The Rugby League Commonwealth Championships was a huge success according the world governing body chief and will thrive from its inaugural tournament in Scotland last week into a major date in our international calendar.  Nigel Wood, chairman of the Rugby League International Federation, declared the two-day festival of Nines in North Lanarkshire as the perfect start for rugby league’s relationship with the Commonwealth Games.

“The first ever Rugby League Commonwealth Championship did everything we had hoped for,” said Wood, also Chief Executive Officer of the RFL. “It brought together teams from almost every region of the Commonwealth for a fantastic festival of rugby that enabled players from the Pacific, the Americas, Africa and Europe to play against each other and socialise off the field. Congratulations to Papua New Guinea who were thoroughly deserving winners of the gold medals, and to the other seven nations for making it such a vibrant and well contested tournament.

"We should also pay tribute to the officials, the volunteers and the supporters who all contributed to launching the Commonwealth Championships. I hope they can all look back on a wonderful weekend and think they were there at the start of something special and helped it run so smoothly.”

PNG beat Australia 22-8 in the final at Broadwood Stadium, with Wales pipping surprise package Canada to the bronze medal. The event, which was officially endorsed by the Commonwealth Games Federation, was played at Under-19 level with a plan in place to increase that to Under-23s for the 2018 games on Australia’s Gold Coast.

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