Tullamore man on coaching team for Ireland Rugby League World Cup squad

A TULLAMORE man is part of the coaching team for the Irish Rugby Leaguue World Cup squad. Bernard Westman, a former Rugby League international, is in England for the competition, which is continuing this week.

A 32-14 defeat by Lebanon at the weekend, however, was a huge blow to Ireland's prospects of making the knockout stages. They now need to beat world number one side New Zealand in Leeds on Friday to have a chance of making it.

Ireland beat Jamaica 48-2 in their first game but now have their work cut out – Lebanon play Jamaica in their last game and will be hot favourites to win this.

While Bernard Westman started out in rugby union, he gravitated towards the league version and has also done well in coaching. He was head coach of the Ireland U-19s squad at the European championships in Italy recently and was added to the senior squad as a coach after that.