On a cool and blustery Saturday afternoon at Marsa, Malta Marauders put Milan Old Blacks to the sword with an exciting display of running rugby.
The game started at a furious pace on the rock-hard surface, with both sides having plenty of energy to burn at the start of a new season. Play ebbed and flowed around the centre of the pitch as both sets of backs sought to break the opposing defence. Milan showed plenty of close handling skills and looked dangerous with the ball in hand, but each time a break threatened, Marauders defence snuffed out the attack.
Marauders had the edge around the breakdown, and constantly broke the gain line to exert increasing pressure on the Italians. Eventually the breakthrough came with a well-worked try from a break by Bonicci, on as a temporary replacement, after 10 minutes.
After this, Marauders continued to punch holes in the Old Blacks defence at regular intervals, and the tries came thick and fast. Steve Cilia and Dave ‘Macca’ McDonald got a couple each, Patrice Debiere, scored a brilliant individual run with a typical jinking run, Greg Van Reeven crashed over to score on the right wing, and Phil Gibbs was gifted a try after ably backing up Barlogio’s break down the left touchline. Milan tried their hardest to get on the scoresheet, and almost did so when they finally pierced the Marauders defence, only for the breakaway ball-carrier to be hauled down a few metres from the line.
When the final whistle blew, the score stood at 40-0 in favour of the home side.
After the game, Franco Portelli, the organiser of the Milan team, said his team were cohesive, but lacked the match sharpness that comes from playing regular competitive rugby. He presented souvenir packs from Milan to Marauders officials and man-of-the-match, Patrice Debiere.
Phil Gibbs, the Marauders President, praised both teams for playing the game in the true veteran spirit – competitive but fair. He said the Marauders squad had been been bolstered by some experienced players reaching the 35 plus age bracket, together with the core players benefiting from now having played several games together. He presented a Maltese flag and Marauders shirt to the Milan team.
Cilia (2), McDonald (2), Debiere, Gibbs, Van Reeven, Bonicci
Don Hewer
P. Azzopardi, J. Barlogio, C. Cachia, S. Cilia, D. Cutajar, B. Dalton, P. Debiere, S. De Marco, B. Del Vecchia, S. Diamantino (captain), S. Duffy, P. Gibbs, D. Goodwin, J. Howland, S. Ives, D. McDonald, L. Mifsud, J. Moreno, R. Twigg, G. Van Reeven
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