July 03 2006	WSBA
Liban Espoir	38 4

Liban Espoir broke its international duck in spectacular style on Monday afternoon, crushing the Western Sovereign Base Area Combined Services Rugby League XIII 38-4 in Happy Valley, Episkopi.

Second row Rudy Hachache, Lebanon’s record points scorer, scored four tries and terrorised the British defence all evening with a devastating display of running to which WSBA had no answer. He was ably supported by his fellow forwards – most notably his Espoir debutant brother, Robin, playing in the front row, and fellow prop Amin Maassarani – as the visitors put to bed a losing streak of six games stretching back to 2003.

From the opening kick off, this new look Liban Espoir side looked like it was up for the challenge, with fullback Pierre Nasr – inspirational in attack and defence – darting through a gap in the big WSBA forward pack to make 30-metres. Then Maassarani and Robin Hachache hit the ball up strongly to put the British on the back foot - and once there, they were never really allowed to get off it.

That first possession set a pattern for the whole game, with the eager Lebanese forwards hitting the advantage line and getting roll on after roll on against a defensive line that was all too reluctant to move up. Halves Jad Abinassif and Roy Abla combined superbly, with one notable passage seeing skipper Abinassif spiral a long ball to his five-eighth, then Abla rifling a cut out ball to left wing Gilbert Haydamous who stepped inside and out before touching down in at the corner. Following tries from each of the Hachache brothers the score stood at 12-0. Then, lock Youssef El Helou took a fine second man play from Abinassif, who left the game with a gashed lip on the hour mark, straight through a yawning gap to touch down under the posts. Abla’s first successful conversion made it 18-0.

After WSBA mounted a brief counter attack, scoring a try after a piggy-backing penalty downfield, the Espoirs were able to maintain their defensive structure, despite being hammered 15-10 in the penalty count, and hang on for a fine win.