Parents and curious onlookers were provided with a rugby spectacular, that lasted nearly four hours, last Saturday at the Marsa ground.
With Director of Rugby, Graham Richards, overseeing proceedings, U-17 development teams, coached by S. Vincenti (Alligators), P. Slater (Stompers), R. Bonavia and P. Azzopardi (Kavallieri) among others, first battled it out in full-contact matches based on mini-rugby format.
The first kick-off was at noon and each match lasted 10 minutes. After this baptism of fire, the U-17s were introduced to the fully-fledged XVs game. Then, Karen Borg's U-15 players, including some females, played a Tag Rugby match.
S. Busuttil's brainchild, a combined teams Charity Match, followed.
One side was formed of Hopleaf Barracudas and Kavallieri Blue Label players. Their opposition was a mixture of Stompers Tetley's RFC and Alligators Cisk Export RFC. The game was played over four quarters instead of the customary two halves, giving ample time for all substitutes to play a part as well as allowing referees Don Hewer and Bryan Corlett to officiate over alternate quarters.
The match was a high-scoring contest as both sides enthusiastically took up Corlett's suggestion that no kicking be allowed, and the ball was passed from hand to hand even from each side's try-line.
Good support play was evident, and the Stompers/Alligators selection took an early lead thanks to their fast backs. However, the never-say-die attitude of the Kavallieri/Barracudas team meant that they were always within reach of their opposition.
The veteran Bonavia brothers and Mangion had a very good match, Sean Duffy displayed some great back skills and hustled when in defence with Attard and Satariano in fine form. Chris Pace showed some good pace on the wing, also managing to score.
The final score was 61-49 for the Stompers/Alligators team who lifted the MRFU Guinness Charity Cup. Lm140 were collected and presented to the l-Istrina charity programme on TV.
The MRFU are now confident that the next December Charity Match will be a bigger and better rugby festival, open to all. Meanwhile, competitions will resume on Saturday, January 11 with the Cup round. The next Cisk League matches are scheduled for February 8, the week following the Cup final.
Forthcoming fixtures (11-1-03) - Cup 1 p.m. Kavallieri vs Alligators; 3 p.m. Barracudas vs Stompers.
Useful course
Graham Richards, MRFU Director of Rugby, recently held a Tag Rugby primer course for state primary school teachers at St Julian's Primary School.
Tag Rugby is a variant of the game suitable for the development of basic rugby ball handling and passing skills as well as learning of the principles of play such as support play, offside, space and discipline, in school kids.
The game is ideal for the introduction of the game of rugby in schools with limited sports facilities where grass is scarce, as is the case of most Maltese schools, and is a safe way to introduce the game to primary school students.
The in-service course was a success, also thanks to Department of Education help, who proved to be crucial to the smooth running of the half-day course. Follow-up activities involving students are planned and it is also hoped that a similar repeat primer course will be run another time this season.