Former junior Warrior turns hero for Greece

FROM midnight matches to fake police calls, the road to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup has been anything but smooth sailing for Greece.

Fans in this part of the world will remember the name Jordan Meads as the little half who kicked the winning field goal in the 2011 under20s final for the Warriors.

But on Saturday the now 27-yearold turned international hero for Greece, scoring two tries and kicking nine goals as his side thumped Serbia 86-6 in Belgrade to qualify for the World Cup for the first time.

The feat was made even more impressive by the fact rugby league remains illegal in Greece, and the side are currently not allowed to play matches in their home country.

Despite the team being ranked 16th in the world, the government does not recognise the Greek Rugby League Association and as such international matches cannot be held, by law, on home soil.

“We sat down yeah, probably five years ago now, and formulated a plan of how we could make a run at this (2021 World Cup),” he said.

“It wasn’t easy, the situation back home made things very difficult. There are no clubs, and it’s illegal for us to play any internationals there, so it’s been a struggle but we have a great core group of lads that hung tough and Saturday was the reward.”

In 2018, Greece actually did play an international at home against Malta - though it was far from a traditional test match.

The side posted fake details about the game being played 200km north of where the teams had gathered, on their Facebook page. They even went as far as to organise a fake pitch inspection.