Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/487054
maltatoday, Sunday, 29 March 2015 35 Sport RUGBY RC 44 Valletta CUp In a game which was to determine who would make it into the final of the Mediterranean Bank Cup com- petition, Swieqi beat Sliema Stomp- ers, however it was the Stompers who go on to play the final. Playing in very difficult condi- tions, it was an encounter that never really got going, with both teams dropping the ball or choosing the wrong options, causing promising moves to falter. Stompers started the game with a quick switch kick going right, but the wind had the better of the ball with Overseas able to get a hold of it. Overseas put a lot of pressure on the Stompers defence for the first 20 minutes of the game as they spent almost all that time in the Stomper's half, sending wave upon wave of at- tack at the line, with the men in red fighting to hold them out. Clayton Cassar (8) for Overseas had a storming run down the touch- line and passed to Stivala (13) who is tackled, and from the ruck Cas- sar runs down the blindside and as he is tackled manages to offload to Corcoran (10) who scored near the corner. After 25 minutes it is Overseas 5 Stompers 0. Overseas go on the attack again and an attacking maul takes them 20 metres up-field, but they knock the ball on. Overseas are penalised twice, for a high tackle and then again soon after for a player entering the ruck from the side. Finally Stompers are in the Over- seas half and with a lineout inside their 22 they are in a good attacking position, but a crooked throw into the lineout turns the ball over to Overseas. But imme- diately from the scrum Stompers get a hook against the head in the scrum. The game was highly dominated by a wide range of errors with passes constantly dropped, players run- ning across field in- stead of going straight and wrong options are taken in general play. Overseas on the at- tack blow a three man overlap when Stivala (13) goes back inside and is caught but luck- ily they earn a penalty for a head high tackle, they tap and go but once again the Stompers defence hold strong. Overseas kick off the second half and retrieve their own kick and go on the attack but lose the ball and Stompers kick downfield where an Overseas player is penalised for not releasing the ball in the tackle. nev- ille Borg (10) kicks the penalty and Stompers are on the board. Seven minutes into the second half it is Overseas 5 Stompers 3. Stompers with the wind behind them seem to have gone up a gear and are playing with more determi- nation. They attack again from deep as Overseas try to clear with a long kick, Jeremy Debattista sets off and passes to Julian Caruana he runs it up to the 22 and Stompers go through four phases of play and fi- nally get a penalty for a tackler not rolling away. Borg (10) kicks it and Stompers are in front 6 points to 5. The Overseas restart gets held up in the wind and doesn't go the 10 metres and so Stompers have a scrum on the halfway. Overseas look a different team in this half, not playing with any en- thusiasm and are not encouraging each other. They played well in the first half but for all the dominance they had, they did not convert it into points, so maybe they are a bit frustrated and their heads have dropped. The Stompers forwards are get- ting over the gainline with Cerketta (3) Ellul (8) and Martin (1) all show- ing their strength. Stompers win an- other penalty and from 40 metres Borg puts it through the uprights. Camilleri (13) has a run for Stompers down the mid- dle and passes to his winger Alexander (14) but when he is tackled he doesn't release the ball and is penalised. Overseas kick for touch. From the lineout Stomp- ers win the ball and kick long. Gauci (14) for Over- seas runs it back at them and as the tacklers con- verge on him he tries to grubber the ball through but it bounces off a Stomp- ers player and into touch. From the Lineout Over- seas take the ball to the Stompers' five metre line and win a penalty for the Stompers backs being off- side. Stivala taps it quickly and throws a long pass to Groves (1) running up the touchline, with his size he just needs to catch it and blow away the tacklers and he will be over for the try, tear up that script, because he drops it and Borg kicks long to re- lieve the pressure. Stivala breaks upfield from a Clay- ton Cassar burst off the back of the scrum but he runs into touch 22 me- tres out from the Stompers' tryline. Ellul (8) barges his way upfield and offloads to Borg (10) who takes it an- other 10 metres but the ball is lost in the tackle. Overseas were now slowly getting back into the game, gaining terri- tory with their forwards taking the ball at pace. Calvin Briffa (7) for Stompers is putting in a lot of tack- les trying to slow them down. Another run down the touchline by Gauci (14) for Overseas after a Stompers kick fails to find touch, looks promising, but as he is tackled one of his forwards goes off his feet and is penalised. There is a period of play where the ball is kicked back and forth with each team trying to gain territory, from within their 22 Stompers try to run it out and throw a long pass infield which holds up in the wind and Stivala at speed intercepts the pass and heads for the tryline and outstrips the defence to score under the posts. He kicks the conversion and now Overseas are in front 12 points to 9. Overseas have a spring in their step again. Galea (9) kicks long for Stompers where it is touched down for an Overseas 22. Cassar takes the ball and tries to force his way upfield but he goes into touch. Overseas chip the ball through when Brown (15) is up in the line, it is caught by Caruana for Stompers, but he is hauled into touch. From the lineout Overseas maul the ball over the line and it seems to be a try, but the touchjudge has his flag up for a crooked throw into the lineout. From the Stompers scrum Borg kicks it out just outside the 22 metre line. Overseas win a penalty from the lineout and with the kick into touch. Referee Da Silva blows for full time. As Overseas did not win by enough points it is Sliema Stompers who go through to the final against Kaval- lieri. Overseas Swieqi win but Sliema Stompers go through to the final Maxed out in Malta IF the Mediterranean conjures up images of balmy sun drenched days and wearing shorts and T-shirts, today it was at the opposite end of the meteorological spectrum, challenging RC44 Valletta Cup competitors to the maximum. A gale passed across Malta on Friday night and while conditions had abated it wasn't until 2pm here that the wind momentarily dipped below the statutory 25 knots, al- lowing Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio to fire the start gun. Even then a mighty seaway was still run- ning and with the wind piping up mid-race, the penultimate day of competition here was one that the 11 crews will remember for some time, coming ashore soaked to the bone, but with Cheshire cat grins. Torbjörn Törnqvist's Artemis Racing, with British two time Ol- ympic gold medallist Iain Percy calling tactics, led after a bouncy first beat. The Swedish crew kept its cool, hoisting the spinnaker without incident in the big condi- tions; a feat that some crews fur- ther back in the f leet didn't man- age. Even Artemis Racing didn't come away unscathed. Törnqvist ex- plained: "Unfortunately just after the hoist, we slammed into a huge wave and the bow came off – slow- ing us down. Obviously that af- fected our sailing." (The RC44s are fitted with a sacrificial bow – that is removed for shipping, and isn't integral to the boat's structure). Artemis Racing led into the lee- ward gate, but nico Poons' Cha- risma had caught up. Tactician Ray Davies recounted: "We had a good first run and we got a nice layline into the bottom mark where we had a really good rounding. We dropped [the kite] while we were surfing down a wave, gybed, rounded up and gained a lot." Charisma had overhauled the compromised Artemis Racing on a second lively upwind to lead at the weather mark and managed to hang on for a final downhill sleigh- ride to take her first win of the 2015 RC44 Championship Tour. Going into the final day Charisma is up to second, five points off Katusha in the lead, having podiumed in five out of the six races to date. Charisma's owner nico Poons described his day: "You start a race like this, you sur- vive. It may have looked scary on the downwinds, but I did feel like I had it perfectly under control. As the breeze started picking up more, we were a bit un- comfortable, but only because we were getting so wet." His Emirates Team new Zealand navigator Ray Dav- ies added: "It was epic, cool sailing in the nice big waves. We'd been looking forward to it all day. We are excited to sail in that stuff. Our set-up was fantastic, we boned everything up and nico kept it in the groove." Unfortunately even some of the top teams suffered. Team CEEREF scored a DnF due to an issue with her steering, while John Bassa- done's Peninsula Petroleum suf- fered a broach on the first run. "When we wiped out one of the guys fell in the water. We picked him back up, but he had also hurt himself but he is alright now which is good news," recounted the Gi- braltar-based skipper, adding that he had been hoping for more races to allow Peninsula Petroleum to pick herself up from the eighth place where she stands overall at present. "We've raced in tougher conditions and performed quite well, but today we didn't," contin- ued Bassadone. "We were a little bit hesitant. normally we thrive in these conditions." The overwhelming memory of the day will certainly be the condi- tions that verged on 'survival', but proved how robust the RC44s are even in big wind and waves. "They are fantastic – that is the beauty of these boats. They are not easy, but even today they were very sailable," said Bassadone. "They were great conditions and very challenging," agreed Torbjörn Törnqvist. "It was on the edge but Luigi [PRO Peter Reggio] made a good call and there were no issues around the course and no blow outs. All the boats handled it very well. It was pretty hairy out there, we couldn't sail downwind as we wanted because of our bow prob- lem, but we had moments of 22 knots of boat speed." Only one race was sailed yester- day before the wind picked up and the f leet was sent home. The aim is to get three races in today, the final day of the RC44 Valletta Cup, with the first start at 10:30am. Photo: Martinez Studio