The opening match of the new season, the Ray Elliot Cup, was played in perfect conditions at Marsa last weekend.
It was an entertaining encounter played in good spirits with Overseas beating Kavallieri 52-22.
Kavallieri had a strong opening and led 10-7 midway through the first half after a flurry of action at both ends of the pitch.
At this point, Kavallieri were dominating territory and poss-ession to draw 17-14 ahead.
The second half started in much the same vein with Kavallieri picking up from the back of the scrums, and trying to punch it up the middle. The speedy Overseas backs sought to run it wide at every opportunity.
However, it was Overseas forward Mark Davey who made a charging run down the middle for a breakthrough. Du Toit converted to put Overseas back in the lead 21-17.
On a Kavallieri throw, the ball flew to Wright who broke through the defensive line, slipped the ball out to Du Toit who ran round the defender before cleverly slipping it back inside to Wright to score. The conversion took Overseas more than a score ahead at 28-17.
A 62nd-minute penalty for Kavallieri put them within five metres of the Overseas try line, and they tried to get their powerful rolling maul working again, but this time Overseas managed to clear.
Then, Overseas scored probably their best try when the pack, which had been under so much pressure in the first half, did well to win one ‘against the head’ and their exciting backs took over.
Scrum-half Stivala injected the initial pace from halfway, before the midfield pairing of Wright and Du Toit again adroitly inter-changed the ball, setting up Thompson to score.
At 33-17, the game seemed to be slipping out of reach for Kavallieri and more Overseas points soon followed when a long kick forward caught Attard exposed under the posts and Du Toit wrapped him up.
The following scrum on the five-metre line was won by Overseas, and Stivala played a neat one-two with Wright and looped round to score. Kavallieri refused to give up but were beginning to tire.
There was still time for two more tries for Overseas, the first following a fine, individual run from Cassar.
The final try came from Overseas’ dominant back line, when substitute Keep made a penetrating run down the left wing before putting in Stivala to score his second.