Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/467065
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2015 Sport 37 RUGBY ATHLETICS PHOTOGRAPHY: MRFU / CHARLES PACE Malta Barbarians defeat Nyon BRYAN CORLETT PLAYING in the rain, in which the Maltese don't tend to play Rugby, the Malta Barbarians looked comfort- able running the ball in the slippery conditions. A lot was expected of the Nyon Rug- by Club from Switzerland, who are past Champions and presently lying second in this season's competition. Up front Malta Barbarians domi- nated in the forwards and so set the platform for the backs to go wide at every opportunity. Fast ball from Galea (9) to Briffa (10) allowed some space out wide for the backs to run. Betts (11) scored the first try with the ball going through the hands in the backs for him to score ten me- tres in from the touchline with Brif- fa (10) kicking the conversion in the first 15 minutes. Malta Barbarians are up 7 to 0. Nyon were trying to get into the game but their hands were letting them down in the backs and the distribution from the scrumhalf D'espinay (9) to the flyhalf Bordes (10) didn't gel. Malta Barbarians were repeatedly being penalised in the forwards for infringements, in their eagerness to acquire ball for their backs to launch attacks. This cost them territory, but luckily not points. Malta Barbarians were playing most of the game in the Swiss half and scored again when a defensive Swiss line out ball came on the Mal- ta Barbarians' side, Briffa (10) took it up to the gain line offloaded to Clay- ton Cassar (8) who then passed to Stivala (13) and with a spectacular dive he scores 10 metres in from the touchline, Briffa judges the kick per- fectly to put Malta out to 14 Nyon 0. Coaches Tony Garrett and Keith Hopkins were urging their team to stick to the game plan and punch some more holes in their cheese. Stivala (13) again makes a great run through the middle and beats the covering defence and fullback with sheer pace and scores under the posts. Briffa (10) converts and the Malta Barbarians are now 21 Nyon 0. Nyon need to be playing the ter- ritory game, using the boot to get close to the Maltese tryline but they are trying to play from deep, though their passing game is falling apart. Finally they get close to the line from a penalty kick and use their forwards with Conlan (5) catching it at two in the line out and maul- ing the ball forward to score, finally they are in the game Malta 21 Nyon 5. Briffa's kickoff goes directly in to touch, so the Swiss have a scrum on the halfway and looking to attack. The scrums are uncontested due to Nyon not having front row players. A Nyon backline move breaks down and Malta Barbarians gain posses- sion, getting the ball out to Horne (14) who heads for the line, as he is tackled he off loads to Ellul (5) on his shoulder and he powers his way over near the corner. Briffa converts so at half time it is Malta 26 Nyon 5. The rain stops at halftime, but the slippery conditions persist, the passes need to be accurate but once again the Swiss cause is lost as their passes are dropped and mis- directed, also due to the constant pressure from the marauding Malta Barbarians players who are playing with venom, not allowing Nyon into the game. Malta Barbarians again on the at- tack the ball goes through the hands Harvey (1) is in the backline he looks to pass, then straightens and goes all the way to score under the posts, for a prop he shows good skills. Briffa converts Malta Barbarians 33 Nyon 5. The two second rowers Seale (4) and Conlan (5) are the pick of the Swiss side taking the line out ball and crashing the ball up and over the gain line but it all falls apart when it gets to their backs. Camilleri (22) is yellow carded for hands in the ruck, he's off for 10 minutes. Stivala (13) makes a lovely break down the grandstand touchline from 40 metres out and as he is about to score passes unselfishly to his Prop Groves to dot the ball down. The conversion misses and it's Malta Barbarians 38 Nyon 5. In a last ditch effort to salvage some pride, get downfield and have a line out 5 metres out from the Malta Barbarians' tryline, they maul it to- wards the line and Seale (4) scores just in from touch, everyone in their side wants to kick the conversion and out of the huddle the kick sails through the posts, the Swiss are ecstatic, the final score as Referee Lionel da Silva blows for full time is Malta 38 Nyon 12. Malta Barbarians played well, they did not allow the Swiss any space to play and consistently their forwards got over the gainline to give the backs some good ball to attack with. For the conditions a good result for this team. Farah sets new world indoor record for two miles MO Farah set the first world record of his glittering distance running career yesterday when he established a new indoor two- mile mark in Birmingham. Britain's double Olympic cham- pion at 5,000m and 10,000m pro- duced a splendid individual tour de force at the Birmingham In- door Grand Prix in the National Indoor Arena, clocking 8 minutes 3.40 seconds for the rarely-run distance. Farah's world best time sur- passed by almost a second the previous record of 8min 04.35sec set by the great Ethiopian Keneni- sa Bekele at the same venue seven years ago. The 31-year-old Farah had been involved in an unseemly row on social media with his British team mate Andy Vernon, which had dominated the build up to the race. Yet Britain's greatest distance runner, whose career has previ- ously always been defined by titles not records, quickly put the con- troversy behind him. He tracked Kenyan Paul Koech before hitting the front with seven laps to go and then went it alone to establish the first global mark of his career after a few near misses. Farah ran a sub-four minute mile for the second half of the race, clocking 3:59.5. "Thank you so much everyone for the great support. It's great to do it on home soil with the crowd behind me all the way," Farah told the crowd Mo Farah (C) celebrates winning the 10,000 metres during the European Athletics Championships in Zurich