Lebanon
Pakistan
W. Nsouli (2'), T. Nsouli (4')
Tries
M. Raza (1'), Penalty Try (10')
W. Nsouli (3')
Conversions
M. Siddique (1')
This one told us more about where both programmes are headed than any of the blowouts around it. Pakistan 7s, who’ve been running up cricket scores this week, had to win a match that offered them almost none of their usual space. They did it the hard way, by squeezing a penalty try late and then surviving with bodies in the bin. Lebanon 7s will fly home knowing they had control early and the numbers late, yet somehow let the thing slip.
The contest hinged on small margins and one big whistle. Lebanon’s strike shape worked straight off the restart, the Nsouli brothers punching holes and cashing out twice before anyone had settled. But once the game tightened, they never found a third score. In a two-point defeat, the missed second conversion hurts, and so does failing to create a clean look with Pakistan down to six, then five, at the death. This was there to be managed; it wasn’t.
Pakistan showed a different side. They burst out with Mohsin Raza’s opener and then, after conceding twice in quick succession, didn’t chase the game. They defended long and straight, took their conversion when it was offered, and trusted that pressure would bend Lebanon somewhere important. It did on 10 minutes, when the referee went under the posts. In sevens, that sort of decision usually follows prolonged strain in the red zone; whether it was a cynical hand or a collapsed cover tackle, Pakistan had created enough threat to be rewarded.
From there, composure was the currency. Lebanon still had time, and later even a two-man advantage, but they couldn’t string together the ruck speed that had opened the field earlier. Pakistan’s scramble held, their spacing was sound even short-handed, and they kept the ball off their own goal-line just long enough. If you’re looking for why the scoreboard landed where it did, add it up: one Lebanese conversion out of two, one clinical Pakistan conversion from Muhammad Aqib Siddique, and a seven-point swing from the penalty try. That’s your game.
Individually, the Nsoulis were the heartbeat of Lebanon’s attack. Walid Nsouli finished one and added the extras, Talal Nsouli took another cleanly. The issue wasn’t creation so much as sustain. Once Pakistan started winning collisions and slowing ball, the Lebanese carriers were upright too often and the support a step late. In sevens that half-beat is the difference between front-foot ball and being shepherded into the tramlines. On the other side, Mohsin Raza did exactly what you want from a strike runner: early punch, early scoreboard pressure. Muhammad Aqib Siddique had a mixed last minute — on the sheet for a vital conversion and then a yellow — which only underlines how Pakistan had to gut this out rather than gallop.
Match Stats
YELLOW CARD
The turning point is obvious: at 12–7, the next score was always decisive. Lebanon had multiple phases to find it and didn’t; Pakistan did, albeit through the ref. From there Lebanon’s game management frayed. Kicking becomes a live question in that spot — do you chase a contestable to trap five men, or back your possession? — and they never quite engineered the mismatch to finish. The late cards for Siddique and Khurram Shahzad tell you the pressure was real; the lack of a single clean break in that window tells you where it went wrong.
Context matters. Pakistan arrived unbeaten and bulldozing weaker opponents; this was their first arm-wrestle and they proved they can win one. That matters later in the weekend. Lebanon, top of the standings thanks to volume of games and a fat points differential from earlier rounds, now have tape showing both their threat and their limitation: when the initial punch doesn’t end it, they need a calmer gear. The work-on is tempo control and accuracy once the defence adjusts — not more invention, just better sequencing and a reliable kick or two under pressure.
So no, the margin doesn’t flatter Pakistan; it reflects exactly what happened — a tight contest split by a seven-pointer and the basics off the tee. And no, Lebanon weren’t poor; they were just not quite ruthless enough in the moments that mattered. Pakistan take belief that they can grind as well as glide. Lebanon take a bruise and a clear brief: keep the early bite, add late-game clarity.