The Federazione Italiana Rugby League and Lebanese Rugby League Federation have named their squads for the Mediterranean Cup, which will be contested on 12 June in Catania, Sicily, for the first time in 12 years.
“We had the idea of reviving the Med Cup a long time ago,” said FIRL vice-president Tiziano Franchini. “Now we have moved from words to action. It will be a pleasure on Sunday to fight to win this prestigious trophy.”
Both nations will field exclusively ‘domestic quota’ players under RLEF rules, the Cedars holders of the trophy after beating Serbia, Morocco and France in 2004.
Lebanon interim head coach Tarik Houchar, who coaches Guildford Owls in the Ron Massey Cup in New South Wales, has flown into Beirut to prepare the players and lead the squad to Sicily for his country’s sixth meeting with the Azzurri. “My arrival back in Lebanon has been overwhelming,” said Houchar. “Since I last came here a year ago, I've seen a great improvement in all players in terms of skill level and understanding of the game, which has made my job a lot easier.”
Robin Hachache and Wael Harb retain their places the squad that qualified for the 2017 World Cup in South Africa but Toufic El Hajj and Ray Finan, who also travelled there, are both injured. The pair’s experience will be imperative in a young squad that has 15 debutants. Of those, six have played for Lebanon national teams at U16, U18 and U20 levels.
“There are some amazing stories as to how much effort players are going through just to attend a training session,” continued Houchar. “One travels two hours by public transport from the mountains. Players take nothing for granted here, their passion, commitment and attitude towards representing Lebanon is a reflection of how far they've come and improved as players and people in general. The strong bond they’ve forged is actually having an effect on me; they are bleeding for this game and in my preparation I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to see these boys play more international fixtures and club games.”
Italy will be under Leo Epifania, the former Western Suburbs and Illawarra Steelers player, who will be assistant coach to Cameron Ciraldo for this autumn’s European World Cup qualifiers. His 25-man squad covering eight club sides contains 20 debutants and is a blend of new players from FIRL’s Sicilian operation and seasoned campaigners such as hooker Simone Boscolo and second row and captain Gioele Celerino.
Pictured: Italy and Lebanon drew 19-all the last time they played.
ITALY 25-MAN SQUAD
Simone Boscolo, Francesco Cominato, Matthew Sands, Michele Sutto (Arieti Este), Agatino Magrì (Belpasso Rectores), Riccardo Dodi (Brianza Tigers), Guiseppe Pagani, Luca Rossetti, Albert Stiopei (Lions Brescia), Catalin Diac, Jaume Giorgis (North West Roosters), Gioele Celerino (Newcastle Thunder), Hliwa Achraf, Antonino Arrigo, Riccardo Crocellà, Luca Ferrarello, Alessandro Florio, Igor Giammario, Massimilano Giannino, Diego Irato, Matteo Mazzoleni, Edoardo Pezzano, Michael Russo (Spartans Catania), Davide Spinnato, Francesco Di Trapani (XIII Lovers Palermo)
LEBANON 20-MAN SQUAD
Ghassan Dandach, Roy Taouk, Steven Sokhen (Jounieh RLFC), Kahil Bejjani, Imad Chidiac, Robin Hachache, Rudy Hachache, Mounir Finan, Jad Hachem, George Maalouf, Hazem Tawil, Nabil Tawil, (Immortals RLFC), Ali Abou Arabi, Rami Abboud, Joesph Aslan (Tripoli RLFC, UOB), Wael Harb, Gianni Hamoudeh, Raymond Sabat, Mike Tawk, Joseph Zeidan (Wolves RLFC)