AMID deepening conflict at home, Lebanon will rely entirely on foreign-based players at this year’s World Cup.
Despite an apparent invasion by Israel, Lebanon Rugby League Federation CEO Robin Hachache has told NRL.com that a Nines tournament scheduled for next month may still go ahead.
But he added: “As it stands now, we won’t be sending any players for the World Cup.
“There are a lot of players and a lot of staff leaving the country and migrating so this year we decided it is not a good idea to send players who would just be spectators.
“They wouldn’t be in the squad because they are not up to the standard of the team. We are putting in place a 10-to-15-year plan, where probably by the next World Cup cycle (in 2030) we will have three or four players from the local community, and more and more after that.”
Hachache is the Cedars most capped player and stressed he was a supporter of domestic players learning from heritage stars such as Jacob Kiraz and Mitchell Moses.
“But at the moment the players we have in Lebanon have only been playing for a year or two so I don’t see any benefit,” he explained.
“We might send some officials to shadow the team staff and learn from them, or maybe some coaches who could benefit from being involved.
“But moving forward we are going to work our way up so that hopefully in the next World Cup cycle we will have local players in the World Cup squad.”