Wild finish ‘one of the great moments’ in World Cup history
In one of the craziest endings to a Rugby League World Cup match, Lebanon has won 24-20 in a golden point finish against France.
The match was a see-sawing affair at CommBank Stadium but didn’t truly reach its heights until the last four minutes of regular time.
Abbas Miski of Lebanon is chaired by teammates. Getty
At the time, Lebanon was leading 20-18 after going into the match as heavy favourites.
In the 76th minute, tensions started to flare as Alex Twal and Julian Bousquet came together. That incident brought all players together with spot-fires breaking out.
“There’s 26 players involved, three match officials and two huddles,” James Graham said on Seven.
The calls in commentary was just for a penalty and that was the initial punishment against Bousquet.
Bousquet was then sent to the sin bin who apologised to his teammates. Twal followed him after it, and immediately said “me?”
“I can’t believe Alex Twal has been given 10 in the bin there,” Aaron Woods said.
Lebanon didn’t opt to take another two points and with one minute left, France went on the attack.
In the dying seconds, Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet put in a grubber close to the line which was fumbled by Lebanon’s Shadi Hammoud. Aispuro-Bichet then put the ball down and claimed a try.
However, the Bunker revealed that Hammoud had grounded the ball which led to a drop-out.
Lebanon’s Alex Conti went long with his drop-out in a moment he’d like to forget as Arthur Mourgue kicked a miraculous two-point field goal.
“Alex Conti looks like he’s feeling sick in the stomach after going long,” commentator Andrew Moore said.
Arthur Mourgue of France watches his field goal attempt. Getty
Two minutes into golden point it looked like Cesar Rogue had hit the winning field goal as the bench swarmed on to the field.
But another twist came with the Bunker called in again to assess a blocker from Thomas Lacans.
Lacans was judged to have blocked Tony Sukkar’s path to the kicker and the field goal was ruled out, taking the match back to 20-20.
Then late in the first half of golden point, Aispuro-Bichet had a brain fade, putting a shoulder charge on Hammoud at halfway.
The French centre was lucky to stay on the field after Woods called for a send-off.
Conti had the chance to be the hero after the penalty but hooked his 48-metre penalty goal to the left.
After taking the catch from the kick, all France’s Mourgue had to do was settle the play but instead he tried a Hail Mary kick down field. Lebanon’s Abbas Miski was switched on and plucked the ball from the kick and ran 10 metres to score the winner.
Players, officials and drummers all came on to the field to celebrate as Woods noted it’s like Miski “had just come into a Lebanese wedding”.
“What we have just witnessed in these last 10 minutes I don’t think I’ve ever seen in rugby league,” he added.
“That’s one of the great moments in international rugby league. Unbelievable scenes.”
Miski was then hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates and chaired off the field in celebrations.
Abbas Miski of Lebanon celebrates after scoring the match-winning try against France. Getty Images
Alex Twal struggled to put the emotions into words.
“I don’t know how I feel, I was sad as I’ve been the whole tournament and then I was as happy as I’ve been ... we got the win and it’s a great end to our campaign,” he said.
“I’ve got goosebumps, I’m so proud to be Lebanese.”
