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54 maltatoday SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 Sports RUGBY Stompers ReMax again too good for Overseas Stompers ....................... 38 Overseas ........................ 24 BRYAN CORLETT IT was an intense game played down at Marsa in this Cisk Lager League game between the two top teams in the competition. Both teams wanted to win and played with a passion and pace, that at times was breathtaking, as play swept from one end of the field to the other. Stompers finally wore down Overseas, with the work rate of Richard Gum(10) and Max Galea(9) probably the difference, as it was they who determined the direction and pace of the Stompers attack. The Stompers' forwards played their part and none more so than Carmine Fabrizio(1) who scored two tries in the first half, although in the second half he went from hero to zero, as he was sin binned for 10 minutes for an altercation. Visiting Referee Kieran Henry from the Manchester Referee's Soci- ety, controlled the game well, letting the play flow and his man manage- ment was excellent. Overseas took the game to Stomp- ers with their big forwards Har- vey(3), Stoker(1) and Hammond(8) charging into the fray, but frustrat- ingly for their team, the final pass would go to ground or a Stomper's turnover in the tackle as they inched towards the line, would turn the tide. Fabrizio scored in the 2nd min- ute of the game an unconverted try followed by Matt Camill- eri(12) bashing his way over near the posts, after Stompers had laid siege to the Oversea's tryline. Gum(10) converted that try to make it Stompers 12, Overseas 0. Overseas had all the territory but just could not finish off any phases as they got close to the try-line. Stompers were feeding off the Overseas mistakes and running any penalties back at them. Overseas were not committing enough play- ers to the tackle area and looked indecisive when the ball went out to the backs. Luke Galea(7) was hyper active taking the ball over and over and trying to run it through the in- side channel, but the likes of Gary Hili(8), Nicky Maylor(7) and Keith Azzopardi(6) would be waiting for him and the momentum would be lost as he was driven backwards. Rhodri McKenzie(13) finally scored for Overseas stepping around his marker and in towards the posts to make the conversion easier for Aiden Grech(10). With the score now Stompers 12, Overseas 7, it looked like Overseas had found their feet at last. But back came Stompers, im- mediately running wide down the touchline, going through the phases as they got close to the line and Fab- rizio scored again from close, for Gum to convert, making the half time score 19 to 7. As the second half started with Overseas now playing with the wind, the conjecture was that they needed to score quickly to get back into the game, which they duly did, scoring two quick tries to McKenzie, again showing his step and pace and Harvey showing his strength close to the line dragging two defenders with him as he crashed over, which with Grech's conversion drew them level at 19 all. With Fabrizio's yellow card it seemed there would be a momen- tum shift, as the Overseas boys now had a spring in their step. But you write Stompers off at your peril and they lifted their game, even though a man down. They scored again with Dragan Cerketta(5) charging at the line like a bull, then with Gum's conversion taking the lead to 26 to 19. Two more tries, one from Mathew Alexander(14) using his speed and the other by Nicky Maylor(7) just back from a long injury running good support lines, to take the score out to 38 to 19 and into the comfort zone. Overseas kept attacking but again were thwarted with dropped balls and indecision, Harvey scored his second try to give Overseas some hope again, but they ran out of time, as first Max Galea was yellow carded and then with referee Kieran Henry blowing his whistle for full time. Man of the Match: Stompers Rich- ard Gum(10). Overseas: Rhodri Mc- Kenzie(13). Referee: Kieran Henry. Assistant Referees: Lionel Da Silva, Sam Ramage. The Malta Referees Society are in an exchange program with refer- ees from France, Switzerland and the Czech Republic and now Man- chester (UK)with Maltese referees Joseph Cutajar and Sean Doublesin soon to go to Rome and Manchester respectively. Today's other league match, Fal- cons vs Kavallieri, was deemed a walk over for Falcons as Kavallieri were unable to field a team. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAKE GHIRLANDO Virtuoso hat trick sees off Falcons Overseas ..................... 19 Falcons ........................ 0 PHIL GIBBS THE usual windy conditions were absent at Marsa as Overseas won the toss and elected to re- ceive. From the deep kick off by Kimberley Riolo, Overseas Jas- min Busuttil passed forward, but from the ensuing scrum, the ball was stolen on the Falcons put-in and was shipped along the line to Jacqueline Richard, who carved through a space in the Falcons defence and turned on the gas to run 60 metres and score the opening try for Overseas, leaving a despairing Riolo in her wake. The conversion attempt was missed by Wendy Pace. Overseas restarted but the kick did not reach the 10 - metre line, and Falcons went on the attack from the free kick, launching a wave of attacks on the Overseas defence spearheaded by Marion Azzopardi. These came to noth- ing as Falcons were prevented from crossing the gain line, but they were awarded a penalty from a high tackle by Richard. Rodianne Bugeja took a quick tap and go and slipped the ball to Azzopardi, who knocked on as she was brought to ground. Overseas were then awarded a free kick for pre-en- gagement by Falcons in the scrum and Sarita Cassar powered her way over the halfway line, played a one-two with Loraine Cutajar before releasing Clare Casha who offloaded to Brenda Caruana. She flipped the ball left, but her pass was wayward, eluding the out- stretched fingers of Richard. How- ever, the pass went backward and Cassar, backing up, recovered the ball and made a second attempt at finding Richard. This time the pass was good and there was no stopping the Overseas wing, who put in another blistering run to outsprint Riolo for the second time and dot down under the posts. The try was converted by Vanessa Attard, moving the score to 12-0 in Overseas favour. Falcons tried to move onto the front foot from the restart, but a promising position from a line- out ended in Bugeja losing the ball and Overseas regained the initia- tive. They were awarded a penalty for an infringement by Barbra Caruana, but knocked on while playing the advantage and the first half ended with no further score. The second half started with a deep kick from Pace which was knocked on by Riolo and from the advantage, Overseas pinned Fal- cons back in their own half. Cassar put in a thunderous run down the right wing, but was hauled down by Lera Cauchi. Falcons tried their best to fight their way into an at- tacking position, but the Overseas defence was too strong for them, and despite being awarded several penalties, they could not break out of their own half. Finally, the Overseas pressure paid off and they won a penalty when Marion Azzopardi was punished for an il- legal tackle. Pace took the tap and Anna Ward recovered a scrappy pass from Justine Bussuti Gaerty and spun the ball left to Richard, who fired down the wing to score her hat trick. Pace converted, and the final whistle saw Overseas take the honours 19-0. Star player – Jacqueline Richard Other matches were declared walk overs as per competition regulations due to Kavallieri fail- ing to field a team for the day's matches. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAKE GHIRLANDO