The third and final game of day had Hungary and Greece going head to head in a game that was going to be spent strategising with a killer breeze.
As the day cooled down, and the wind picked up, this game was set up to be the perfect way to see the day out.
Off the scrum set and first true play of the game, halfback David Forkorsh took off across field drawing in plenty of defenders before finding his big man, James Korvarch, with a short ball who went storming through and got the scoring going within the opening two minutes of the game.
The Conversion was successful by Jared Forkorsh.
With a penalty marching them down field and the pressure building, Greece were able to grab themselves a repeat set, and were able to find the points not long after that, thanks to a solo effort by Greek backrower Adam Vrahnos who charged his way through the defence, shedding off defenders before crashing over the line to get Greece up and going.
Sam Stratis converted to tie the game up.
Hungary got themselves the lead again through the brilliance of David Forkorsh after penalties assisted Hungary into an attacking position.
The witty halfback hit his man in Daniel Ivan with another perfect short ball as the big forward went storming through the defensive line to go over, though he conversion was missed off the right side post.
Greece were able to get themselves into a few attacking positions, but a mixture of one-on-one strips and errors took the pressure off the Hungary defence.
David Forkorsh also hit the first 40/20 of the tournament with a perfectly struck kick finding touch just a metre out from the Greek line, but the defence stood strong.
Finally after some back and forth footy, Hungary were able to extend their lead just prior to the half time break.
After the forwards scored all the meat pies this game, the backs finally got their share when Hungary centre Josh Institoris pulled off the cheeky step and fend to rid the defence and went flying down field.
The centre did his job as he sucked in the fullback before finding his winger Cruize Too Ray who was able to go over and extend Hungary’s lead.
The conversion was unsuccessful and Hungary took the 14-6 lead into the half time break.
Being down by 8 and Hungary finishing the first half with all the momentum, it was important that Greece came out firing, and that’s exactly what they did.
The Greece boys found themselves scoring the first points of the half to bring the game back within a single scoring play when halfback Tremaine Terzis pump faked the dummy and hit his centre Sam Stratis with a short ball who went charging through the line.
A mixture of lightning fast speed and the agile footwork allowed Sam to beat the defending fullback to go over in the corner, then he converted his own try from the sideline to train only 14-12.
As the game started to heat up, so did the fans, as both teams’ fan bases found their voices as the game moved into the final quarter.
The tensions rose as both teams’ defence stood up, then the errors started crawling their way into the game as the pressure got higher.
Greece finally took the lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game in one of the most incredible rugby league tries you will ever see!
A set of flick passes and desperate offloads finally saw a kick put in by Tyrone Taukamo which was picked up and flicked out to the hooker Peter Mamouzelos who put the ball down under the posts to give Greece an 18-14 lead after the conversion by Sam Stratis.
A beautiful set piece in attack by Hungary gave us a tied game with just 4 minutes to play the game.
An out the back cut out found centre Billy Mozer who then went out to his winger Brent Vor Goh on the overlap who stepped back on the inside of the fullback and was able to ground the ball.
The conversion by Jared Forkorsh gave Hungary the 2 point lead again with just a few minutes remaining.
Despite being given a final minute attacking set, the Hungary defence stood firm and kept Greece out.
Hungary were able to hold on to win the game 20-18 and put an end to a thrilling game and a fantastic day 1 of the Rugby League Emerging Nation World Championship.
Greece: 18
Tries – Adam Vrahnos, Sam Stratis, Peter Mamouzelos
Goals – Sam Stratis (3)
Hungary: 20
Tries – James Korvarch, Daniel Ivan, Cruize Too Ray, Brent Vor Goh
Goals – Jared Forkorsh (2)
Match Replay:
