July 06 2006	ESBA
Liban Espoir	16 24

Liban Espoir lost the second of its two matches in Cyprus, narrowly going down to the Eastern Sovereign Base Area XIII in a nail-biting match that hung in the balance until the last few minutes. Trailing 20-16 for the final 16 minutes, Lebanon's domestic elite were unable to engineer the score that would have seen them end their Eastern Mediterranean tour on a positive note, before succumbing to a last minute try that put the result beyond doubt.

Having crushed the Western Sovereign Base Area on Monday to register a first ever win, the Espoirs were unable to back up against a physically stronger and quicker ESBA side featuring nine Fijian players, including an Armed Forces international at scrum-half. Despite the stronger opposition, the Espoirs had put themselves in a position to win the match and have only themselves to blame for allowing ESBA back into the contest. A complete lack of composure, ball control and tactical awareness contributed in equal measure to Lebanon's loss in a game which they led 16-10 at the break and were beginning to exact some measure of control.

The early signs, however, were not good, with wing Gilbert Haydamous spilling ESBA's kick after a strong defensive set from the kick off. More stubborn defending repulsed ESBA on the goal line but then the visitors were guilty of running it on the sixth tackle, handing the British a third successive attacking opportunity, one which they took with alacrity. The young Lebanese hit back almost immediately, when second row Rudi Hachache smashed through three defenders from short range. Stand off Roy Abla's conversion made it 6-6. Interchange back row Nabil Dorra, who defended with aplomb together with lock Youssef El Helou and diminutive hooker Darwiche Darwiche, the player of the tour, then handed the initiative back to the British after injudiciously offloading in heavy traffic. A penalty and three tackles later and the British were in again. Hachache, who finished with six tries, taking his rep tally to ten in six matches for the Cedars and Liban Espoir, struck back for Lebanon in trademark style, and when Pierre Nasr strode through the midfield and galloped fifty metres to score under the posts, Lebanon were by far the dominant team and in an excellent position to deliver the coup de grace.

However, the second half witnessed a disappointing deterioration in quality from the suddenly disjointed, stuttering visitors, who were unable to trouble the scorers. Having completed twelve first half sets, Lebanon could only manage a further six completions in the second period, knocking on nine times on first and registering a pitiful 18 of 47 completed sets over the course of the game. Hachache squandered two glorious scoring opportunities with skewed offloads close to the home side's line, while the sub-par Nasr fumbled twice in midfield. Whereas ball security and pressure relieving kicks should have been the order of the day, panic football and a breakdown in timing prevailed. Only once in the second stanza did Lebanon clear its lines with a long kick, and although the defending was brave and well organized both in the middle and on the flanks, too much territory and possession was conceded to an ESBA side that was thankful for the invitation to get back on top.

Despite the defeat, the structure and organization of the Liban Espoir team drew praise from Combined Services Rugby League officials flown in from England especially for the matches, and the coaching staff was generally pleased with a definite advance in the technical standard of the team.

The Lebanese Rugby League Committee has sanctioned two series next year, with a return visit from the British CSRL Cyprus mooted in February as well as a possible summer tour to Serbia.