Lebanon goes into Saturday’s decisive match against South Africa without talismanic co-captain Ray Moujalli but in a relaxed mood. Moujalli, the popular Newtown Jets front row, suffered a deep gash to his knee in the 20th minute of the first match which will keep him out for several weeks. He has been replaced by 37-year-old utility Ead Kassem in Darren Maroon’s 19-man-squad.
“Preparations have been good,” said assistant coach Chris Salem. “We are settled in here [at Pretoria’s High Performance Centre] after a few days acclimatising to the conditions. The facilities here are great and the boys are looking well. It took a couple of days for them to get over Sunday’s match, which was played under a hot sun and on a hard ground, but they are feeling bright and ready to go.”
South Africa have been without head coach Brian Greige for most of the week following his pre-arranged trip back to Australia to complete a high performance qualification. Assistant Drikkies Mulder has been responsible for preparing the side in his absence. Rupert Wells comes into the squad, replacing Nardus Raubenheimer who struggled defensively in game one, while highly rated 19-year-old play-maker Ruaan Du Preez looks to have recovered from a knee injury that prevented his selection last week. South Africa missed his exceptional goal-kicking ability, missing all three attempts and a crucial six points.
“After Sunday’s game the Rhino players had a lot of small injuries,” said Mulder. “On Monday we had a good recovery session to sort out the injured players and overall we’ve had a hard week at practice, with a lot of defence and communication drills. The players had a good and hard talk about the job at hand this Saturday and there is a positive attitude in the Rhino camp.”
South Africa must beat Lebanon by 29 points or more to book their place in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. Lebanon, which narrowly missed out on qualification in 2008 and 2013, will be cautiously optimistic that this will be their year.
“We have not been too worried about the team getting carried away,” concluded Salem. “Everybody’s focusing on the job at hand and what they are doing. There’s absolutely no issue with us thinking the job is done at all.”
The match, which kicks off at 3pm local time in Bosman Stadium, Brakpan, will be available to view via livestream: http://livestream.com/baruchmedia/sarugbyleague
SOUTH AFRICA 19-MAN SQUAD
Jaice Terblanche (Barberton Bulldogs RLC), Marcell Viljoen, Rudolph Prinsloo, Theo Rhodes (Bears RLC), Shuab Samaai (Cape Town Hyenas RLC), Jason King (Emerald Tigers QRL), Deon Kramer, Jean Coetzer, Jean Pierre Nel (Harlequins RLC), Louis Musson (Parramatta RL NSWRL), Bradley Williams, Halvor Harris (Perth RL), Shane Gillham (Titans RL QRL), Christo Louw, Dwayne Botma, Johan Joubert, Ruaan Du Preez, Rupert Wells (UP-Tuks RLC), Gideon Mzembe (Wynnum Manly QRL)
LEBANON 19-MAN SQUAD
Mark Daoud (Asquith Magpies), Richard Coorey, Ead Kassem, Elias Sukkar (Auburn Warriors), Ali Allouche (Canterbury Bulldogs), Chris Saab (Guildford Owls), James Boustani (Hills), Ray Finan, Robin Hachache, (Immortals RLFC), Travis Robinson (Melbourne Storm), James Elias (Newcastle Knights), Daniel Abou-Sleiman, Ahmed Ellaz, Tarek El Masri (Newtown Jets), Nick Kassis, Mitchell Mamary (Wentworthville Magpies), Toufic El Hajj, Wael Harb (Wolves FC), Adham El Zbaidieh (Unattached)