2018 Emerging Nations World Championship

The 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship (ENWC) was a rugby league tournament held for Tier Two and Tier Three nations, the third edition of the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.

2018 Emerging Nations World Championship
Number of teams	11
Host country	Australia
Winner	Malta
Matches played	22
Attendance	8,532 (388 per match)
Points scored	1025 (46.59 per match)
Top scorer	Ethan Niszczot (60)
Top try scorers	Chippie Korostchuk (6) Justice Utatao (6)
Tournaments  < 2000

Background

Several nations that had not qualified, or were not eligible to qualify, for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup planned to contest an Emerging Nations tournament in Sydney in 2017 alongside the World Cup. However this tournament did not get support from the Rugby League International Federation, and did not go ahead.^[1]

On 29 March 2017, the Rugby League International Federation announced that Australia will be host the tournament in 2018.^[2] The two-week-long tournament will be held in Western Sydney, New South Wales with games taking place in Windsor, St Marys and Cabramatta.^[3]

Teams

Ten teams were already confirmed for the tournament by March 2017^[2] with a number of others later also announcing their participation.^[4][5][6] 15 teams were expected to compete, though Canada, India, Latvia, and Thailand were not included in the final draw, for unspecified reasons.

Nation	Coach	Notable players	RLIF Rank (Jul 2018)
Greece	Steve Georgallis	Stefanos Bastas, Michael Korkidas, Jordan Meads[7]	26
Hong Kong	Jason Fairleigh[8]	–	45
Hungary	Jonathan Wilson	Stuart Flanagan[9]	21
Japan	Viliami Ahosivi	Gehamat Shibasaki[10]	41
Malta	Peter Cassar & Aaron McDonald	Tyler Cassel, Jarrod Sammut,[11] Sam Stone[12]	18
Niue	Brendan "Bman" Perenara	Zebastian Lucky Luisi, Eddie Paea, Sione Tovo[13]	34
Philippines	Arwin Marcus	Shane Gray, Payne Haas (),[14] Paul Sheedy[15]	27
Poland	Lee Addison[16][17]	Harry Siejka[18]	–
Solomon Islands	John Jewiss & Luke Heckendorf [19]	–	42
Turkey	Scott Hartas	Emre Guler, Aidan Sezer, Jansin Turgut[20]	–
Vanuatu	Lionel Harbin[21]	Alehana Mara[22]	36

Four multi-country regional teams will compete in a parallel tournament.^[2]

Region	Organising body	Eligible countries
Africa	Africa United Rugby League	54 sovereign states of Africa.[23]  Algeria,  Angola,  Benin,  Botswana,  Burkina Faso,  Burundi,  Cape Verde,  Cameroon,  Central African Republic,  Chad,  Comoros,  Congo,  Cote d'Ivoire,  Djibouti,  DR Congo,  Egypt,  Equatorial Guinea,  Eritrea,  Ethiopia,  Gabon,  Gambia,  Ghana,  Guinea,  Guinea-Bissau,  Kenya,  Lesotho,  Liberia,  Libya,  Madagascar,  Malawi,  Mali,  Mauritania,  Mauritius,  Morocco,  Mozambique,  Namibia,  Niger,  Nigeria,  Rwanda,  São Tomé and Príncipe,  Senegal,  Seychelles,  Sierra Leone,  Somalia,  South Africa,  South Sudan,  Sudan,  Swaziland,  Tanzania,  Togo,  Tunisia,  Uganda,  Zambia, and  Zimbabwe.
Latin America	Latin Heat Rugby League	23 sovereign states in the Americas, plus Puerto Rico.[24]  Argentina,  Belize,  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Chile,  Colombia,  Costa Rica,  Cuba,  Dominican Republic,  Ecuador,  El Salvador,  Guatemala,  Guyana,  Haiti,  Honduras,  Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Panama,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Puerto Rico,  Suriname,  Uruguay, and  Venezuela.
Mediterranean	Mediterranean Rugby League
South East Asia	ASEAN RL Association

Venues

Cabramatta

Kellyville

St Marys

Windsor

Sydney CBD

The venues are located in the Western region of the Sydney metropolis.

• Cabramatta: New Era Stadium, home of the Cabramatta Two Blues, has previously hosted four international fixtures: Philippines vs Serbia (2016), Philippines vs Malta, Lebanon vs Malta, and Malta vs Hungary (all 2017).
• Kellyville: Kellyville Ridge Reserve, all-weather synthetic pitch previously unused at any level, hosted games on 7 October as Cabramatta was closed due to flooding.^[25]
• St Marys: St Marys Leagues Stadium, home of the St Marys Saints, has previously hosted six international fixtures: Fiji vs Tonga, Samoa vs Cook Islands, Lebanon vs Malta (all 2006), Lebanon vs Malta (2015), Malta vs Hungary, South Africa vs Malta (both 2018). It contains a 520-seat grandstand and has a total capacity of 7,000.^[26]
• Windsor: Windsor Sporting Complex, home of the Windsor Wolves, has not previously hosted an international fixture.

Pool stage

Main article: 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship pool stage

Tournament fixtures were announced on 17 July 2018.^[27]

Key to colours in pool tables
	Advances to Cup play-offs (1st to 4th places)
	Advances to Trophy play-offs (5th to 8th places)
	Advances to Bowl play-offs (9th to 11th places)

Pool A

1 October Malta  36 – 10  Philippines Windsor 4 October Malta  16 – 26  Niue St Marys 7 October Philippines  12 – 24  Niue Kellyville[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1  Niue 2 2 0 0 50 28 +22 4 2  Malta 2 1 0 1 52 36 +16 2 3  Philippines 2 0 0 2 22 60 −38 0

Pool B

1 October Greece  18 – 20  Hungary Windsor 4 October Hungary  18 – 13  Vanuatu St Marys 7 October Greece  38 – 0  Vanuatu Kellyville[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1  Hungary 2 2 0 0 38 31 +7 4 2  Greece 2 1 0 1 56 20 +36 2 3  Vanuatu 2 0 0 2 13 56 −43 0

Pool C

1 October Solomon Islands  22 – 30  Turkey Windsor 4 October Japan  0 – 60  Turkey St Marys 4 October Hong Kong  6 – 62  Poland St Marys 7 October Solomon Islands  32 – 12  Hong Kong Kellyville[25] 7 October Japan  6 – 58  Poland Kellyville[25]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1  Poland 2 2 0 0 120 12 +108 4 2  Turkey 2 2 0 0 90 22 +68 4 3  Solomon Islands 2 1 0 1 54 42 +12 2 4  Hong Kong 2 0 0 2 18 94 -76 0 5  Japan 2 0 0 2 6 118 -112 0

Play-offs

Main article: 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship play-off stage

Plate

9 October Solomon Islands  44 – 22  Japan Windsor 11 October Hong Kong  30 – 32  Japan Cabramatta 13 October Solomon Islands  56 – 14  Hong Kong St Marys

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 9  Solomon Islands 2 2 0 0 100 36 +64 4 10  Japan 2 1 0 1 54 74 -20 2 11  Hong Kong 2 0 0 2 44 88 -44 0

Trophy

10 October Philippines  29 – 16  Turkey Cabramatta 10 October Vanuatu  4 – 44  Poland Cabramatta 13 October Turkey  27 – 26  Vanuatu St Marys 13 October Philippines  10 – 14  Poland St Marys

Trophy semi-finals 5th place final                 10 October – Cabramatta      Philippines 29   13 October – St Marys    Turkey 16    Philippines 10   10 October – Cabramatta    Poland 14    Vanuatu 4      Poland 44   7th place final     13 October – St Marys      Turkey 27      Vanuatu 26

Cup

10 October Niue  16 – 8  Greece Cabramatta 10 October Hungary  10 – 20  Malta Cabramatta 13 October Greece  26 – 18  Hungary St Marys 13 October Niue  16 – 24  Malta St Marys

Cup semi-finals 1st place final                 10 October – Cabramatta      Niue 16   13 October – St Marys    Greece 8    Niue 16   10 October – Cabramatta    Malta 24    Hungary 10      Malta 20   3rd place final     13 October – St Marys      Greece 26      Hungary 18

Final positions

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD
1	Malta Cup Winners	4	3	0	1	96	62	+34
2	Niue	4	3	0	1	82	60	+22
3	Greece	4	2	0	2	90	54	+36
4	Hungary	4	2	0	2	66	77	-11
5	Poland Trophy Winners	4	4	0	0	178	26	+152
6	Philippines	4	1	0	3	61	90	-29
7	Turkey	4	3	0	1	133	77	+56
8	Vanuatu	4	0	0	4	43	127	-84
9	Solomon Islands Plate Winners	4	3	0	1	154	78	+76
10	Japan	4	1	0	3	60	192	-132
11	Hong Kong	4	0	0	4	62	182	-120