Lebanon has their fate in their own hands at the Rugby League World Cup, disposing of a poorly disciplined Ireland side by 18 points in their Group C clash in Leigh this afternoon.
This match had a lot on the line for both sides. A win for the Irish side would seal their position in the quarter-finals. While if Lebanon got up they'll have the box seat to progress into the next stage for the second World Cup in succession.
It was a frantic start to the game and it was the Cedars who had the first scoring opportunity. Mitch Moses was held-up after promising play from debutant half Khaled Rajab. The opening fifteen minutes were marred by incredibly poor discipline from both sides with Adam Gee blowing his whistle seven times within that period. Lebanon capitalised on a cannonball tackle from Liam Byrne and shot for goal, Moses was successful from in front to give the Cedars an early lead.
Six minutes later, the elder statesman of this Lebanon side Reece Robinson crossed for the first try of the afternoon. The try came about off the back of a superb offload from Khalil Rahme which allowed Moses to expose the right-hand side of the Ireland defence. Moses found Robinson who slid over in the corner and the Cedars had an eight-point advantage.
Another penalty for offside against Ireland saw Lebanon capitalise. It was a simple inside-outside play sees Moses turn it back on the inside to Jacob Kiraz, the Bulldogs fullback had way too much pace for Richie Myler and Ireland was down 14-0. The game had the potential to blow over as Ireland was more interested in settling personal scores than playing the game. Off a short dropout, Josh Mansour was able to get a basketball pass to Brandon Morkos who had too much pace for Toby King and Lebanon was running riot.
Ireland took advantage of an opportunity just before the break, when Luke Keary provided a wonderful pass to Louis Senior who finished it off in the corner to reduce the margin to 16. The tempers that threatened to boil over in the first half, boiled on the siren and both sides started the second stanza with 12 men after Jalal Bazzaz and Robbie Mulhern were dispatched to the sin bin.
Ireland started the second half with a point to prove and they made Lebanon pay early for a touch of complacency. It was a wonderful pass from Joe Keyes and Louis Senior was able to beat the cover of Kiraz to cross for his second try, what was 20-0 just before the break was 20-10 inside the first ten minutes of the second half. Unfortunately, a cheap error from the Irish allowed Moses to skip and dance his way around the Ireland defence and he linked up with his Parramatta team-mate Elie El Zakhem to extend the margin out to 16.
Lebanon was able to seal the result with just over an hour to go after Rajab and Kiraz combined to send Wigan winger Abbas Miski to score in the corner and extend the margin out to twenty points. Both sides then limped into the finish of this fixture, the harder Ireland tried, the worst things were getting in the attacking phase. Unfortunately, their discipline wouldn't improve, and Byrne took things into his own hands when he hit Mitch Moses late off the ball and was sin-binned. Moses converted a chip shot penalty to lead by 22. Ireland grabbed the last try when Keary created an overlap and Ed Chamberlain crossed to make the margin more respectable at 18 points.
For Lebanon, their odds of progressing into the next round have drastically improved. They'll get Adam Doueihi back and they're taking on last place Jamaica. Ireland has it all to do meanwhile, they need Lebanon to not put on a convincing score AND defeat New Zealand (the world's number one side) if they want to secure a place in the knock-out stage.