Netherlands winger Mitch Donnelly scored six tries as his side wrested back the Griffin Cup, winning 44-18 in Hattingen. The match was delayed due to the large crowd that queued to get in, and they saw a masterclass from Damon Koolstra who set up Donnelly for most of his scores.
The victory saw the Netherlands lead 6-5 in the annual series and was the fourth successive win for the Oranje in their autumn men’s senior international matches, Harry Mulligan continuing his fine form with 16 points.
Netherlands head coach, Dave Hunter, commented: “It was a really good day for rugby league and pleasing to win the Griffin Cup back from Germany, who did an amazing job of organising the game. We performed well, although I’m still disappointed that we make mistakes and let teams back into games for large periods. Positively, we found out where their weaknesses were and were able to exploit them. We have one more match to go this year, the guys are going to stay switched on and focussed to get the job done and hopefully make it five out of five.”
Germany fought back after the break with winger Fabian Kramer crossing for all four of their tries, but the bigger success was their largest-ever attendance, over half of whom were children, with food and beer supplies running low.
President of Germany RL, Bob Doughton, noted: “The teams were fairly evenly matched, the real difference was that the Netherlands benefited from having played three times in the build-up. But with the record crowd – some 200 of whom stayed after the match enjoying the atmosphere – it was as if the result was immaterial and the task for us now is to build on this.”
GERMANY 18
Brian Kikawa, Dorotej-Dado Arnold, Basti Paassen, Felix Rau, Fabian Kramer, Liam Doughton, Alex Nyahoe, Mawuli Amefia, Harry Cartwright, Killiam Martin, Martin Tormann, Eoin Bowie, Jimmy Keinhorst.
Subs: Alexej Petry, Max Alderson, Charlie Tetley, Dany Doukeng.
Tries: Kramer (38, 52, 56, 61)
Goals: Rau 1/4
NETHERLANDS 44
Harry Mulligan, Isaac Ngirubiu, Mike Prins, Mitch Donnellly, Hamish Wragg, Will Johnston, Damon Koolstra, Mauricio Gomez Pazos, James Adams, Bonne Wilce, Lucas Thomson, Tom Van Bokhoven, Frank Longhurst.
Subs: Daan Van Rossum, Thomas Turnock, Soren Van Der Linden, Shadan Lavia.
Tries: Donnelly (4, 12, 18, 30, 66, 74 , Mulligan (46), Ngirubia (79)
Goals: Mulligan 6/8
Referee: Henry Winnard (England)
Half Time: 4-22
POLAND TRIUMPH ON NORTH MACEDONIA DEBUT
A new look Poland side, with five debutants, defeated North Macedonia on their rugby league debut, 40-8 ,in a men’s senior international at Sylvannia Waters in Sydney. A try to co-captain Harry Siejka in the 19th minute opened the scoring for Poland who led 16-0 at the break after Penrith’s Zac Lipowicz – whose brother Reece also went over late on – and then Callum Gromek crossed.
Debutants centres Ethan Niszczot and Malakai Watene-Zelezniak extended the lead at the start of the second half and Siejka finished with 16 points, kicking six goals.
North Macedonia’s moment of history came when hooker Jayden Foye went over for their first try, Jayden Gouganovski with a fine chase of his own kick grabbing their second.
NORTH MACEDONIA 8
Elia Georgievski, Angelo Avramovski, Xanda Georgievski, Aledin Hrvat, Jayden Gouganovski, Mitchel Stojanoski, James Suleski, Jayden Foye, Jake Mitrevski, James Mirceski, Aleks Stojkovski, Jamie Miletic, Josh Kosteski
Subs: Aleks Srbinovski, Josh Boicheski, Sean Metelovski, Justin Miletec
Tries: Foye (70), Gouganovski (77)
Goals: Suleski (0/2)
POLAND 40
Callum Gromek, Daniel Stiff, Malakai Watene-Zelezniak, Ethan Niszczot, Reece Lipowicz, Matthew Stachnik, Harrison Siejka, Mitchell Shaw, Arek Werstak, Norbert Bałaciński, Chippie Korostchuk, Simon Maslanka, Zac Lipowicz
Subs: Lachlan Srama, Brayden Tyburski, Tynan Forster, Adam Artsivourtsis
Tries: Siejka (19), Z. Lipowicz (26), Gromek (30), Ethan Niszczot (42), Watene-Zelezniak (49), M. Stachnik (60), Lipowicz (74)
Goals: Harrison Siejka (6/7)
Half time: 16-0
MALTA HOLD ON TO DEFEAT CHILE
Malta, with two tries to winger Lucas Borg, held on to defeat Chile at Forshaw Park in Sydney 30-22 in a men’s senior international for world ranking points. Chile, in their first run out since a 34-14 win over Colombia in Jerico in the South American Championships 11 months ago, took the lead through Diego Bravo-Graham as the Weichafes opened strongly.
Kyle Cassel replied but Chile went in ahead at the break through Ben Fisher’s try. Malta responded with a length of the field effort from Zarrin Galea and they went further ahead when Tyson Jackson crossed.
Malta head coach, Aaron McDonald, noted: “We had four guys on debut today and a very different team to what we put out two weeks ago against Italy. It was scrappy at times, but the effort towards the end of the game when Chile were coming back, and the boys dug deep, was commendable.”
MALTA 30
Zarrin Galea, Lucas Borg, Logan Sipple, Bryson Demanuele, Eli Foote, Jordan Xuereb, Jayden Azzopardi, Zachery Vella, Luke Huth, Kyal Greene, Tyler Cassel, Kyle Cassel, Anthony Bucca
Subs: Riley Tonna, Carlo Cassar, Tyson Jackson, Dylan Hodson
Tries: K. Cassel (28), Galea (43), Jackson (46), Borg (55, 68)
Goals: T. Cassel (2/2), Xuereb (3/3)
CHILE 22
Javier Ramirez Ley, Christian Sandoval, Sebastian De La Paz, Zane Artesi, Jayden Jorquera, Mitch Black, James Horvat, Brandon Tobar, Nick Doberer, Diego Becerra, Harry Croker, Diego Bravo Graham, Austin Olivares
Subs: Ben Fisher, Chris Castillo, Alvaro Avaria Jiminez, Mauricio Reyes Vega
Tries: Bravo Graham (9), Fisher (38), Becerra (49), Black (71)
Goals: Black (3/3), Horvat (0/1)
Referee: Matt Galvin
Half-time: 6-10
