European Championship Round-up: Week Two
Week Two of the European Championship saw Scotland come within touching distance of a first ever title, and a place in the Four Nations, while France put right some of their Dublin mistakes against a valiant Welsh side.
The results mean that Scotland can face France in Galashiels this coming Friday, cofortable in the knowledge that they can lose the game by less than 18 points and still claim the title.
Ireland still have a chance of claiming second spot, if they can beat Wales in Wrexham in the tournament’s final round of matches.
Once again, the lack of television coverage has sadly prevented rugby league fans from seeing some fine entertainment.
Danny Brough once again led Scotland around the park to great effect at Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium on Saturday, where Mark Aston’s boys in green could not repeat the heroics of the week before against France.
A tough first half remained scoreless until just before the break, when Callum Phillips crossed thw whitewash for the Scots, with Brough adding the conversion.
Hurst finished off a Wardle break to put the visitors further ahead eight minutes into the second half, before a Danny Addy try and a Brough drop goal gave the Scots an unassailable 19-0 lead with ten minutes or so remaining.
Oscar Thomas finished things off with a try for Scotland three minutes from the end, after James Toole had crossed to give Ireland some consolation.
“It was good to see a top win by our U19s over Ireland in the curtain-raiser,” said Scotland coach Steve McCormack,
“We were able to replicate that with the seniors. It’s great for Scottish rugby league to see everybody working together.
“Friday night on home soil will be a big occasion, on the back of a terrific World Cup last year, but we cannot afford to get carried away. We are making steady progress.”
IRELAND:
1 Shannon McDonnell, 2 Callum Mulkeen, 3 Haydn Peacock, 4 Stuart Littler, 5 Casey Dunne, 6 Callum Casey, 7 James Toole, 8 Robbie Mulhern, 9 Bob Beswick, 10 Luke Ambler, 11 Jobe Murphy, 12 Josh Toole, 13 Will Hope.
Interchange:
14 Wayne Kelly, 15 Sean Hesketh, 16 Graham O’Keefe, 17 Matthew Hadden
Try: James Toole (73)
SCOTLAND:
1 Oscar Thomas, 2 David Scott, 3 Ben Hellewell, 4 Joe Wardle, 5 Alex Hurst, 6 Danny Brough, 7 Nathan Massey, 8 Adam Walker, 9 Danny Addy, 10 Ben Kavanagh, 11 Corbyn Kilday, 12 Brett Phillips, 13 Sonny Esslemont.
Interchange:
14 Callum Phillips, 15 Joe McLean, 16 Josh Barlow, 17 Louis Senter
Tries: C. Phillips (39), Hurst (48), Addy (67) Thomas (77)
Goals: Brough 3
Drop goal: Brough
Half-time: 0-6
Referee: Richard Silverwood (England)
Fans of France and Wales could actually watch this game live on the FFR13 website, and the French governing body deserves high praise for streaming the game when no other television deal was in place.
A young Wales team fought valiantly, but Richard Agar’s Frenchman were on a mission to put things right after their opening day defeat to Ireland in Dublin.
They scored seven tries in total, with three of those efforts coming from clean breaks. The number of players with top level experience eventually told, but Wales showed that their future could be bright.
One highlight for the Welsh team was the arrival on the pitch of Owain Griffiths, who became Wales‘s 500th international player when he came off the bench.
France took the lead in the eighth minute of the game, and never looked like relinquishing it, though Wales rallied well in the second half, and conceded no points in the last 25 minutes of the match.
France‘s Super League class told in the end, though, and they now head to Scotland for a game which looks mouthwatering.
“I was impressed with them, at 42-6 down you’re looking down the barrel of an embarrassment but that didn’t happen and they showed some true Welsh spirit and passion and fought their way back into the game,” said Wales coach John Kear.
“The pleasing thing for me was this was what we were trying to do for the last game and the first three quarters of this.
“They’re very young and they need some confidence and the only way that you can get confidence is to play against good teams and France were a very good team.
“We played here today in 24 degree heat and it took its toll at times, but we finished very strongly and we can look at what we need to improve before we face Ireland in Wrexham next Sunday.”
FRANCE:
1 Mathias Pala, 2 Clément Soubeyras, 3 Aurelien Decarnin, 4 Damien Cardace, 5 Frederic Vaccari, 6 Theo Fages, 7 Remy Marginet, 8 Jamal Fakir, 9 John Boudebza, 10 Mickael Simon, 11 Kevin Larroyer, 12 Benjamin Garcia, 13 Jason Baitieri.
Interchange:
14 Eloi Pelissier, 15 Jean Philippe Baile, 16 Julian Bousquet, 17 Aaron Wood
Tries: Soubeyras (7), Fagas (20), Baile (34), Pala (39, 52), Marginet (41, 55)
Goals: Marginet 7/7
WALES:
1 Tom Hughes, 3 Dalton Grant, 8 Kyle Scrivens, 11 Christiaan Roets, 19 Rhys Williams, 6 Ollie Olds, 10 Peter Lupton, 13 Dan Fleming, 5 Connor Farrer, 12 Matty Barron, 21 Lewis Reece, 16 Ricky Hough, 7 Matty Fozard.
Interchange:
14 Owain Griffiths, 15 Izaak Duffy, 17 Paul Emanuelli, 24 Morgan Evans
Tries: Fleming (10), Fozard (47), Williams (64), Roets (68)
Goals: Reece 3/4
Referee: Tim Roby (England)
Half-time: 24-6
Attendance: 5,225
WEEK THREE FIXTURES: