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54 maltatoday SUNDAY, 5 MARCH 2017 Sport RUGBY Angel intercedes for Overseas win Swieqi Overseas ............ 50 Kavallieri ...................... 10 BRYAN CORLETT THIS Cisk Lager League game took a long time to get going and the first half was a veritable slog until the Angel intervened... by the name of Angel Sarres (12) as he took the game by the scruff of the neck, scoring four tries to take the game away from a fighting Kaval- lieri team, who just could not break down the Overseas defensive wall. Kavallieri kicked off with the wind behind them and went on the attack with some good counter rucking, and won a penalty which Darren Edmunds (10) kicked from 40 metres to put them in the lead 3 to 0. Overseas were having trouble, their game just wasn't flowing with dropped passes, wrong options and individual players trying to do too much, without linking to the rest of the team. From a poor clearing kick by Kav- allieri, Overseas launched a long range attack, sweeping right then left to put Rhys Barry (13) in for a try to make it 5-3 for Overseas. On attack Edmunds grubbered a ball through, but it hit the posts and was reclaimed by Overseas. Brenda Dalton (23) sprinted down the touchline, dived over in the corner, but lost the ball in flight. Clayton Cassar (8) running strongly offloaded to Barry who grubbered through, Roderick Borg (15) gathered and offloaded to Jamie Murray (7), he went to ground, the ball then swung right to Angel Sarres (12) who powered his way over, Briffa converted. Overseas 12, Kavallieri 3. Overseas won a tight head in the scrum, Christian Briffa (10) stepped then offloaded to Sarres who scored again for Briffa, it was now 19 to 3 for Overseas. Just on half time Dalton was yel- low carded for holding back Sarres as he chased a through ball, Ref- eree Lionel Da Silva sending him to the sin bin for 10 minutes. The second half started with a flourish by Overseas, they scored two quick tries, first by Harvey (3) from a rolling maul from a lineout, then Sarres after Cassar and Stoker (1) bashed their way over the gain line, Sarres then dummied and stepped his way to score, with one of the tries converted the score had shot out to 31 to 3. Referee Da Silva had to be tended to for an ankle injury, but he sol- diered on, showing true grit! A messy period of play by Over- seas, with the ball bobbling about and passes going behind the in- tended players was tidied up by Sarres, who stepped through the onrushing Kavallieri defence to score his fourth try, with Briffa's conversion it was now 38 to 3. It was then Briffa's turn to show his skill as he dummied and side- stepped on a diagonal run to score, Sarres converted and the score was out to 45 to 3. Harvey scored again showing his skills from 20 metres out stepping his way to the line to make it 50 to 3. Then Coach Dan Moore, who had replaced the injured Edmunds for Kavallieri, showed his skills first using the boot to gain terri- tory, then a grubber kick through behind the Overseas backs sitting up nicely for the onrushing Dalton to score and with the Nick Horne (13) conversion the final score was Overseas 50, Kavallieri 10. Men of the Match: Overseas: Angel Sarres. Kavallieri: Mattia Dante. On Pitch 2: Stompers: 58, Falcons 20. Falcons fly high Falcons ...................... 38 Kavallieri ................... 10 PHIL GIBBS WITH Kavallieri f lyer Jacqueline Richard out with an ankle injury, Falcons went into the game as fa- vourites. Kavallieri won the toss and elected to receive. Falcons's kick failed to make the 10-metre line and they gave away a free kick. Maria Spiteri tapped, made some ground and then whipped the pass wide to Dorien Jager, who failed to catch cleanly, but palmed the ball on to Spiteri running the loop. The Kavallieri captain sprinted 50 metres down the left wing to open the scoring. Justine Zammit missed the con- version. Falcons soon struck back as Marion Azzopardi received the ball from the kick-off, played a neat one-two with Beverie Sul- tana and then deftly sidestepped her tackler and ran half the length of the pitch before dotting down under the posts. She con- verted her own try to put Falcons 7 - 5 ahead. Falcons doubled their lead shortly after when an initial burst down the left wing by Kimberley Riolo was halted when she was hauled down, but Falcons won the ruck and passed the ball swiftly along the line to the unmarked Azzopardi, who sauntered up to the try line before unselfishly of- f loading to Riolo as a reward for her initial break. Again, the try was converted. Kavallieri's defence was in dis- array at this stage, and Falcons scored two more before the half-time break. The first came from Sultana using her strength to strip the ball in a maul be- fore shipping it left to Riolo. She switched right to Azzopardi who combined with Sultana to release the fast-finishing Riolo for her second try. Azzopardi's conver- sion hit the post. Falcons gave away a second careless free kick from the kick- off, but defended a series of rucks and mauls from the resulting Kavallieri attack. They eventually won a scrum when a maul was held up, and Azzopardi slipped the ball to Sultana, who blasted 60 metres downfield to score un- opposed. The first half ended 24 - 5 in Falcons's favour. From the restart, Falcons won possession but were pushed back by an aggressive Kavallieri de- fence. They managed to retain the ball, and some clever inter- play between Azzopardi and Vr- backa freed up space on the right for Rodianne Bugeja, who showed a great turn of speed to sprint in from her own 10-metre line. Kavallieri were then let off the hook soon after, when Vrbacka passed forward to Riolo in acres of space and she was denied what looked a certain try. This gave Kavallieri a boost and they had their best spell of the match. Find- ing themselves pinned down on their own try line by the Falcons defensive wall, they managed to fight their way back to halfway with a series of darting runs from Spiteri, who was constantly in- volved, backed up by strong run- ning from Torea Fenech. A careless penalty to Falcons seemed to have dashed their hopes, but a mistimed pass found the f loor and gave Spiteri a chance to kick the ball on. Jager gathered and was grounded, but popped the ball up to Annalisa Tallarida. She made ground before firing a pass to the inspired Spiteri, who broke through the pressurised Falcons defence to score her sec- ond. The conversion was missed. However, Falcons had the last say when, from the restart, Azz- opardi exchanged passes with Donnavellon Sladden before spinning the ball to speedster Ri- olo, who scorched down the right wing for a well-deserved hat- trick. The try was converted to leave Falcons the victors at 38-10. Star players - Maria Spiteri, Kim- berley Riolo Other results Falcons 22 - Swieqi Overseas 7 Swieqi Overseas 38 – Kavallieri 5 PHOTOGRAPHY BY IAN STILON PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZARA AMEEN

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