BEIRUT: Lebanon’s representative at the Dubai International 7’s tournament, the Beirut Select, got off to a winning start Thursday, running in comfortable winners against the Zenobians and Jeddah to put the side in poll position for a place in the quarterfinals.

The Beirut Select started their first game against Zenobians nervously with a number of mistakes. However, by the end of the second half, a new found confidence and swagger had them controlling the game, helping the Lebanese to a comfortable 28-7 win. Wael Harb and Walid Yassine both scored a pair of trys for the Beirut Select as Karim Jammal converted each one.

In the second game against Jeddah, who were favorites, the Beirut Select team – unlike against the Zenobians – stamped their authority on the game from the beginning with a fine all-around performance, played superbly for an emphatic 47-0 win.

Jammal was the player of the game, running in two trys as well as converting 6 of 7.

Yassine and Wael Harb were both again on the score sheet, the former scoring 1 try, the latter 2.

Rudy Hachache grabbed his first try of the tournament in the rout as well Ibrahim Ballout.

The Beirut Select team in the past was usually chosen from all the rugby union clubs in the federation.

However, this year rugby league and union players have joined forces.

When question about league players playing union, the chairman of LRUF Alex Jammal said that this “is encouraging and that presence of these players can only be beneficial for Lebanese sports [better co-ordination between federations] as well as the national team”.

“I hope more players from both rugby codes are allowed to enjoy both games and have the chance to play for their country in both games.”