Overseas 24
Kavallieri 12
Overseas are back in the reckoning for the National League after a polished display against champions Kavallieri in a match played in windy conditions at Marsa.
This made passes and lineout throws rather tricky as Kavallieri, at first, dominated in the scrums but then Overseas started pushing their opponents backwards.
Roderick Attard was sin-binned for a head-high tackle and in those 10 minutes the game swung Overseas's way.
Midway through the first half, they scored with a jinking run by Sean Duffy, playing at fly-half.
Ten minutes later, Ed Axisa powered his way through, beating the Kavallieri defenders with power and pace. Both tries were converted by Vince Stivala - 14-0.
The second half saw Clayton Cassar, of Overseas, running strongly and sweeping his team downfield with his charging forays. Overseas won a penalty, slotted by Stivala from in front of the posts.
Kavallieri tried to lift their game and had their back row applying some pressure on the Overseas defence. Robert Bonavia finally scored, breaking off the back of the scrum and powering his way over, Attard kicked the conversion.
Then came the play of the game.
Stivala looped around the end of the backline, took the pass, chipped the full-back and headed for the corner. The cover defence held him up but the Overseas man looped an inside pass to captain Josh Howland who scored to the right of the posts. Stivala converted successfully.
Kavallieri lost Daniel Grima but still laid siege on the Overseas try-line. Cassar was sin-binned for a shoulder charge and during his time on the sidelines, winger Jason Grima scored a try in the corner for Kavallieri.
Overseas had lost their previous match in the very last few seconds and on this occasion very few were commenting on whether or not they were going to give in to the pressure.
However, this time they held on for a well-deserved win.
Youth sevens
The final round of the youth sevens league, sponsored by Gasan Mamo, was played a few days ago at Marsa.
In the first match, Sharks beat Kavallieri 12-7. The latter were unable to finish the season in style as they were then outsmarted by Alligators 36-7.
Sharks and Alligators met in the decisive match. In the end, Alligators prevailed with a sound 27-0 win to claim the title for a second year running.
The trophy was presented to team captain Matthew Ward by Julian Mamo, of Gasan Mamo.