Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/470920
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 MARCH 2015 Sport 37 RUGBY FORMULA 1 TENNIS Kavallieri too slick for Falcons in a Mediterranean Bank Cup match THE second half of the season kicked off yesterday with the Med- iterranean Bank Cup games, with both 1st Division and 2nd Division teams playing in the same compe- tition. Kavallieri played against the winners of the 2nd Division com- petition, the Falcons Rugby Club. After a week of rain the conditions were perfect, as Kavallieri kicked off long and went into attack im- mediately, putting pressure on Fal- cons near their line, but a penalty was awarded to them and kicked long and got down into the Kaval- lieri half. Falcons won a penalty and try and run it, but the move broke down and Zammit (8) got hold of the ball and crashed his way into the Falcon's defence, from the ruck Blyton (10) chip kicked behind the Falcon's defence, Debierre ran at pace, got a good bounce and scored under the posts. Blyton(10) converted and it's Kavallieri 7 Fal- cons 0. Falcons kicked long from the kick off Kavallieri knocked the ball on, from the awarded scrum Kavallieri win the Falcon's put in and attack, but knock on. Falcons won a pen- alty and tap and run, trying to get the ball wide, but lost the ball in the tackle. Blyton (10) sent a long pass out to Debierre (13) which opened up the Falcons defence, passing on to Camilleri (14) on the wing, tak- ing a return pass, but he is tackled and pushed into touch just short of the try line. Falcons are trying to run every- thing, but are often caught in pos- session or run away from the sup- port players and lose the ball. From a lineout Blyton takes the ball to the gain line but a swarm of Falcons players stop his progress, the ball goes loose and Bonavia (7) toes the ball ahead and scores just before the ball crosses the dead ball line. Blyton converts. Kavallieri 14 Falcons 0. Falcons did not do well in the lineouts and scrums and kept re- ceiving a bad ball, which makes it difficult to get out to their backs to launch any attacks. It is good to point out that there is an age difference between the teams, where Falcons are on aver- age of 20 years whereas the Kav- allieri are probably around 30. In the game, that lack of experience shows, as often they chose the wrong options when in pressure situations. But to their credit they did their utmost to play positive Rugby. Kavallieri with quick hands through the backs with Mike Bon- avia (7) in the line he then passes to the f lying Debierre who scores, the conversion misses. Kavallieri 19 Falcons 0. Kavallieri chipped the ball be- hind the Falcon's defence, which caused all kinds of problems and making them hesitate, whether to run up to tackle or drop back for the kick, their defensive line is now zig zagging and giving the Kavalli- eri backline room to run. Mike Bonavia (7) on another run through the middle off loads to Horne who sprints to the line and scores. The first half ends with Kavalli- eri 26 Falcons 0. The Kavallieri forwards started to dominate and Sam Zammit (1), Joe Cutajar (6) and especially Kris- tian Zammit (8) carried the ball in attack and getting plenty of go forward, for the Kavallieri backs to launch their attacks. Edmunds came on at 10 and Blyton moved to centre, with Debierre dropping back to full back. Falcons are under pressure, but still kept playing attacking rugby whenever they got the ball. Ed- munds passes to, then doubles around his inside centre Aquilina (12) he takes the ball again and f lips the ball to Blyton who is running a line back inside, when he is held up he off loads the ball to Edmunds who scores, a slick and classy move, mesmerising the Falcon's defence. Kavallieri 31 Falcons 0. Ryan Borg (10) for Falcons tried to get his team in the game but often their moves broke down as there were no support players to protect the ball and Kavallieri won the breakdown at the tackle. Kavallieri back once again at- tack, first going left then back to the right and there is an overlap of four players with nobody in front of them Jean Pierre Zammit (16) who has come on as a reserve scores. Kavallieri 36 Falcons 0. Joe Cutajar (6) has a charging run upfield and crashes into the Fal- cons inside backs, the ball quickly goes right and Blyton scores, no conversion it's now Kavallieri 41 Falcons 0. Falcons launch a few attacks and look like they are about to score but Gregory (13) loses the ball as he goes over the tryline. Bjorn Micallef (14) has a couple of sprints down the touchline, but gets caught by the covering defence. Falcons lose the ball and Horne (11) sprints away to score, the conversion misses and it is at that point Referee Killian O'Brien whistles for full time, with the final score being Kavallieri 46 Falcons 0. The score from the other main game on pitch 1 was Stompers "A" 62 Gladiators 0. Women's Rugby Kavalieri 19 Overseas 0 Falcons 19 Kavalieri 5 Falcons 48 Overseas 0 Hamilton keeps Mercedes on top in Barcelona LEWIS Hamilton ensured that Mercedes remained at the top of the times on the penultimate day of the final pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, after sam- pling the Soft compound tyre. Hamilton clocked a 1:23.022 dur- ing a late run on the yellow-banded rubber, just shy of what team-mate Nico Rosberg managed yesterday. Ominously, Hamilton's effort put him ahead of Williams driver Felipe Massa and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen, who both used Super Softs. His pace-setting time followed lengthy set-up changes in the Mer- cedes garage, which wrote off al- most two hours of the afternoon session. Massa and Räikkönen embarked on race simulations early in the af- ternoon, the latter recovering from a small electrical issue just before the lunch break. Toro Rosso rookie Carlos Sainz Jr. rose to fourth position in the closing stages, before his heavily-modified STR10 ground to a halt between Turns 3 and 4. Romain Grosjean placed the Lo- tus fifth, gradually lowering his best time in the second session after a morning dedicated to set-up work and pit-stop practice. Sauber's Marcus Ericsson racked up plenty more long runs, but ended the day slightly early when his car stopped in a similar spot to Sainz Jr. After its impressive start to life, Force India's new VJM08 continued to run smoothly during Saturday's track action, with Nico Hülkenberg leading the mileage charts on 158 laps. McLaren-Honda gave test and re- serve driver Kevin Magnussen his first run in the MP4-30, while Fern- ando Alonso continues to recover at home following his accident. Magnussen, who had not driven since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, clocked the team's fastest time at the circuit so far this pre-season, but was sidelined after 39 laps due to an oil leak. Daniel Ricciardo brought up the rear in the Red Bull, dedicating his afternoon to long runs. Awesome Federer floors Djokovic in straight sets ROGER Federer's enduring class shone through again as the Swiss maestro beat world number one Novak Djokovic 6-3 7-5 to win the Dubai Championships for a sev- enth time. Roger Federer's enduring class shone through again as the Swiss maestro beat world number one Novak Djokovic 6-3 7-5 to win the Dubai Championships for a sev- enth time on Saturday. The 33-year-old's serve is the least praised of his repertoire but it was his awesome delivery that blunted Djokovic's baseline game, taking his career ace haul past the 9,000 barrier with 12 more, several at vital moments. Federer went into the match with a 19-17 winning record against Djokovic, although the Serb beat him in last year's gripping Wimble- don final. The match proved to be a tale of chances taken and chances missed - Federer converting his two break points with clinical effi- ciency, while Djokovic failed on all seven of his. "We get the best out of each other," Federer said in a courtside interview after winning an 84th tour singles crown. "I'm pleased I did some good serving when I had to. I definitely won the big points tonight." The 17-time grand slam cham- pion began with the same tactics that helped trounce teenager Borna Coric in the semi-finals, charging the net at every opportunity. Djokovic was wise to that, passing Federer in successive points, first with a lob and then with a forehand that arrowed into the corner. The Serb, for his part, dragged Federer from side to side, seeking to pin the Swiss to the baseline. Djokovic had two break chances with Federer serving at 1-1 in the first. The Swiss saved both, yet still looked the more vulnerable. From the deuce court, Federer regularly sliced his serve wide to pull eight-times grand slam cham- pion Djokovic out of position be- fore skipping forward to despatch any short return. The first set's decisive moment came with Djokovic serving at 3-4. Federer advanced to blast a fore- hand down the line for the Swiss's first break point, which he convert- ed when Djokovic clubbed a fore- hand long. That put Federer 5-3 up and he served out to clinch the set. In the second, both players be- came more comfortable on serve, the score racing to 3-3 without a single deuce. Serving at 3-4 and 15-40 down, Federer despatched two aces and two service winners to hold. The Swiss world number two re- peated the trick again, serving at 15-40 and 4-5 down, he made an- other two aces and a service winner to save two set points and square the set. A cross-court winner gave Fe- derer a break and 6-5 lead and al- though he f luffed his first match point on serve, he set up another with a second serve ace that he con- verted with a powerful forehand off a weak Djokovic return. Lewis Hamilton