A try on the final hooter handed AUB a dramatic win against arch-rivals LAU in sunny Bhamdoun on Saturday, breaking a 22-22 deadlock in a scrappy and spiteful game. Wolves fullback Wael Harb, arguably Lebanese rugby league’s fastest man, was a constant thorn in LAU’s side, scoring two long breakaway tries in a four-try man-of-the-match performance. His last triggered jubilant celebrations from an AUB side that has known the thinner end of the West Beirut wedge in recent times, having won only one of the last nine derbies.

While ruing his side’s inability to contain Harb, new LAU coach Remond Safi, who was in charge of AUB during that string of defeats, must still be stunned at his own side’s wanton casualness. Most notable amongst LAU’s spectacular catalogue of calamities were two occasions in the first half on which they were over the whitewash, only to step over the dead-ball line. But they were far from the only mistakes the Immortals made.

AUB got off the mark in the 4^th minute, thanks in no small part to one of many lapses in LAU concentration. Although AUB captain Karim Mourabet sliced his kick for touch, LAU wing Peter Aungian had remained up-field, allowing the ball to roll another15-metres into touch. From the resulting scrum Anthony Ghossein attacked the line before putting Harb straight through a yawning gap.

The Immortals then struck back against the run of play when Rudi Hachache intercepted Mourabet’s flat ball, racing 50-metres to score in the 10^th minute. Captain Mohamed Jamil then contributed to LAU’s litany of failures by missing the conversion in front of the sticks - the first of four missed goals out of five. Next up on the low-light reel was centre Abbas Abdullah, penalized ten metres from his own goal-line for failing to play the ball after gathering Harb’s kick. AUB hooker Ramzi Tawil scored his second try in as many weeks after taking a quick tap. LAU then cut the gap to 10-8 when its own hooker, Ahmad Hammoud, scored with four minutes to go, yet Harb had the last say of the half when he collected a kick at midfield and hared straight through LAU’s ragged kick chase to score, making it 16-8 at the break.

Rudi Hachache then stamped his own inimitable mark on the game, scoring twice in five second-half minutes to give LAU an 18-16 lead as tempers began to fray. Tawil and Ray Finan were both sin-binned for fisticuffs, with Finan landing some good shots on AUB second row Nimr Saliba. The extra space was just the ticket for the quicksilver Harb, who set off on a 60-metre run to the line, again untouched by an LAU hand, after Ghossein had gobbled up a loose ball. Mourabet’s third successful kick pushed AUB into a 22-18 lead, which they were able to hold until the 63^rd minute thanks mainly to some strong defending by impressive lock Joe Hitchon, who twice dislodged the ball from an LAU player’s grasp with two massive hits close to his own line. Rookie wing Nader Dergham panicked as he chased down a long LAU clearance kick, propelling it clumsily over his dead-ball line rather than letting it roll out itself. From Mourabet’s skewed drop out Robin Hachache, having just returned, four international caps in hand, from Lebanon’s world cup qualifiers, scored the softest of tries, beating a series of embarrassing AUB hand grabs to score. Hammoud missed his third kick to tie things up.

But LAU, traditionally strong finishers, were unable to keep their discipline. Robin Hachache went from hero to villain as his offside penalty put AUB into a scoring position, and when the ball went wide to Harb the Liban Espoir wing managed to squeeze in at the corner. At least this time LAU got a hand on him.