The LAU Immortals crowned a perfect regular season with an efficient and deserved victory over arch-rivals AUB in a spirited conclusion to this elongated season. They successfully defended their first Winter Championship, taking the Hamra based institution's tally of titles to five - a healthy three ahead of both AUB and Balamand. But the final score in arguably the toughest game of the year certainly flattered LAU, who could thank their senior players for turning in outstanding performances when the time mattered, as well as critical AUB lapses in concentration and discipline. One such slip turned the game on its head. With the Wolves having been forced to fight back from an early 16-0 deficit, their man-of-the-match, Anthony Ghissen, somehow threaded his way between LAU's ruck defenders to touch down. The conversion made it 16-10 with the Immortals, who hadn't been under any real pressure all season, beginning to ask questions of themselves. With AUB pumped up, filled with self-belief and with a grandstand finish beckoning, rookie second row Nimr Saliba inexcusably fumbled the kick off, handing LAU a scrum 10 metres out. Four rucks later Rudy Hachache piled over for his second try, signaling an abrupt and decisive change in momentum. That swing accelerated on the next set when second row Hachache demonstrated his ball-playing skills by delivering a beautiful pass to player-coach Ibrahim Ballout who burst through a seam in AUB's defence before racing 40-metres to score under the posts for a classic rugby league try. Three minutes earlier AUB could sniff parity; now all of a sudden they were 18-points down. Having almost reached the summit they found themselves staring up at yet another peak. The mental challenge was simply too great and the Immortals put them to the sword in textbook fashion. First, the excellent Mohamed Jamil's try in the corner, after AUB's defensive line had been forced to shorten to repel LAU's big forwards in the middle, then a deserved third for the mercurial Hachache, finished off the contest.

But it was a contest. The opening exchanges disabused LAU of any notion they might have had that they were going to walk over the Wolves, for whom Mohamed Zawil, Mounir Finan, Wael Barakat and the other forwards defended stoutly. But for all AUB's willingness, they let themselves down in crucial areas to gift LAU a healthy platform from which they controlled the match. After a tough 10-minute softening up period Jawad Fakih took full advantage when AUB relaxed slightly on the last tackle, tearing down the short side, rounding the defence and galloping untouched under the posts. Next Hachache went over after Barakat's fumble on first tackle. Another error on first, this time after impressive fullback Megho Keychian fumbled Zawil's injudicious offload, allowed scrum half Ahmed Hammoud to scoot over for a soft try. LAU were being worked on defence too, with Barakat held up and hooker Ramzi Tawil losing control as he went for a try from a quick penalty tap, but they defended their line with aplomb. Rookie centre Wael Harb had kick-started AUB's fight-back in the 36^th minute when he managed to plant the ball over in the corner under intense pressure. But ultimately, when the pressure was on it was LAU, thanks to their greater experience, especially in crunch games, and quality, who handled it a lot better than AUB.