Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/313770
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 MAY 2014 48 Sport RUGBY FOOTBALL Kavallieri and Overseas host Swanage and Wareham Dionne Tonna - BOV Female player of the Month MIKE TURNER THE annual rugby fest for touring sides took place at Marsa and as usu- al a lot of enjoyment went along with some sparkling rugby. Two Maltese clubs, Kavallieri and Overseas took on English clubs from Ealing (Lon- don), two teams, St. Ives, Thurston, and Swanage-Wareham. Weak tackling from some of the Maltese youngsters made it difficult against the experienced English- men but it was also a good learning curve. Ealing A started with a strong win against Overseas by 15-7, three tries to one, but two need not have been scored if tackling had been good. Kavallieri then thumped Ealing B 36-10, Kawara and Debierre shin- ing. St. Ives scraped past Thurston by 12-7, and then Kavallieri lost tgeir way against Swanage by 0-24. Ealing A thrashed St. Ives by 43-5, when the Cambridgeshire side scored a try in the last second. Overseas were a little careless in losing to Thurston by 0-7, when they had enough chances to run up a good score but managed to throw away opportunities by lack of cohe- sion. Swanage swamped Ealing B by 40-0, and Ealing A beat Thurston easily by 31-0. Then astonishingly Overseas al- lowed St. Ives to beat them by 24-0 when they had at least if not more of the territorial play. The play-offs began and because of the exhaustion factor some were settled by the unique fun contests prevalent in Rugby Tours; In the first semi-final Ealing A were lucky to beat an enhanced Kavallieri side with a try which was allowed after a players foot touchéd the line, then Swanage took on St. Ives and beat them 24-0. The final was between Ealing A and Swanage and Wareham. The London side were firm favourutes as they were higher ranking by several divisions in England, and from the start of the competition thay had made it clear they were expecting to win. However Swanage made it very clear from the start that they wanted the trophy too, as they imposed early territorialpressure and tackled the fast Ealing backs hard to stifle their talent. However towards the end of the first half Ealing came back and seemed to be the fitter side as they exerted pressure of their own. The first half ended drawn at 0-0, and a gambling man might have thought that Ealing would take it in the sec- ond half. Swanage were not going to let them and from the kick off caught well and controlled the ball with pick and go for the first few minutes, until a penalty gave Ealing the opportunity to pressurize from a driving line out. However Swanage ripped the ball away from them and worked up to half way. Some clever kicks took Swanage into the Ealing territory and scored a good try after a move off the back of the line out. From then on they had the psychological advantage, and scored a fine try after some drives from the lineout of their own to emerge as 12-0 winners. This contest is always a good booster for Malta Tourism, hotels and bars and a lot of fun for all in- volved. Download the MaltaToday App now Hibernians' Dionne Tonna claims last award of the season HIBERNIANS captain Dionne Tonna claimed the last BOV Fe- male Player of the Month award for Season 2013/2014. Hibernians have stamped their authority on the BOV Women's First Division League, and besides winning the championship, have also dominated the individual award with Dionne winning the award for November, December and April, while her team-mate Dorianne Theuma claimed con- secutive awards in February and March. Tonna was inspirational in the BOV Women's First Division play- off against Birkirkara motivating her team-mates throughout the match as well as in the penalty shoot-out which ultimately saw her lifting the trophy to end the successful season for Hibernians. John Paul Abela, Manager Me- dia and Community Relations at Bank of Valletta presented the BOV Player of the Month trophy for April 2014 to Dionne Tonna.