Kavallieri 29 vs
Birkirkara Alligators 0
This match was
looked upon as a test to see whether the “new” Alligators could continue their
dramatic improvement against the Kavallieri who were fielding some of their
experienced internationals but also a number of newcomers and juniors who have
come up through the club.
In fact it was
disappointing in that for the first half Alligators were strangely disjointed,
and gave away ground straight from kick off with wild pass across their own
line which was dropped. So Kavallieri were camped on the Gators line for the
first five minutes until they incurred a penalty, which was the only way Gators
looked like breaking out.
Most of the play
was in Gators half until Kavallieri hoisted what looked like an aimless high
kick. However it was allowed to bounce and the two bounces completely fooled
the defence, the second into Debierre’s hands for him to score.
Kavallieri
continued to dominate territorially and spun the ball along the line to the
wing, but a magnificent cover tackle by Gators stopped him dead and into touch.
Again Kavallieri kicked into the corner, but the mentally semi-detached Gators
threw the ball straight to the unmarked Kavallieri Jameson who only had to fall
over for a try.
These two
giveaways by Gators were followed by another Debierre try after good, fast, flat passing put him clear. This one
was converted by Vinitius.
Gators enjoyed a
few attacks but never really looked like breaching Kavallieri defence. The half
was a story of a hesitant and confused Gators against a well drilled and
marshalled Kavallieri.
However the
second half was a much more even match as Gators upped their game and made a
much more interesting contest.
They were
managing to mount several attacks but lacked the cohesion and speed of thought
to break the Kavallieri cover, despite many brave and forceful runs. One of
these, initiated by Van der Linden, only broke down when he aimed a poor pass to
his wing, although it was affected by a crashing tackle by Edmunds.
Allegruci,
Cutajar and Grech were prominent in leading Kavallieri charges and Schembri was
enjoying his return at scrum half.
Another promising
half break by Gators was spoiled by a drop by Mupimhidza.
Cutajar was
leading driving lineout mauls for Kavallieri to keep Gators on the back foot.
The ubiquitous
veteran Hillman came on at full back for Gators, and a clever low kick by Allegruci gained some 60
metres for Kavallieri and after a series of close scrums and lineouts, Cutajar
peeled off and slipped a good pass to Bonavia for the last try, converted by
Vinitius.
A troubling
factor in the game was the large number of silly penalties given away by
Kavallieri and the bad habit of some senior players of arguing with or trying
to influence the decisions by the referee. It will not be long before players
will be disciplined severely for this.
Many of the Kavallieri have come up through the club juniors and the fact that they are challenging for the League is a big compliment to their coach Joe Cutajar, as they slot so easily into senior play.
by MIKE TURNER
Jonathan Chetcuti from maltasportphotos.com for the photo
Comments
Post a Comment