The 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship (ENWC) was a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

tournament held for Tier Two and Tier Three nations, the third edition of the

Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament In 1995 and 2000, the Rugby League International Federation held an Emerging Nations Tournament alongside the Rugby League World Cup. The competition was designed to allow teams who have failed to qualify for the World Cup proper a chance to play o ...

Background

Several nations that had not qualified, or were not eligible to qualify, for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

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 The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. The IRL organises the Rugby League World Cup, the oldest international rugby World Cup, as well as the Women's and Wheelchair equivalen ...

, and did not go ahead. On 29 March 2017, the Rugby League International Federation announced that Australia will be host the tournament in 2018. The two-week-long tournament will be held in Western Sydney,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

with games taking place in Windsor, St Marys and

Cabramatta Cabramatta, also abbreviated as Cabra, is a suburb in South Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local gove ...

Teams

Ten teams were already confirmed for the tournament by March 2017 with a number of others later also announcing their participation. 15 teams were expected to compete, though

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Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, and

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were not included in the final draw, for unspecified reasons. Four multi-country regional teams will compete in a parallel tournament.

Venues

: 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. * St Marys: St Marys Leagues Stadium, home of the

St Marys Saints The St Marys Saints are an Australian rugby league club who were formed in 1908.St Marys''/ref> They were the founding Member of the Penrith District Rugby League. They have previously competed in the NSWRL Jim Beam Cup, winning three titles ...

, 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. * Windsor: Windsor Sporting Complex, home of the

Windsor Wolves The Windsor Wolves are a rugby league team based in the town of Windsor, New South Wales. The club fields both junior and senior teams in the Penrith District Rugby League competitions. The club has fielded teams in semi-professional, New Sout ...

, has not previously hosted an international fixture.

Pool stage

Tournament fixtures were announced on 17 July 2018.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Play-offs

Plate

Trophy

Cup

Final positions

References

External links

RLENWC.com
{{2018 in rugby league 2018 in rugby league Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament Emerging Nations World Championship