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 World Cup qualification (Europe play-off) | |||||||||||||
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 Leigh Sports Village hosted the match. | |||||||||||||
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| 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
editOn 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.
Route to match
editItaly
editItaly 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.
| Opposition | PF | PA | Date | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serbia | 62 | 14 | 22 October 2016 | Makiš Stadium, Belgrade | 1,037 |
| Wales | 14 | 20 | 29 October 2016 | Stadio Brianteo, Monza | 839 |
Russia
editRussia qualified for the play-off match after finishing second in group B.
| Opposition | PF | PA | Date | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 40 | 6 | 15 October 2016 | Fili Stadium, Moscow | 427 |
| Ireland | 16 | 70 | 29 October 2016 | Carlisle Grounds, Bray | 867 |
Squads
editItaly
editHead coach: Cameron Ciraldo
Italy named a 19-man squad.[3]
Russia
editHead coach: Denis Korolev
Russia announced their 29-man squad on 19 September 2016, which was later reduced to a 19-man squad.[4][5] Similar to Italy, Russia was unchanged from the initial World Cup qualifiers.
| Club | Player |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Match
editDetails
edit| 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) |
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Post-match
editWith the win Italy became the 14th, and final, team to qualify for the 2017 World Cup.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Italy take the final RLWC2017 place". Rugby League International Federation. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ QUALIFICATION DETAILS FOR 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP ANNOUNCED Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, rlef.eu.com, 3 August 2014
- ^ https://www.totalrl.com/world-cup-qualifiers-final-italy-v-russia-preview/
- ^ https://europeanrugbyleague.com/articles/1359/2017-rlwc-final-european-qualifier-italy-v-russia-preview
- ^ https://europeanrugbyleague.com/articles/1313/russia-names-29-man-squad-for-world-cup-qualifiers
- ^ "Italy take the final RLWC2017 place". rlif.com. 5 November 2016. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2016.