LEBANON 24 FRANCE 20
AMOS WYNN, CommBank Stadium, Parramatta, Sunday

ABBAS MISKI scored a dramatic golden-point winning try to give Lebanon victory over a spirited but ultimately heartbroken France.

After Arthur Mourgue took the game past 80 minutes with a late two-point field-goal, César Rougé thought he had won it in extra time with another drop in front of the posts, before the celebrations were halted due to a Thomas Lacans obstruction.

Hull KR man Mourgue was then at fault with a hugely costly error, with an attempted chip going straight into the hands of Miski – who provided a simple finish to ensure the Cedars weren’t the team who finished the World Cup without a win.

The game’s opener came Lebanon’s way after four minutes, with a short offload from the eventual match-winner opening the door for Alex Conti – who also added the extras, before later adding an additional two with a penalty.

Just after the 30-minute mark, Laurent Frayssinous’ side got a reward for a lot of hard work, with Amir Bourouh finding a gap to power over for his first try for Les Bleus ahead of his move to Catalans next season and Mourgue converting to go into the break 8-6 behind.

Following the restart, both Léo Darrélatour and Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet came close to finding a way over, but were just about held out.

Down the other end, Lebanon were able to re-extend their lead to eight. After scoring one of his own, Conti turned provider, with a clever kick through bouncing kindly into the hands of Michael Gabrael to finish.

Once again, France weren’t deterred, and reacted in a positive manner to close the gap once again.

Aispuro-Bichet was alert after picking up a loose ball 30 metres out, and weaved his way past a couple of bodies to find a way over, with Mourgue again converting.

On the back of that, the Cedars also had a reaction of their own, and were able to take a six-point lead on the hour mark.

A looping pass to the left side from Conti gave Tony Francis space to run into towards the corner, but it wasn’t straightforward, with a bit of power needed to put him in a position to stretch out for the line.

The French fight still remained, as the missed conversion quickly became a headache for Lebanon.

An error from Jacob Kiraz allowed Rougé to pick the ball for a simple close-range try.

Even a late Conti penalty-goal didn’t knock them, with Mourgue showing composure to level the scores at 20-20 just before the full-time whistle when Lebanon chose to drill a drop-out into two-point goal range.

Both teams headed into golden point with twelve men, following sin bins for both Julian Bousquet and Alex Twal as the temperature rose before the late drama in normal time.

France were ultimately hit with double heartbreak following their best performance of the tournament, with full celebrations taking place on the pitch before the bunker got involved to rule out a Rougé winner.

Instead it was Lebanon who had the ultimate joy, with Miski never turning down the gift presented to him by the foolish Mourgue after a long-range Conti penalty-goal attempt fell wide.

GAMESTAR: Alex Conti was the man who got Lebanon ticking throughout the game, and was on hand with a couple of moments of brilliance to break through France.

GAMEBREAKER: The game was anyone’s in golden point, with Arthur Mourgue going from hero to zero by being at fault with the error that gave Lebanon the victory.

MATCHFACTS

LEBANON
1 Jacob Kiraz
2 Tony Francis
3 Michael Gabrael
4 Jordan Samrani
5 Jason Saab
18 Shadi Hammoud
7 Alex Conti
8 Jaxson Rahme
15 Tupou Francis
10 James Roumanos
11 Tony Sukkar
12 Abbas Miski
13 Alex Twal
Subs
9 Moustafa Dirani
16 Jalal Bazzaz
17 Khalil Rahme
19 Mikael Ibrahim
20 Ibrahim El Labban (not used)
21 Cameron Kanaan (not used)

Tries: Conti (4), Gabrael (46), Francis (60), Miski (85)
Goals: Conti 4/5
Sin bin: Twal (76) – fighting

FRANCE
1 Arthur Mourgue
2 Léo Darrélatour
3 Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet
4 Roméo Tropis
5 Benjamin Laguerre
6 César Rougé
7 Thomas Lacans
8 Romain Navarrete
9 Alrix Da Costa
10 Julian Bousquet
11 Mathieu Cozza
12 Mathieu Jussaume
13 Ben Garcia
Subs
14 Amir Bourouh
15 Lambert Belmas
16 Jordan Dezaria
17 Joe Drodrolagi
18 Théo Fages (not used)
19 Fouad Yaha (not used)

Tries: Bourouh (32), Aispuro-Bichet (53), Rougé (71)
Goals: Mourgue 3/3
Two-point field-goals: Mourgue (80)
Sin bin: Bousquet (76) – fighting

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 8-0, 8-6; 14-6, 14-12, 18-12, 18-18, 20-18, 20-20; 24-20

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Lebanon: Alex Conti; France: César Rougé

Penalty count: 7-3
Half-time: 8-6
Referee: Liam Moore