Wigan Warriors' Abbas Miski says Lebanon can take some positives from their defeat to New Zealand

The Cedars were on the end of a 34-12 loss at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in their opening game of the Rugby League World Cup.

Miski states there are plenty of things for Lebanon to work on following the result, and believes things were too easy for the Kiwis at times.

He said: “It was a tough one. Obviously we’re not happy with losing, and we knew it was going to be a tough game.

“There are some small things to work on, like offloads, while (Joseph) Manu had a bit of a field day against us, which let us down a little bit.

“We then had a man sent off, which didn’t help.

“There are a lot of areas to improve on, especially in attack, but things like our energy was good. Overall we can take a lot of positives from it.

“For our first game against a really good team, world number one, we can take a lot of confidence out of it, and come back next week for a big match, hopefully getting the win.

“We're sort of pleased, but are still unhappy, because a lot of things could’ve been a lot better.

“We came into the competition knowing we can definitely compete. We weren’t coming to try and stay close to New Zealand, we wanted to win.

“We are confident that these next two games will be good for us.

“Camp has been absolutely great, the boys are enjoying each other’s company. The coaches are all great, and everything has been positive in training.”

Miski went over for a second half try for Lebanon, but it proved to be nothing more than consolation.

“It was good,” he added.

“It put us six points behind as well, so we were confident after that.

“I’m happy with the try but there’s a lot of improvement to be done.”

Lebanon face Ireland in their next World Cup game, with the two teams going head-to-head at Leigh Sports Village on Sunday (K.O. 2.30pm).