Balamand had to beat off a spirited USJ fight back on Friday night to maintain their one hundred per cent start to the season and open up a three-point lead over second placed LAU. Having trailed 20-0 in the 43^rd minute, USJ fought back to within two points, scoring four unanswered tries before Balamand wing Sami Mansour secured the win with a try three minutes from the hooter.

The Razorbacks took advantage of some weak USJ three-quarter line defence to assume their customary strangle-hold on proceedings, while USJ conspired in their own downfall through some profligate set management and a topsy-turvy kicking game. USJ opened well, forcing Balamand to drop out from their own sticks, only for prop Marwan Karim to fumble the kick. That set the tone for a first half in which Balamand coughed up possession just once compared to the Saints’ eight turnovers.  Wael Tawil opened the scoring on 7 minutes after Omar Darwich was allowed to coast across field by USJ’s hesitant outside defence and pick his pass to the Liban Espoir back rower. On 23 minutes another USJ turnover led directly to Balamand’s second try, with Darwich slicing through USJ’s backs from a scrum and feeding Mohamed Habbous for the score. USJ buckled down in defence and should have gone into the break only 10-0 down but for Danny Kazandjian’s skewed penalty clearance, which Darwich returned to set up a controversial try. When Darwich kicked through on the last, a seemingly clear obstruction on covering Saints fullback Christian Nadir was not seen by the touch judge, with wing Mounib Ismael the beneficiary as the hooter sounded.

Led by strong forward play by prop Elie Gharios, lock Jacob Hilal and second row Khalil Azzar, USJ mounted a stirring fight back in the second period – but only after their kicking game once more played into Balamand’s grateful hands. Pressing the home team’s line, Remond Safi’s stab kick was collected by Ismael, who somehow managed to navigate the narrowest of corridors and set off on a 98-metre dash to glory. The Saints immediately hit back after securing a short kick off, setting up a position from which Safi attacked the line and fed Kazandjian who scored on the left. Five minutes later USJ’s bitter-sweet kicking was again under the spotlight. Kazandjian went in again after Balamand custodian Riad Khoury dropped a towering bomb in front of his own posts - but the try-scorer then missed the easiest of conversions, a failure that would prove costly. At 20-8 USJ was beginning to exert sustained pressure through its pack as the retreating home team gave away a flurry of penalties. Just after the hour mark Safi used his quick-thinking to score, taking a quick tap and diving over the line after a high tackle. With 11 minutes remaining second row Ramy Rassel cut through Balamand’s stretched line to score under the black dot, with Safi converting to make it 20-18. It was as close as USJ would come.