Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/814533
54 maltatoday SUNDAY, 23 APRIL 2017 Sport PHOTOGRAPHY BY IAN STILON RUGBY Malta powers to victory over Israel BRYAN CORLETT IN a game that kept the specta- tors on the edge of their seats throughout, as play swung up and down the field, which finally saw Malta victors over Israel by 39 points to 17. Malta's superior fitness began to tell in the second half going on to score three tries after a fierce battle in the first half. It was a committed side from Israel that came to take on Malta, having already defeated Croatia, Andorra and Cypress and they wanted more. The first half was fast and fu- rious as first one team attacked, were repelled and then a counter attack would take play quickly back down the other end of the field, to the "oohs" and "aahs" of the large crowd. The tackling from Israel was ferocious as they cut down the advancing Malta team, they were men on a mission! Penalties were traded first by Morris(15) for Malta and Abutbul(7) for Israel in the first quarter. Malta 3, Is- rael 3. Then the brilliance of Tom Hol- loway(9) came to the fore as he looped a kick over a ruck inside the Israeli 22 for James Kirk(14) to run onto, he juggled the ball and then dived over in the corner to score his team's first try. The conversion swung away in the wind. Malta 8, Israel 3 The Referee Pierre Brousset, who Referees in the Top 14 Com- petition in France was quick to punish both teams that were try- ing to slow play down, by not re- leasing the tackled player or not rolling away, his decisions cre- ated a free f lowing spectacle of Rugby. The Malta forwards were a crack unit, harrying the Israeli's into mistakes, Collins(2) Ap- see(7) Davey(8) were running powerfully. Quarendon(10) pow- ered his way through the defen- sive wall it went left to O'Brien, he went close but the play fizzled out. From the restart Apsee(7) scored running blind from a 10 metre scrum crashing over in a heap of players. Malta was putting Israel under a lot of pressure forcing them into mistakes, they were dropping the ball, passing forward. But Israel didn't give up, they broke down the middle and a pass found Ra- daskovich(20) running at pace to score with Abutbul's conversion it was close now at 13 to 10. Two quick penalties by fullback James Morris gave his team con- fidence taking the score out to 19 to 10 at halftime. With the wind at their backs in the second half Israel pushed the ball deep and went on the attack with a powerful run by Gikash- vili(12) bashing his way through Malta's defensive wall, he of- f loaded to Abutbul(7) for him to score a converted try Malta 19, Israel 17 and game on! For a period of about 15 min- utes Malta attacked relentless- ly with the forwards carrying strongly, Quarendon(10) and Holloway(9) looped kicks over for their wingers but the ball didn't sit up and went into touch. But finally Captain Dominic Busut- til(12) crashed over after a series of phases and with the Morris conversion the score went out to Malta 26, Israel 17. Morris again scored with a pen- alty from 40 metres out judging the wind perfectly, Malta 29, Is- rael 17. Israel poured on their reserves trying to get back into the game, knowing they had to score twice to win. Quarendon and Davey had strong runs down the mid- dle taking play downfield 40 me- tres, as play opened up, as Israel began to tire. Their lineout also was not functioning, losing some throws when hot on attack near the Malta line. Harvey(3) scored from close, on the back of good work from Clayton Cassar(5) and Darren Deguara(4) in the engine room. Trying to run it out from their own line Israel threw a wild pass that Chris Dudman(23) on for O'Brien(11) swooped on, juggled and then scored, making the fi- nal score Malta 39 Israel 17. A convincing win that must give them confidence as they now travel to Croatia for next week's game in this Conference 1 South competition. Men of the Match: Israel; Gi- kashvili(12) Malta: Toby Quaren- don(10)