The first ever Lebanese rugby league semi final lived up to expectations, with AUB and Jounieh clashing in a full-blooded – at times literally - encounter that went down to the bitter end. In terms of sheer theatre it was reminiscent of the classic LAU versus Balamand Winter 2005 championship final. In a gripping climax, Jounieh scrum half Mohamed Mourtada’s try from dummy-half with 30-seconds to go leveled the scores at 12-12, then the former St George junior, belying his seventeen-years, nonchalantly waved away Fadi Azzam – who had already kicked both Jounieh’s goal attempts – taking responsibility for the kick himself.  He coolly slotted the extras ten in from touch to send Jounieh’s players into paroxysms of delight. Azzam received possession from AUB’s subsequent, failed, short kickoff and booted the ball into touch to end a thrilling encounter

Mourtada’s last minute heroics capped a game where excitement and passion were commodities never in short supply, spectacularly so in a see-sawing final quarter which had the crowd on the edge of its seat. An already fiery affair, which had seen its fair share of invective exchanged between the two sides, came to the boil on 62 minutes when AUB fullback Wael Harb was sin-binned for swearing at the touch judge. On his way to AUB’s bench he then pushed the same official and was duly sent off. Rather than break their spirit, Harb’s departure ushered in a truly magnificent rearguard performance from the 12-man Wolves. For almost entirely all of the final quarter they were under siege inside their own red zone, unable to break out of Jounieh’s strangle-hold yet manfully refusing to allow Al-Galacticos points. But as often as AUB held firm they proceeded to cough up possession, allowing Al-Galacticos to throw more and more desperate assaults against the seemingly unbreakable red line. Azzam, Mario Eid, Youssef Helou, Alain Zreik, Ghassan Dandash and Mourtada were all stopped inches short, and captain Pierre Nasr seemed certain to score on the last until a tackle out of nowhere by Adel Kanso cut him down agonizingly short.

One of the few times AUB sallied forth they scored against the run of play to break the 8-8 deadlock. Darren Kinnaird’s kick was left to bounce by Gaby Haddad, who then joined with the covering Nasr in beseeching the ball to cross the touch-in-goal line rather than securing possession. But the capricious bounce favored the chasing Daniel Egan, returned to the fray after a spell on the sidelines with a gashed head, who pounced to score in between the two dumbstruck Jounieh players. Cue Jounieh’s unrelenting stint of pressure, with Azzam, who returned from the UAE to turn in a scintillating man-of-the-match performance, making the key break that put Jounieh into their final, match-clinching, attacking platform. It was not the first time the Liban Espoir hooker had made his mark on the game, having initially edged Jounieh into a 2-0 lead in the 2 ^nd minute, slotting a penalty after strong defending had forced a turnover deep in the Wolves’ half.

AUB took the lead for the first time in the match on 13 minutes when a long passing move ended with Megho Keychian in space. Azzam grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck to take back the lead on 33 minutes, dummying and going through the centre of AUB’s line to exert downward pressure under the sticks. He converted his own try to hand the black-and-golds an 8-4 interval lead. AUB would go on to outscore Jounieh three-tries-to-two but Egan, crucially, was unsuccessful with all three conversion attempts. It was a brutally hard fought match in which Al-Galacticos’ forwards won a points decision against their opponents. The Corniche-siders’ pack lost George Helou, in the first half, and Joe Hitchon - one of AUB’s best on the day - in the second, with neither able to return to the game, as well as Egan, all with badly bloodied faces. In the second period, Akram Al-Chamaa converted another well crafted AUB attack on 49 minutes to make it 8-8, ushering in a final 30-minutes of unremitting, cruel defending and excruciating drama.

The victory sees the defending champion Al-Galacticos head towards next Saturday’s final date with table topping LAU.