A new coach leading his side for the first time. Not having stepped onto the field for almost a month. Coming off a comprehensive loss. Their closest rivals Balamand having sprung an upset over second place Jounieh the night before to push them out of a finals position. Their bitter rivals, table topping LAU standing in their way. Yep, the pressure was most certainly back on the AUB Wolves. But, boy, didn’t they just thrive on it.

With Balamand - tied with AUB on 12 points prior to this weekend - having a game in hand, AUB knew they must keep on winning or risk missing out on the semi-finals altogether. And win they did, in some style too, handing Faysal Jaber a maiden victory in the Bank of Beirut Rugby League Championship and leveling matters on 14 points with Balamand, with whom AUB has a tantalising Friday night date next week.

The Wolves opened up the stronger against a banged up LAU side that welcomed back forwards Nayef Abisaid and George Rehayem, with the latter catching the eye in a losing side. After a nervous beginning from both sides, AUB halves Anthony Ghossein and Darren Kinnaird soon got into the swing of things. The Wolves expansive approach was more than a match for LAU’s three-quarters, and in Wael Harb AUB had the perfect weapon to deliver the telling cuts. The league’s leading scorer drew first blood after 14 minutes, taking a deft second man play from the Australian to squeeze in at the corner. Five minutes later he was in again as AUB gradually began to eke out control of the park. LAU hit back in the 27^th minute through the heavily involved Robin Hachache, playing in the unaccustomed role of scrum half. The try was followed by a minor scuffle that resulted in erstwhile captain Mohamed Jamil’s sin-binning. Harb struck again on 34 minutes to give AUB a 16-4 lead at the break.

The Immortals, who dropped their second successive match, cut the gap to six after a spectacular score by Rehayem. The mobile second row took a hit up at speed, ricocheted off AUB’s initial line of defence, then held off the attention of a clutch of Wolves to score a scintillating four-pointer.

Whereas recent AUB editions might have cracked at this juncture, this latest version is clearly made of sterner stuff. Led by the canny Kinnaird, whose tactical kicking pushed LAU back repeatedly, the Corniche-siders stuck to their game plan and scored just before the hour mark, through four-star Harb. Facing a ten-point deficit, the Immortals, Lebanese rugby league’s never-say-die specialists, mounted a promising attack but Jad Hachem lost possession on the last tackle beneath AUB’s posts. Then, otherwise impressive rookie Ahmad Fadlallah tackled high and from the penalty Karim Mourabet broke the game wide open. Taking a quick tap he raced away, out-pacing Bahije Saidar to touch down close to the posts. From 20-10 down and hunting a score that would have put them to within striking distance, LAU were now 26-10 down with just eight minutes left.

The time was nigh for the Immortals to crack. First, Kinnaird, spying the absence of a fullback, kicked ahead, with Akram Al Chamaa, the first in a three-man AUB queue, registering the easiest of tries; then, on the hooter, Kinnaird deservedly swept home himself after a number of off-loads, as AUB began toying with their Hamra neighbours.