In a thrilling contest, Malta Marauders shocked Derbyshire Barbarians with a 20-12 defeat on a balmy Sunday afternoon at Marsa Sports Ground.
The visitors, whose large squad made them hot favourites, were rocked by a sterling Marauders performance which combined resilient defence with complete domination of the lineout, and four breakaway tries. There could well have been more if the Marauders hadn’t crucially spilled the ball twice in the centre with overlaps beckoning outside. Barbarians were well organised and had a solid pack who fought for everything in both set and loose play, and scored one of their two tries with a nicely executed driving maul. They were martialled brilliantly by their scrum half (who was later awarded Barbarians ‘man of the match’ by Marauders) who set up the back line time and again, only to be thwarted by the defence and counter-attacking skills of the Marauders line. Towards the end, Marauders began to win more possession as the heat began to tell on the visitors and finished as the dominant side.
The game was played in excellent spirit, and after the game Barbarians led the singing in the clubhouse with some innovative renditions of the classic rugby songs. The only downside to the day was that the cider ran out!
n.b. Man of the match for Marauders was Sean Duffy.
Photos from the day can be viewed: here
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