# 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship

The 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship (ENWC) was a rugby league tournament held for Tier Two and Tier Three nations, the third edition of the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament.

## Background

Several nations that had not qualified, or were not eligible to qualify, for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup 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, 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 with games taking place in Windsor, St Marys and Cabramatta.

## 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 Canada, India, Latvia, and Thailand were not included in the final draw, for unspecified reasons.
| Nation | Coach | Notable players | RLIF Rank (Jul 2018) |
| Greece | Steve Georgallis | Stefanos Bastas, Michael Korkidas, Jordan Meads | 26 |
| Hong Kong | Jason Fairleigh | – | 45 |
| Hungary | Jonathan Wilson | Stuart Flanagan | 21 |
| Japan | Viliami Ahosivi | Gehamat Shibasaki | 41 |
| Malta | Peter Cassar & Aaron McDonald | Tyler Cassel, Jarrod Sammut, Sam Stone | 18 |
| Niue | Brendan "Bman" Perenara | Zebastian Lucky Luisi, Eddie Paea, Sione Tovo | 34 |
| Philippines | Arwin Marcus | Shane Gray, Payne Haas, Paul Sheedy | 27 |
| Poland | Lee Addison | Harry Siejka | – |
| Solomon Islands | John Jewiss & Luke Heckendorf | – | 42 |
| Turkey | Scott Hartas | Emre Guler, Aidan Sezer, Jansin Turgut | – |
| Vanuatu | Lionel Harbin | Alehana Mara | 36 |
Four multi-country regional teams will compete in a parallel tournament.
| Region | Organising body | Eligible countries |
| Africa | Africa United Rugby League | 54 sovereign states of Africa.  Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |
| Latin America | Latin Heat Rugby League | 23 sovereign states in the Americas, plus Puerto Rico.  Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. |
| Mediterranean | Mediterranean Rugby League | |
| South East Asia | ASEAN RL Association | |

## Venues

* Cabramatta: 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, 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, has not previously hosted an international fixture.

## Pool stage

Tournament fixtures were announced on 17 July 2018.
Key to colours in pool tables :
* Advances to Cup play-offs (1st to 4th places)
* Advances to Trophy play-offs (5th to 8th places)
* Advances to Bowl play-offs (9th to 11th places)

### Pool C
## Play-offs
### Cup
## Final positions

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD |
| 1 | Malta$^{CupWinners}$ | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 96 | 62 | +34 |
| 2 | Niue | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 82 | 60 | +22 |
| 3 | Greece | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 90 | 54 | +36 |
| 4 | Hungary | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 66 | 77 | -11 |
| 5 | Poland$^{TrophyWinners}$ | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 178 | 26 | +152 |
| 6 | Philippines | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 61 | 90 | -29 |
| 7 | Turkey | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 133 | 77 | +56 |
| 8 | Vanuatu | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 43 | 127 | -84 |
| 9 | Solomon Islands$^{PlateWinners}$ | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 154 | 78 | +76 |
| 10 | Japan | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 60 | 192 | -132 |
| 11 | Hong Kong | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 62 | 182 | -120 |