Kavallieri beat Overseas 20-0 in a hard-fought league match, played in the finest of rugby spirits, under difficult conditions at Marsa last weekend.

Kavallieri started with the wind behind their backs but made hard work of this advantage in the first half. Sean Doublesin opened the scoring with a trademark diagonal run after being set free from the maul by his forwards.

The game was affected by an injury to Overseas' Newbould who had to be moved to full-back after a nasty knock from a late tackle, which went unnoticed. This meant that the powerful backs had no playmaker to launch them.

The rampant Bobby Bonavia was the next scorer from a scrum near the line after the still-shaken Newbould had made a disastrous error of judgment, failing to clear a long kick and running into the following pack.

The half ended with what should have been a superb try after diagonal runs and interpassing by Kavallieri, only for Attard to show his inexperience in running the ball dead.

In the second half, Overseas could have expected to take over the game with the wind behind them. But, instead, Kavallieri had a superb 40 minutes of concentrated teamwork which kept their opponents on their heels for the rest of the match.

Possession, pressure and passing were the Kavallieri watchwords, and they applied them relentlessly. Azzopardi was rewarded with a good try after severe driving and the icing on the cake was Mike Bonavia's try when he burst onto a brilliantly-timed pass from fly half Letoing.

This was a hard game for the newcomers in the Overseas pack, but a good learning day. Wouter Roos, from Norway, and Joss Howland deserve a special mention for covering and tackling.

However, they were no match for the Kavallieri unit and on the day the superior knowledge and teamwork won a tough match.