Pakistan
Lebanon
A. Shahzad (0'), M. Raza (3', 6'), K. Shahzad (9'), A. Javed (11')
Tries
G. Daou (13')
M. Raza (4'), M. Siddique (7')
Conversions
G. Hammoudeh (13')
This third-place match told us that Pakistan 7s can flick the switch from flat to ferocious inside a few hours. Blank in their semi, they turned up for bronze with urgency, accuracy and a clarity about where the space would be. It was over before Lebanon could find their breath.
The earlier pool meeting between these sides was tight; this was not. Pakistan didn’t wait to feel their way in. They attacked the kick-off, punched past the gain line at pace and kept the ball alive. When you’re three scores down inside six minutes in sevens, the rest becomes damage control, and that was Lebanon’s afternoon.
The hinge was the opening sequence: an immediate strike from Amir Shahzad, then two from Mohsin Raza in quick succession. That wasn’t luck; it came from clean post-tackle ball and smart lines off the ball. Pakistan ran hard unders to fix inside defenders, then shifted late with hands rather than hopeful width. Lebanon’s first-up tackling was too loose to stall the momentum and their spacing drifted early, which is how support runners like Khurram Shahzad and Asif Javed were finishing untouched later on.
Raza was the game’s fulcrum. His two tries and a conversion only sketch his influence; he set tempo, straightened when it needed honesty and chose the moments to tip-on. Once Pakistan were rolling, Khurram Shahzad’s score after the break came off the same pattern: punch, quick recycle, punish the fold. Asif Javed then iced it with another clean finish to crown a dominant 11-minute burst. The one nitpick: two from five off the tee between Raza and Muhammad Aqib Siddique leaves points behind that better sides won’t gift again.
Lebanon were a different team to the one that had dragged Pakistan into a scrap the day before. The semi-final loss to Bahrain seemed to knock their edge, and they never recovered the kick-off or the contact well enough to reset. Their breakdown body height was high and they arrived second; you could see it in the speed of Pakistan’s ball. When they finally stitched something together, it came late and off the bench: Georgio Daou found a seam and finished well, with Gianni Hammoudeh knocking over the extras. That was a good piece of play, but too late to matter.
Does the margin flatter Pakistan? Not really. It sat at 29–0 before the consolation, and if anything their conversion rate kept it from becoming heavier. The only wobble was a gentle drop in collision accuracy near the end, which opened the door for Daou. That’s human with the job essentially done, but it’s also a reminder about standards when scoreboard pressure is gone.
What Pakistan did well was simple and repeatable: they owned the gain line early, protected their own ball, and were clinical in the red zone. Their restart work also tilted the field; Lebanon rarely exited cleanly after conceding. There’s no need to reinvent much from here, just tidy the goal-kicking and keep the footwork and depth they showed in this one. Coming off a 0–22 semi, that response speaks to a group with some resilience and a clearer attacking identity than earlier in the tournament.
Lebanon will know exactly where this slipped. The first contact and the first three minutes. When they’re aggressive at kick-off receipt and connected defensively, they can drag teams into a messy contest, as they did in the pool. When they’re passive, they chase shadows. Daou’s spark and Hammoudeh’s composure are building blocks, but the system around them needs to hit earlier and harder. Fix the body height at the ruck, sharpen the first-up tackle and they’re back to the side that bullied space against Oman and Saudi.
Pakistan leave Aqaba with bronze and a performance that makes sense of it: fast, direct, and decisive. Lebanon leave with a clear film session: the opening exchanges in knockout rugby decide your fate more than anything else. Both can use this as a marker — one as a standard to carry forward, the other as a line they can’t afford to dip below again.