Stompers TGI Friday 79
Hibs Sharks Strongbow 0
Stompers were never in danger of losing this one because Hibs Sharks only produced 14 men to play the entire match one short.
Nevertheless, the 14 put up a gallant resistance, tackling and covering ferociously, and made Stompers work hard for the win. Led by the evergreen Bobby Bonavia, ably backed by the passionate Andrew “Butcher” Galea, they gave the Stompers pack a good work out.
Stompers ran in 13 tries, Chas converting 7 of them, and had to play creative, running rugby to exploit the full width of the pitch to out run the Sharks. As usual, given an extra man Stompers were able to play their expansive running game with the darting Satariano a major lynch pin in many moves. Sturdy young lock John Ellul looked a good prospect for the future if he continues to develop his game, and the two Spaniards, Chas and Ruiz also had good games. Camilleri showed his deep knowledge of the game as he positioned himself well to act as link many times.
It is a great shame that Hibs Sharks did not have a full complement of players when the 14 played so well. The club organizers must ensure this does not happen again.
Kavallieri Blue Label 34
Alligators Cisk Lager 0
Despite the score, Kavallieri were made to work very, very hard for this result by the ever improving Alligators, in a good and entertaining match. In the end the major factor of superiority was the excellent Kavallieri line out drill, where Cutajar and Mangion established an early superiority which increased to total dominance by the last quarter. Alligators had no answer to a towering Mangion which allowed Kavallieri to indulge in their well marshalled rolling mauls from line-outs, which the Alligators could not counteract.
The first half was territorially even with Kavallieri having the better attack, but the heavy Alligators pack causing plenty of trouble.
Kavallieri found it hard to deal with the huge weight and strength of Hadidan and determined Alligator scrummaging. Alligators did not have quite enough speed to outrun the Kavallieri cover. For Alligators, Womack made a spectacular run when he crashed through tackles and handed off Bonavia like a fly. Nevertheless Kavallieri scored two tries, one of which quite spectacular after a long curving, determined run by Caruana. Attard converted one to gain a 12-0 lead at half time.
At the start of the second half, Kavallieri put on the territorial pressure but Alligators resisted passionately which resulted in a period of scrappy play. Finally Hoffman drove over for Kavallieri after forward pressure and sensible recycling, Attard converted.
Womack’s inexperience gave away a penalty which led him to the sin bin, again Attard converted the three pointer.
By now Kavallieri were completely dominating line out possession which enabled them to launch attack after attack. Attard was a little lucky to be awarded a scrambled Kavallieri try after he seemed to knock on the blind side of the referee; he then added the two point conversion. As soon as Womack came back on, Hadidan was also yellow carded, again due to inexperience, and Kavallieri won a good line out, mauled and rolled and the inevitable Grima scored the final try.
The Frenchman, Isabe, deserves a special mention for his speed, tenacious tackling and attack support for Kavallieri.
Malta Women
There were no matches this week, but the Malta Women were in a squad training hard for 15 a side rugby in preparation for when they take on a German club side shortly. This will be very different from the 7 a side game they normally play between themselves, with full scrums and line outs. Coaches Bobby Bonavia and Carmelo Longo took them through familiarization sessions and then a 10 a side practice match.The forthcoming match will be an important step in Women’s Rugby Development in Malta, and follows on last season’s great game against Oxford University.