The final 18-man President’s XIII squad has been announced after the 24-man train-on squad had been put through its paces in Tripoli and Beirut on Sunday and Tuesday under the watchful eye of AUB coach Faysal Jaber and President Mohamed Habbous.

Jaber said: “If the representative training sessions are a guide to judge the future of Lebanese Rugby League, then what a great position Lebanese Rugby League is in and will be in for a long, long time. Perhaps the strongest train on squad the President’s 13 has ever chosen has made it that much harder to choose the final squad to take on Espoir this weekend. It was my pleasure to have run an eye over these youngsters but unfortunately some have to wait their turn and come back next year to have a crack at representative Rugby League. Congratulations’ to those that have been chosen and let’s see how hard we can make life for the Espoir boys”.

The 2010 President’s XIII squad will play the 2009 Bank of Beirut Espoir squad on 6 February at AUB. The now traditional match, which began in March 2007, serves as a trial, with the 2010 Espoir squad to be selected following the match. That original match, which ended 20-16 to the senior side, is to date the closest the President’s selection has come to upsetting the odds. Most pundits expect this year’s match to be the closest yet, with a number of incumbent Espoir players abroad or suspended.


President Xiii Squad 2010


Abdul Bekdache (UOB)
Ahmed Fadallah (LAU)
Gaby Abou Fayed (WOLVES)
Hanni Assi (LAU)
Jad Asmar (UOB)
Joe Safa (LAU)
Kamal Ali (AUB)
Karim Jamal (LAU)
Mohamed Akkar (AUB)
Mohamed Shaker (UOB)
Mounib Ismael (UOB)
Mounir Finan (JOUNIEH)
Najy Bassel (UOB)
Nayef Abi Said (LAU)
Sam Mansur (UOB)
Talal Harmouche (JOUNIEH)
Tarek Maklouf (UOB)
Yves Khoury (LAU)

Darwich Darwich pending injury recovery