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August 23 2005 |
England Lionhearts |
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| Liban Espoir |
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Tries
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Goals
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MATCH REPORT: (ctd)
Although the half-time score of 20-nil was a fair reflection, the run of play was with the visitors and in the second half their improvement continued.
Ably led by scrum half and captain Jad Abinassif, the Lebanese started brightly with an attacking scrum. Notre Dame University student Pierre Nasr joined the line at pace and forced England onto the backfoot with a half-break down the right flank.
Second-rower Hassan Taha consolidated the position in the middle of the field, before gamestar loose forward Alan Sultan broke through the line to take on fullback Richard Whitehouse. Impatiently, Sultan attempted an offload out of the tackle that went to ground, ending the Lebanese's best chance of scoring.
England drove out of their own quarter through the hard work of Stuart Langhorn and Andrew Lake, before launching an attack down the left flank that was forced into touch.
Lebanon's last set with possession represented their improvement, a solid completion and good territorial kick which bought them territory, but a late tactical substitution by England coach Steve Woodburn saw the introduction of fresh legs in the England pack.
Kieron Lacey and Mark Roach set up the final plays of the game which saw England register the only score of the second half to end the game at 26-0.
QUOTES:
Nick Evans, Manager, England Lionhearts:
"It was a great game but I think Lebanon showed too much respect for their opposition in the first 5 minutes, making it extremely difficult to come back from with such a mountain to climb."
"With more experience [Lebanon] will go from strength to strength."
"I'd like to pay tribute to the work of Danny Kazandjian, who undertakes an enormous amount of work in managing Liban Espoir. London-born Danny lives in Beirut and has been working hard in his capacity as Lebanese development officer as they look forward to their participation in October's Mediterranean Cup with Morocco and Serbia."
Remond Safi, Liban Espoir head coach:
"If you take away the first five minutes, it was a great game, we defended well for most of the game and attacked well also"
"Fullback Pierre Nasr had a fantastic game, whilst 17 year old Alan Sultan at loose forward was a revelation"
"Props George Helou and Antoine Samarani had great games taking the ball up all night and 'giving it" to the English"
"As a team we learnt a lot from it, and we are looking forward to our next challenge down in Wales."
Steve Woodburn, England Lionhearts head coach:
"I'm relieved at the win after successive losses to Scotland and Ireland in the amateur four nations tournament."
"Tonight was a good opportunity for me to blood new lads, we had four debutants who all pushed hard for places within the forthcoming four nations game"
"To be honest we didn’t know what to expect, we prepared for a tough battle up front, rather than football ability from the Lebanese"
"I think after the first few minutes we lost a bit of direction [due to] overconfidence"
"It was difficult to bring them back on task and stick to the game plan, but I was very happy with how we performed defensively"
"Chris Spiers [Blackpool Sea Eagles] at hooker went particularly well for us, as did fullback Richard Whitehouse [Telford Raiders]"
"We were delighted with the way the event has been organised, the band, the backroom staff, physios, team doctors etc were great. We’ve never had such good hospitality – it was a great occasion and would be very happy to come back."
Danny Kazandjian, Lebanese development officer:
"We had no idea what to expect, we were very nervous after the first three minutes and feared a blow-out"
"This was a really big test for us, but shows we are heading in the right direction"
ENDS
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