ABBAS Miski scored an unbelievable try five minutes into golden point to secure Lebanon an unbelievable win at the end of an unbelievable World Cup game.
The French bench had cleared, coaches and officials sprinting 30 metres to embrace Arthur Mourge after he apparently kicked a match-winning field goal early in extra time.
Lebanon players sat in the southern in-goal at CommBank Stadium with their heads in their hands.
But the match officials had detected an illegality – Cedars defenders trying to get to Mourge had been blocked from doing so.
After a period of deliberation, the field goal was chalked off, Lebanon got to their feet and play resumed.
We had only got to this point because France centre Guillermo Aispuro Bichet thought he had scored a match winning try in the final moments of regulation time.
It was disallowed by Lebanon was required to perform a line dropout. Directly from the dropout, Mourgue had booted a two point field goal from 40 metres out.
But Mourge would quickly make the transformation from hero to villain.
With seconds left in the first period of golden point, he tried a chip and chase from his own quarter.
The ball was snatched out of the night air by former Wigan winger Miski who ran 10 metres unopposed to the line.
Earlier, Lebaon halfback Alex Conti scored a try and three goals during , the second match of a triple-header on the final day of the pool stages. His late penalty goal was the winner.
With both teams searching for their first win of the tournament, both sides brought plenty of effort in a first half which ended with Lebanon leading 8-6.
Things looked like they would go smoothly for Michael Chieka’s side when halfback Alex Conti took an inside pass to skip over near the posts in the fifth minute.
But France then dominated possession and were unfortunate not be be rewarded with points – but could not finish.
Instead, a penalty goal edged Lebanon further ahead.
Finally, France did manage to score when new recruit Amir Bourouh lived up to his surname from close range – but even then there was a twist.
A defender attempted to kick the ball from his graps and a penalty try was awarded, Arthur Mourgue taking the conversion from in front.
It was Conti who laid on centre Michael Gabrael try with a deft grubber six minutes into the second half.
But when the Cedars’ other centre, Jordan Semrani, took and intercept and fumbled Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet was on hand to run 20 metres to the tryline.
Then Tony Francis extended Lebanon’s lead to six with a well-taken try in the north-western corner.
Caesar Rouge kicked for himself with nine minutes left and the crowd building up for Samoa-Tonga and Cedar Jacob Kiraz fumbled.
Rouge regathered and dived over in triumph, fullback Arthur Mourgue converting to tie things up at 18-18.
France’s Julian Bousquet and Lebanon’s Alex Twal each finished the game in the sin bin after a melee.
Teams:
LEBANON: Jacob Kiraz (Canterbury); Tony Francis (Gold Coast), Michael Gabrael (Cronulla), Jordan Samrani (Parramatta), Jason Saab (Manly); Joseph Nohra (Parramatta), Alex Conti (Canterbury); Jaxson Rahme (Sydney Roosters), Moustafa Dirani (St Marys, James Roumanos (Toulouse), Tony Sukkar (Wests Tigers), Abbas Miski (Wigan), Alex Twal (capt, Wests Tigers).
Reserves: Yehya Ayache (South Sydney), Tupou Francis (Brisbane), Jalal Bazzaz (Shellharbour Stingrays), Khalil Rahme (Newtown), Shadi Hammoud (St George Illawarra), Mikael Ibrahim (Gold Coast Titans), Ibrahim El Labban (Wentworthville), Cameron Kanaan (Penrith), Mohamed Alameddine (Parramatta).
FRANCE: Arthur Mourgue (Hull KR); Léo Darrelatour (Catalans), Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet (Catalans), Roméo Tropis (Toulouse), Benjamin Laguerre (Toulouse); César Rougé (Toulouse), Thomas Lacans (Toulouse); Romain Navarrete (Catalans), Alrix Da Costa (Catalans), Julian Bousquet (Catalans), Mathieu Cozza (Huddersfield), Mathieu Jussaume (Toulouse), Benjamin Garcia (capt, Catalans).
Reserves: Amir Bourouh (Hull FC), Lambert Belmas (Toulouse), Jordan Dezaria (Hull KR), Jowasa Drodrolagi (Carcassonne), Théo Fages (Pia), Fouad Yaha (Albi), Tiaki Chan (Toulouse), Louis Grossemy (Toulouse), Arthur Romano (Hull FC).
Referee: Liam Moore.
