Stompers TGIF make sure in second half

Overseas Hopleaf 18
Stompers Tgif 55

Yet again, Overseas failed to field a full complement but were still strong enough to give Barclays League winners Stompers a tough first half.

Newbould gave Overseas the early lead with a penalty but Mirabelli soon scored twice for Stompers with no backrow to stop him breaking from the scrums. Fountain converted one. Surprisingly Overseas were holding territorial advantage and Newbould scored an exciting try in the corner after good running and support.

Then, Stompers surged away from their own line with a long bout of interpassing and support to send Dave Borg in for a great try. Miguel Cutajar scored another after a sharp break in the centre, followed by Busuttil.

Fountain converted two but in the meantime the inevitable Newbould scored another penalty and a really cheeky and brilliant try which he converted superbly. At half time it was still a close match at 18-26.

However, after the break Malcolm Attard came on for Stompers and he gave the backs co-ordination and direction and as the numerical advantage told, Stompers began to score regularly.

Mirabelli scored two tries to bring his tally to four. Anastasi, Camilleri and Attard were also on the mark and John Attard converted twice to make up the 55-point tally.

After their first success of the season, Stompers now gear up for today's Barclays Super Cup final.

Kavallieri Blue Label 27
Alligators Cisk 19

Kavallieri needed to win this match by a huge margin but instead were given a shock by a revitalised Alligators who ran them very close.

Robert Azzopardi opened with a try for Kavallieri and then Borda fought his way over from the back of the scrum. However, throughout this game Kavallieri suffered by lacking a tactical kicker.

Soon Busuttil took a quick free-kick and charged his way through from 20 metres to open Alligators' account. This was followed by a great run from Bianchi after good support and passing. Parnis England converted both to give Alligators, again well marshalled by Hillman from fullback, a deserved lead.

J. Vassallo reduced the lead with a try after running through feeble tackling. But the last word was with Bianchi. He scored from close range for Alligators after some hard rucking close to the line. Half-time saw Alligators leading 19-15.

Alligators continued in determined fashion but Kavallieri enjoyed some real luck when a seemingly aimless defensive kick ahead bounced beautifully back into the hands of Chris Vassallo who cantered some 70 metres to score under the posts.

This gave Kavallieri more heart and they began to play the support game which resulted in a try by Zammit after well-timed and unselfish passing along the line.

Alligators lacked the fitness to give backing to the many breaks they made as Kavallieri defended with grim to hang on to their win and a berth in today's final.