The knockout stages of the Rugby League World Cup get underway in Huddersfield on Friday night when the defending champions Australia take on Lebanon in the first quarter final of the competition at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Australia were in dominant form in the group stage of the tournament but they will know that it is now where they need to peak. Lebanon have probably achieved their aim and might feel like they have nothing to lose here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC Three channel with the build-up beginning at 7.05pm and kick off coming at 7.30pm.
Australia
The defending champions have rotated their side throughout the group stage of the tournament and the worrying thing for the rest of the teams involved is that they haven’t looked any weaker regardless of which 17 they have sent into battle. The one thing we know about this Australian side is that they are so strong they are going to leave out some top class talent who will walk into any other team in the competition.
The Australian defence has been incredibly strong in this tournament even allowing for all the changes they have made. They have probably the best offense in the competition as well so it might be that their biggest dangers are themselves. They have shown a ruthless streak in all three matches which suggests that they are not going to take anyone lightly or ease up against them though so we should expect to see them at their best here.
Lebanon
Full credit should go to Lebanon for what they have achieved in this tournament so far. They are the only team to make it through to the quarter final who were not seeded to do so and that in itself deserves plenty of credit. They have really looked good the longer this competition has gone on as well. They were always going to have it tough in their opening match against New Zealand but they followed that up with emphatic wins over Ireland and Jamaica to seal their spot in this quarter final.
Lebanon showed in those last two matches that they have run up the points and have a number of good set plays which can trouble any team in the competition. It wasn’t as though they were blown away by New Zealand in the opening game either. Their defence will be tested to the full here but they have a good blend of NRL players in their ranks and a number of their squad are of Australian heritage so they will be right up for this one.
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Team News
Australia coach Mal Meninga has named Nathan Cleary in the 13 to take on Lebanon ahead of Daly Cherry-Evans who has to settle for a place on the bench. Josh Addo-Carr and Isaah Yeo are among the players coming back into the side.
Lebanon have Jacob Kiraz back from having to sit out the win over Jamaica because of the concussion protocols. He will slot in at full-back with Adam Doueihi moving forward to go back to stand-off.
Betting
I expect Australia to win this match but I think Lebanon merit a little bit more respect than to be getting 46 points. This is a Lebanon side that have already put up a dozen points on New Zealand and were they to reach double figures in this match then Australia will probably have to play for the entire 80 minutes to get close to covering a 46 point start, and with a possible semi-final with New Zealand to come next week I’m not sure that is what they want to be doing.
I don’t actually think Lebanon match up too badly to Australia with Josh Mansour a very competent winger to keep Josh Addo-Carr quiet while the halves have the quality to turn the Australian defence around. I expect the Kangaroos to go through in this one but we’ve seen throughout the tournament that the underdogs have stayed close unless they have been complete mismatches. This isn’t to that level so I’ll take Lebanon with the start.
Tips
Back Lebanon (+46) to beat Australia for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
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