Rugby League World Cup video: Lebanon stars in barefoot chase to catch thief

Up to a dozen Rugby League World Cup players have chased down an alleged thief, some in bare feet and one shirtless after jumping off the massage table.

Less than 24 hours before a win over Jamaica that set up a quarter-final meeting with Australia, up to a dozen Lebanon players were pursuing a thief down the back streets of Manchester.

Some were in bare feet. One, having jumped off the massage table, was shirtless. They caught him too. Surrounded him and made sure he was handed over to police. What a World Cup this has been for Lebanon.

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They have their stars in Mitchell Moses and Adam Doueihi. They also have their part-timers. People like Tony Maroun, who was ready to quit the game away not so long ago to focus on his plumbing business.

Now they are headed for a World Cup quarter-final against the might of the Kangaroos. Not that they will be intimidated. They certainly weren’t when a thief walked into their team room in Manchester on the eve of their game against Jamaica.

As revealed by News Corp, the team room had been robbed earlier in the week. The thieves had taken Lebanon’s playing gear, their GPS system as well as team laptops — the device of coach Michael Cheika was among the items stolen.

The alleged thief from the Lebanon team hotel makes a run for it in Manchester.

They weren’t going to be done over twice. When an intruder wandered into the team room at their hotel, the Lebanon players didn’t hesitate. They acted fast. The thief hot-footed it out of the hotel with Lebanon players in pursuit.

Once they cornered him, they handed him over to the police. They did so without drama. They didn’t take matters into their own hands. They didn’t turn vigilante.

They deserve immense praise — not just for the way they have played at the World Cup, but for the way they have carried themselves off the field.

“We had another intruder last night,” Cheika said.

Michael Cheika talks to the media following the Rugby League World Cup match between Lebanon and Jamaica. Picture: Getty Images

“They say we’re part-timers – I think the other part-time [work] we’re doing is security. Someone came into the team room and I’m not sure what happened, but they called me, thank goodness, so I got down there and settled it all down and the police did their bit after that.

“It was an early kick-off [against Jamaica] – I didn’t want them chasing blokes down the street at 10 o’clock at night.

“It has been a bit of a crazy week with all that happening and trying to not have it as a distraction.”

Cheika was among those to suffer at the hands of thieves earlier this week. As he prepares for one of the most intriguing and challenging weeks of his coaching career — he will lead Lebanon on Saturday morning (AEDT) and then Argentina at Twickenham less than 48 hours later — he had a spanner thrown in the works when his computer was taken.

Fortunately, he had delineated his work with Lebanon and Argentina. It was kept on separate computers.

“It was pretty weird when I woke up to do an early Zoom [on Friday morning UK time], I went down to the team room and everything was gone,” he said.

“The hotel said an hour later we’d be robbed. We got our strip back, that’s the main thing. The first thing I’d steal would be the Lebanese jerseys – I don’t care about the computers.

“But everyone’s handled those distractions pretty well, we’re pushing on past that.”

Josh Mansour races away to score a try for Lebanon. Picture: Getty Images

The performance of Cheika and his side has been one of the revelations of the World Cup. They have won two of their pool games with the sound of beating drums as their backdrop.

They will head into the quarter-finals daring to dream. So easily did they cruise past Jamaica, Cheika was able to give Mitchell Moses a rest for most of the second half.

No need to stress the Cedars’ best player when a clash with the Kangaroos is only days away. Asked if he dared to dream, Cheika said: “You don’t play footy if you don’t. It is quite logical that no-one would expect us to win.

“Our job is to try to defy logic and try to get ourselves in the situation and try to apply some pressure and see what happens.

“It is a challenge a lot of the players will want to meet head on.”

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Originally published as Rugby League World Cup video: Lebanon stars in barefoot chase to catch thief