Hits and memories: Greece savour every piece of Cup debut

Greece coach Steve Georgallis knows plenty about the hits that are dished out on a rugby league field, but when it comes to 'hits' on social media, he'll happily defer to the young men he is guiding through their inaugural World Cup campaign.

Across a 12-year career with Easts, Wests and Wests Tigers, the 54-year-old went toe to toe with the likes of Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, Allan Langer, Glenn Lazarus and Mark Carroll - dishing out plenty of hits and copping plenty back in his 206 first-grade games.

Now he is helping the Cup newcomers put themselves on the map and earn respect at their first ever World Cup, where 'hits' of a different kind are being racked up as Greece took the fight up to France and Samoa, scoring a trio of ripping tries that have set social media alight.

After the excitement of teenager Sitemi Taukomo crossing for Greece's first ever World Cup try midway through the second half against France, their second four-pointer of the night scored by Nick Mougios from a Billy Magoulias kick had 'viral sensation' written all over it.

The chip-and-chase again came to the fore against Samoa, with young Rabbitohs halfback Lachlan Ilias kicking for Jake Kambos to gather and then find Ilias backing up inside to score.

"I'm not big on social media but the players have told me the hits are hight. I don't know what that means but they said that everyone is talking about us," Georgallis said after the 72-4 loss to Samoa on Monday (AEDT).

"Then there's the shot of the bar in Athens of people celebrating our first try.

"People didn't realise Greece played rugby league but we hit three major TV channels in Sydney last week - how do you pay for that kind of publicity to promote the game in Greece?

“That sort of stuff you can’t buy, that’s priceless."

Georgallis is realistic enough to know that another lopsided scoreline most likely awaits his team when they face England in their final match next week, but the exposure gained on the world stage against world class opponents will have huge long-term benefits for the game in Greece.

"We want to grow the game and what's happening here in the World Cup and the effort and the passion we’re putting in, regardless of the score, it will only reflect on what happens in Greece in the next 3-4 years," he said.

"Our goal is to improve every week and just enjoy the World Cup and all is has to offer.

"The players love going over to the crowd and cheering the crowd that had come with the Greek fans. It gives the players a real buzz.

“Playing in the World Cup could be the highlight of their lives for the three domestic players from Greece where you only play rugby league once a month. It means everything to them.

"Nikolaos Bosmos came up to me before the game and said in his broken English, ‘I’m a bit nervous’ and I said ‘that’s a good thing, it just means you want to do the best for your country’.

"He played the last 20 minutes of that game. I don’t think he’ll have a better moment in his life than maybe babies coming or marriage than playing for his country."

Georgallis was adamant his team had improved from their first outing to their second, praising the defensive efforts of winger Siteni Taukamo, who got back to cover up on three occasions when Samoa looked set to score.

"I don’t think we let anyone run by today. Even when they made a break we chased hard and got back there just for those opportunities to stop a try," he said.

"That first 20-minute period of the second half was probably our best of the game and that's when the try came.

"We talked before the game that we had to be on defensively and make our one-on-ones and unfortunately we missed a few in the first half but we turned up for each other in the second."

For skipper Terry Constantinou from the Sunbury Tigers club in Victoria, the chance to mix it with the world's best is reward for years of toil trying to help the Titans qualify for the big dance.

"We’re a mixture of first-graders, reserve-graders and some pub footballers so it’s good for us to see the level, the intensity, they don’t come in and out of the game, they are relentless from minute one to minute 80.

"There's a lot more lessons in these games [against top teams] than playing nations closer to us. Talking about it and seeing it on TV is one thing but actually going out and experiencing it is another and we need that experience to keep building."