Josh lashed by Lebanon fans

FORGET the hostility of Suncorp Stadium during an Origin match or playing for Australia in England, it was in front of his home crowd at Allianz Stadium where Kangaroos winger Josh Mansour received the greatest tongue lashing of his career.

Mansour was left stunned by the level of anger towards him by the Lebanese faithful when he took to the field for Australia on Saturday night.

Not that the passion of Lebanese people is foreign to him with Mansour proud of his Lebanese heritage, but his decision to opt to play for the Kangaroos was met with unprecedented hostility.

He was greeted with boos every time he touched the ball in something he has never experienced before.

“Going into the game I didn’t think it would be that bad,” Mansour said. “I knew I was going to get heckled here and there but the crowd were absolutely relentless.’’

The largely Lebanese-composed 21,127 crowd made Mansour aware of its thoughts.

And the crowd rose as one when Mansour dropped the ball as he looked destined to cross the line.

“I had to have a chuckle to myself,” Mansour said.

“It was pretty funny. There wasn’t any sledging from the opposition players.

“They didn’t need to — they had the whole crowd sledging me.

“I’m proud of my heritage but at the end of the day I pledged my allegiance to Australia.”

The Kangaroos’ scrappy 34-0 win booked them a quarter-finals showdown with Samoa on Friday night. They leave for Darwin today.