Tonga yesterday reached the semi-finals of the Rugby League World Cup for the first time with a 24-22 victory over a spirited Lebanon side in a thriller in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Tonga scored four first-half tries, but were held to a single Ata Hingano penalty after the break, and had it not been for two disallowed tries, it might have been Lebanon playing England or Papua New Guinea next weekend in Auckland, New Zealand.
Lebanon, inspired by five-eighth Mitchell Moses and halfback Robbie Farah, drew within two points of their tiring opponents when Abbas Miski crossed for his second try with 11 minutes to go, but could not find another score to register the upset.
Photo: AFP
“I’m pretty heartbroken at the moment,” man of the match Moses said.
“It’s just heartbreaking to see how hard the boys worked and to be caught up with some calls that weren’t right. We’ll hold our heads high, but we’re broken now,” he added.
Although there can be little argument over Moses being ruled to have come up short of the line in the 57th minute, the video referee’s decision to disallow an Adam Doueihi score six minutes after the break for obstruction was more debatable.
Photo: AFP
Tonga had started the match as if they were going to reprise the second half of their stunning upset of New Zealand in their final pool match last week.
David Fusitu’a, who scored a hat-trick against the Kiwis last week, added two more to his tournament tally, with stand off Tuimoala Lolohea and fullback Will Hopoate also crossing.
However, Doueihi and James Elias replied for Lebanon, and when Miski finished off a brilliant team move just before the break, the underdogs were in touch at 22-16.
“It was really scrappy, we didn’t play to our potential, but credit to Lebanon, they played a really tough game and
NEW ZEALAND VS FIJI
Reuters, WELLINGTON
New Zealand yesterday suffered an upset at the hands of Pacific Island rivals for the second week in a row to bow out of the Rugby League World Cup at the quarter-final stage with a 4-2 loss to Fiji.
Apisai Koroisau kicked penalties either side of halftime at Wellington Regional Stadium to give Fiji a victory in a dogfight of a Test match and a ticket to a semi-final against reigning champions Australia next week.
New Zealand had been looking to get back on track after a stunning upset at the hands of Tonga last week, the first by a tier-two nation against tier-one opposition at a World Cup.
One of only three countries to have won the World Cup, the 2008 champions instead found themselves under huge pressure from the off and, but for Fiji’s decision to tap penalties rather than take the points, could have faced a heavy deficit at the break.
As it was, the two points from hooker Koroisau’s successful 15th minute effort were all that divided the teams.
New Zealand halfback Shaun Johnson leveled the score from the kicking tee five minutes after the break, but the hosts were unable to build on that as winger Jordan Rapana was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul two minutes later.
Koroisau restored Fiji’s lead with his second penalty just after the hour mark and the Pacific Islanders held out for the remaining 19 minutes to reach the last four of the World Cup for the third straight tournament.
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