Balamand surged back to the top of the Bank of Beirut Rugby League Championship table following their 52-8 slaughter of crumbling USJ Saints. Having been taken to the cleaners last week by in form AUB the Razorbacks were keen to salvage some of their home ground pride. Fullback Riad Khoury got the ball rolling in the second minute, striking against a dispirited USJ defence and setting the tone for a ten-try procession.

USJ briefly rallied when veteran halfbacks Faysal Jaber and Remond Safi swung the ball to the visiting fullback, Christian Nadir, who scored. The Saints managed to hold out for the next 15 minutes but fell victim to Sami Mansour’s quick feet, and when Saints forwards Jacob Hilal (leg) and Tony Zraik (shoulder) were forced out of the game the remaining Saints forwards were not able to take up the slack, ceding forward domination to Balamand.

The Razorbacks then set about putting their points difference in as much credit as possible as the four-way race heads into the second half of the season. Khoury scored his second on the half hour mark, and Espoir centre Nagy Bassil’s unconverted try made it 22-4 at the break. Much like their last outing, against LAU, USJ collapsed early in the second half. Two tries in the opening ten minutes were answered by Hanna Hajjar’s score – with Safi’s miss in front of the sticks a sign of the times for hapless USJ. Omar Darwich, now playing his third farewell match after delaying his return to Sydney, bagged a brace, as did five eighth Gilbert Haydamous, while lock Wael Tawil rounded off the rout.

Balamand plays second place LAU Immortals on Friday night before the championship takes a two week hiatus for the start of the representative season, with Liban Espoir playing the President’s XIII next Saturday. USJ has two weeks to reflect on the first half of the season which started so brightly but which has trailed off markedly.