THIS year’s rugby league Nines World Circuit is wasting no time in getting underway, with the Cook Islands Nines starting at Rarotonga’s BCI Stadium today. Queensland Kukis, the sole overseas team, touched down in Rarotonga midweek to defend their title. Ngatangiia-Matavera are to field two teams in the two-day tournament. Other sides are Arorangi, Aitutaki, Tupapa, Avatiu, Titikaveka and Miyaki….
TEAMS appear likely to be chosen by invitation rather than qualification for the first Nines World Cup, which will have “hundreds of thousands” of Australian dollars in prize money. The tournament was officially confirmed for the new A$300 million Western Sydney Stadium at Parramatta during a media conference on Friday. The Nines World Cup will be played on Friday October…
SKOLARS top the table after the first leg of the Ghana Nines in Accra. The fledgling rugby league nation is playing the tournament over two weekends and Skolars are the form team, beating University Of Ghana 18-12 and Jamestown Pirates 30-0. The University is next on the four-team table, having beaten the Pirates 18-6 at the weekend. The other team…
THE fledgling Ghana Rugby League has announced a dual-weekend Nines tournament to kick off at the end of September. In a post on social media, the governing body announced Accra as the host city but gave few other details. “RLFG is delighted to announce the inaugural Accra 9s, which is set to take place over two weekends at the end…
AN international Nines tournament planned for Valencia next month has been unexpectedly cancelled. The Spanish Rugby League Nines were to be held at Nova Sports Resort in Valencia. Invitations had been extended to a number of teams and social media accounts were active. The plan had been to combine the event with a World Cup Qualifier at the same venue…
NORTH Luzon Hunters swept all before them on the first weekend of the Philippines Nines but they were stunned in the semi-finals as the tournament continued in Manila. The Hunters entered two sides in the domestic showpiece and the A-team lived up to its name on the first weekend of the event at McKinley Hill Stadium before beating the B…
INTERNATIONAL rugby league newcomers Turkey have taken out the first-ever Balkan Nines in Belgrade. The Turkish, who only took up the sport two years ago, survived a heart-stopping finale in which hosts Serbia missed a goal kick on the bell in regulation time that would have handed them victory. Turkey then won the final with a try 14-10 three minutes…
WAN Papua Warriors were supposed to be the first sporting team from the marginalised Asia-Pacific state of West Papua to cross the equator. In the end, their fundraising efforts only managed to send four players to the London Nines last Saturday – but they won it anyway! By combining with European Nines specialists, the similarly-named Wests Warriors, the four New…
IN an otherwise contentious statement, Australasia’s National Rugby League has pledged its support for next year’s Nines World Cup. The Antipodean authority released a proposal for the next four years of international fixtures, which contradicted a number of events which seemed to have been already locked in: the 2019 Great Britain tour of Australia and the next two years of…
By STEVE MASCORD I CAN already see Herr ‘head ‘itter scratching at his eyeballs as he reads this column. “Graham Clay, Richard Shaw-Wright and now … Gavin Willacy?? That pillock Mascord will be interviewing his sister next week!” So to assuage the fear that I’m no longer willing to go past my letter box in search of a subject for…
