Nigeria and Morocco will contest the final of the 2019 Middle East Africa (MEA) Rugby League Championship after both countries defeated Ghana and Cameroon respectively on the opening day of the four-nation tournament staged at the TBS Cricket Oval in Lagos on Wednesday.

Debutants Nigeria defeated fellow West African greenhorns Ghana 23-12 while Morocco marked their return to the international fold after an eight-year hiatus with an 8-4 victory over debutants Cameroon in the early kickoff.

For a country making its first foray into Rugby League on the international scene, Nigeria acquitted itself very creditably, no doubt, buoyed by an impressive and very partisan crowd which had turned out to cheer the team to victory on their international bow.

The MEA Championship is an initiative of the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) which aims to establish the competition as the flagship international tournament for the region and, through it, facilitate the growth of the sport and fast rack the progression of a number of national federations in the region from observer status to affiliate member status.

The first edition was staged in 2015 in South Africa and was won by Lebanon