Match Report

USJ made sure of fourth place in a low-key affair with Jounieh to close out the regular rounds of the Bank of Beirut Rugby League Championship. With neither team in the play-off picture there was little to get excited about other than the obvious class of Saints’ 16-year-old centre Joe Zeidan, who stole the show with four tries to take his season tally to seven.

The Saints got out of the blocks first, with Wael Harb unselfishly feeding Zeidan after making a line break to open the scoring on 6 minutes. Mazen Harb then made it 12-0 on 14 minutes before Mounir Finan registered a three-minute brace to bring it back to 12-10. The defending champions, who can claim that title for a further seven days only, then took a lead into halftime time following wing Khaled Kharanouh’s powerful try.

Mazen Harb seized back the lead two minutes after the restart before Youssef El Helou gave Al-Galacticos the advantage on 44 minutes. The Lebanon lock scored again before Harb and Zeidan took over the game. Three defence splitting passes demonstrated how deadly USJ can be as Zeidan completed his finishing masterclass to bring the curtain down on what has been a bitterly disappointing campaign for both outfits.