as the season progressed had them second by the end of the regular season. After taking out Salford, they needed to beat Saints to go straight to the final. They got hammered by a very slick team 10-40.

So it was back to playing Salford for the last chance to make the final but with a flat and error strewn performance, they went down 4-28.

2nd: 34 points, Salford (Lancashire).

They endured the relegation playoff series last year and didn't start well in 2019. They also had an important player transfer to Leeds so things didn't look good. They got it together, put a string of wins together and ended up third.

In the first qualifying final, they lost narrowly to Wigan 18-12, went into an elimination match with Cas' and redeemed themselves 22-0. Back to facing Wigan in the last match to determine the second finalist, where they won comfortably and made their fans plus most neutrals very happy.

However, the final was a bridge to far, going down gallantly 23-6. Still a fabulous season. The challenge will be maintaining the standard achieved this season.

1st: 52 points, St Helens (Lancashire).

Saints won the league in a canter, ultimately taking it with a 16 point margin over the second placed side. The points difference of +521 showed how dominant they were. Still, that didn't stop them losing the cup final. In the finals series, they only had to win one game to make the grand final, which they managed in downing Wigan 40-10.

Saints went on to in the grand final and deservedly so. A nice send off for the coach who is returning to Australia. They were the best team and to not win the big game would have been a harsh end to their season,

	Rk	Team	Pts	W	L	Diff
	1	St Helens RLFC	52	26	3	521
	2	Wigan Warriors	36	18	11	160
	3	Salford Red Devils	34	17	12	186
	4	Warrington Wloves	32	16	13	176
	5	Castleford Tigers	30	15	14	88

Middle East Africa Championship : 2019

Otherwise known as the MEA Championship, this is a competition to promote the game in the region. Domestically Nigeria already has nine teams competing in two conferences and it's good to see Morocco back in the fold after years of the game being banned in that country. The other sides in the four nation MEA Championships were Ghana and Cameroon.

All matches were played at the Lagos Cricket Club ground in Nigeria.

First round:

Nigeria took on Ghana and had a slender 12-4 lead at the break. In the second period Nigeria got away from their opponents and the hosts were leading 25-4 after 60 minutes. Ghana came back to give the score more respectability.

Nigeria 25-12 Ghana.

The other game featured Cameroon versus Morocco. In a low scoring match, Morocco lead 4-0 at half time. Two penalties had then further ahead ahead while Cameroon got a late consolation touch down.

Morocco 8-4 Cameroon.

Finals:

Both victorious sides came together for the final and the losing teams squared off for third and fourth placing. First up we look at the playoff for third and fourth.

Ghana had the better of the first half but only lead 4-0 when the teams changed ends. Cameroon came out with gusto and were rewarded by tying the scores in a tight contest. Ghana scored at the death to narrowly take the game and third placing.

Ghana 10-4 Cameroon.

Ghana vs Cameroon. Pic RLEF

The final had the hosts and favourites start strongly and they lead 18-0. Morocco came back to have the scoreline at 18-4 at the interval. The second half saw plenty of scoring by Nigeria with Morocco getting a late converted try.

Nigeria 38-12 Morocco.