The build up to the World Cup has been given a much needed boost by the tournament, with sides fighting tooth and nail and producing some exciting results to make sure the fans know just how competitive the tournament will be.

France Win Spiteful Clash
There's no love left between the two nations labelled 'arrogant' by each other did battle today, and it was France who emerged with boasting rights, hammering the US side 22-8 in a fairly one sided encounter. Poor goal-kicking from Darwin's Bill Rhyven further hurt the US side's credibility.
France: Olivier Sarramea 2, Freddie Banquet, and Pascal Jampy. DuFour 3/4
USA: Kazoo Seto and Christian Rahui. Rhyven 0/2
PoM Points: Olivier Sarremea 3, Cedric Debrosse 2, and Jean Christophe-Borlin 1.

Ireland Outlast Germans
Germany continue to be the surprise packets of the international scene, today pushing fourth ranked Ireland to the limits in a 23-18 win to the Wolfhounds. The Germans continue to blossom around the likes of John Sitizien and Till Mason.
Ireland: Danny Williams, Craig Greenhill, and Tommy O'Reilly. O'Gara 5/5. O'Gara 1 fg.
Germany: Till Mason, Nikolai Komarnitzki, and Nicholai Backlava. Mason 3/5
PoM Points: Damian Driscoll 3, Ronan O'Gara 2, and Terry O'Connor 1.

Black Power
Whilst many see them as a token inclusion in this year's World Cup, the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander side is taking things very seriously- and today showed that by gutsing out a gritty 22-14 win over the Lebanon Cedars. Owen Craigie was sensational for the AA/TSI side, completely outplaying his opposites.
Lebanon: Monah Elahmad and Mohammed Shief. El Masri 3/3
AA/TSI: Justin Hodges 2 and Shannon Hegarty. Fields 5/6
PoM Points: Owen Craigie 3, Justin Hodges 2, and Damien Fields 1.

Tonga Shock Welsh
The Tongan side have absolutely shocked the Welsh Dragons and the league world today, upsetting the formerly dominant side 15-10 in a classic clash. The match was highlighted by big hits, and plenty of flare as the Welsh almost snuck back before a Fifita Moala try sealed the result.
Wales: Marc Calderwood and Karle Hammond. Eaton 1/3
Tonga: Fifita Moala, John Hopoate, and Willie Poching. Fukofuka 1/4. Kaufusi 1 fg.
PoM Points: John Hopoate 3, Lesley Vainakolo 2, and Lupina Kaufusi 1.

God Damn it.... oh well I wasn't planning to win, considering how poor our side is. We look forward to get back on track next week against USA i think....

Oh and to all the CCF internations- Terry O'Connor, Robbie O'Davis and Gunter Franz. Keep going hard boys, your doing a top notch job.

Our win was a lot tougher this time around. We really had to graft hard for our win, but the boys showed we can win ugly as well as win with style.
Our forward pack has been heavily critized in the last few weeks. Critics mentioned that I can't win without a good forward pack. The critics are right, but we have a GREAT forward pack. In the first half, TWICE we won against the feed. In our pack, we had Shannon Hegarty and Brent Webb, who have NEVER played in the forwards before. Total humiliation of their so-called "forward pack".
Justin Hodges and Owen Cragie were awesome today. Cragie, with his sleight of hand style and Hodges, with his "badass" style simply killed their backline. These two are forming the best centre combination in international rugby league.
I found Magro's comments interesting. It seemed like he was consigned to failure. It must have rubbed off onto his team. I hope he brings the "loser" attitude to the CCF.
BTW, the El Masri move to 5/8 FAILED!!! Better luck next time.

Roger

WOOHOO GO THE MIGHTY TONGANS :drunk: :drunk: :drunk:

Suva internationals score 5 PoM points.... they rock.

I honestly think our Lebanon squad did particularly well against TA/AA considering our cirumstances.

At least half of our players are inexperienced as well as a majority of them do not hold contracts with ASRL teams and for them to do toe to toe and hold a score line 22-14 is a victory for Lebanon. With time our players will grow and hopefully be able to compete with England and Australia.

The Central Coast trio (Magro, El Masri, Tabuli) did particulary well during the game. Hazem El Masri played his first game in 5/8th and I feel he went well, he was cool, wasn't pressured and just was unfortuante to get thrown some dud passes.

I find Roger Bossets comments rather ammusing, especially about the 'loser' attitude. If I do recall- Roger is Sir Choker. He posesses one of the greats squads in the competition and can easy compete with Premier League, however; his squad still remainds outside of the 8. TA/AA have some spectaular players within their line-up like Robbie O'Davis, Rhys Wesser, Preston Campell, Shannon Heggarty and so many more. If more ASRL teams would pick up the Lebanese players, Internation Rugby League would thrive but instead Australia continues to dominate.

We have some talented young players coming through including Romeo Magro and Sylvian Korr so we are only growing and learning. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and bring a victory against the USA.