BY MARK CASHMAN

Randwick’s Christian Yassmin, who sits on top of the Shute Shield’s top try scorers’ list heading into Round Eight, hopes to make a little slice of history before the year is out.

The 26-year-old has set his sights on playing for Lebanon at the rugby league World Cup in the UK in October and become the first Shute Shielder to go straight from Sydney club footy to international league.

Yassmin was contacted by former Wallabies and current Argentina coach Michael Cheika earlier this year to see if there was any interest in having a crack at making the Cedars squad and he jumped at the chance.

The wider Lebanon squad will play a trial sometime in July and then knuckle down to fine tune preparations for their World Cup campaign.

“It’s great that ‘Cheik’ thought that I could contribute something to their campaign and from what I understand I’m the only one outside the normal rugby league pathways to get a crack,” Yassmin told Rugby News.

“I had the one year (of rugby league) at the Wests Tigers playing in the NSW Cup when I was just out of colts (at Sydney Uni) and met a lot of great people.

“I was quite young at that stage so there was some real personal growth from being in that environment on top of some physical gains and honing my ball running skills.”

“I just reckon it would be a great endorsement for the Shute Shield, what we are doing here at Randwick and a big tick for the quality of the footy that we play each Saturday.”

If it all falls together Yassmin could well be rubbing shoulder with the likes of NRL stars Mitchell Moses and Adam Douehi who played for Lebanon at the last rugby league World Cup.

That side was coached by Brad Fittler and was one of the surprise packets of the tournament.

But first things first and it’s off to Coogee Oval at the weekend at take on Warringah, who are one of the form teams of the competition.

“Games against the Rats are always tough,” Yassmin, who scored a double against Southern Districts last weekend, added.

“They are one of those sides that have played a lot of footy together, particularly in the backs, and from what we have seen this week (at review) are in pretty good nick at the moment.

“So we know what to expect.

“I feel as though that we are tracking along nicely at the moment – it’s just about keeping things ticking over.”