Lebanon
Iraq
L. Karam (1', 12', 15'), M. Nakhoul (4', 7'), S. Elias (8', 11')
Tries
This told us less about the jeopardy of the pool and more about where Lebanon Women 7s are at in their game. They have pace out wide, they have enough heft at the contact to keep tempo, and they are ruthless when the field breaks. Seven tries in 15 minutes underlined that. What it also showed: their standards aren’t yet where they’ll want them. A yellow card late on and zero conversions is a messy line on an otherwise clean scorecard.
For Iraq Women 7s, this was another sharp lesson at Trophy level. They were brave enough, but bravery without structure in sevens is a hard watch. Their spacing drifted, their first tackle seldom stuck, and they never got control at restarts. Against finishers like Lebanon’s, that’s fatal.
The “why” of the margin sits in the middle of the field. Lebanon kept producing front-foot ball and didn’t have to work through many slow rucks. When your carriers are over the gain line and your halfback is clearing to width on first or second touch, sevens becomes a race. Lynn Karam won it. Her hat-trick bookended the match — on the board inside a minute, then again at the death — but the value was in how she finished: head up, taking poor shoulders, and accelerating into the seam rather than drifting to touch.
Lebanon’s scoring pattern — quick clusters either side of half-time — speaks to dominance around the restart and the counter-ruck. Iraq couldn’t stitch together a clean exit; ball either spilled or was stood up in contact, and Lebanon turned those loose moments into clear pictures. Stephanie Elias’s brace on the other side of the break looked almost identical: one pass to space, a straightening step, and she was gone. That isn’t luck; that’s winning the collision, clearing the breakdown and trusting the support line.
If there was a wobble, it was self-inflicted. Maria Nakhoul had already helped herself to two scores when she saw yellow with two minutes left. With a 30–0 lead it didn’t change the result, and Lebanon even finished with another try while short, but the card is the sort of lapse that bites in tighter games. The other blot was the radar: seven tries, no conversions. In sevens you live with a few misses, but none at all is a red flag. Different day, different opponent, those four or six points matter.
Credit, though, where it belongs. Lebanon’s defensive spacing has been a quiet constant across the weekend and it held again here. They folded well from edge to edge, trusted inside help and didn’t overcommit at the jackal, which meant Iraq were seeing three-and-four-pass phases without ever dragging a defender off their feet. That patience is why they’ve spent this tournament high on the log and low on concessions.
Iraq will look at the tape and see the same two themes they’ve battled all tournament. First-up tackling: too many arm grabs, not enough footwork or shoulder through the hips. That’s why Karam and Elias were getting square and going through rather than around. Second, restart security: if you’re chasing the ball all day in sevens, you’re done. They need a clear caller, a pod that competes in the air, and a plan B if they don’t get it. The encouraging bit? When they did slow a ruck, Lebanon had to play an extra pass and the line had time to fold. There’s a platform there, but it needs reps.
Individually, Karam was the sharpest knife, Elias not far off. Nakhoul’s brace and her yellow summed up Lebanon’s day: plenty of strike, a little untidiness. Behind them, the unseen work was tidy — cleaners on time, the nine moving defenders with tempo, and edges held in defence. You don’t pitch a 35–0 without everyone buying in to the chase and the fold.
Does the margin flatter Lebanon? Not really. If anything it understates the gap; they left seven points in conversions and still never let Iraq near their 22 for any meaningful stretch. But the scoreboard also hides two fixes they’ll need as the stakes rise: composure in discipline and a more clinical post-try routine.
Lebanon leave Aqaba’s fourth round top of their group and trending in the right direction: pace out wide, a habit of scoring in bunches, and a defence that’s giving up almost nothing. The takeaway is simple — keep the ruck clean, sort the kicking, cut the cheap penalties. Iraq’s is just as clear. Get better in the air, get tighter in the tackle, and build some two-phase shape to take pressure off their exits. Do that, and the scoreboard starts to move from damage control to contest.
Match Stats
YELLOW CARD