Stompers upstage Kavallieri in final

Saturday, October 1 was a busy day for local rugby, particularly for national coach Damien Neill.

In the morning, Neill conducted a course for Youth Development Officers at the Hibs Ground with the main intention being to further develop the sport on our islands. The new officers will be trained to hold training sessions in response to requests from various headmasters amid growing interest by the younger generation in rugby.

After that, Neill headed straight to Marsa for the opening seven-a-side tournament of the season. Marsa was teeming with action, with well over 200 people bustling about - players, newcomers, referees and spectators.

Nine teams entered the tournament, namely, two from Kavallieri Blue Label RFC, two from Overseas Hopleaf RFC, two from Alligators Cisk RFC, two from Sharks RFC and a Stompers TGIFridays RFC side.

As expected, after the resounding win by Malta A against Amatori Messina, the standard of rugby and fitness was high from the very start.

After several entertaining matches, the quarter-finals were played. Overseas 1 beat Kavallieri 1, Kavallieri 2 overcame Overseas 2, Stompers had the better of Sharks 1 while Sharks 2 outpointed Alligators 2.

Stompers were improving all the time and went on to eliminate Overseas 1 in the semi-finals. Kavallieri had a real job to overcome a very determined Sharks to reach the final.

The final was played out in gathering dusk as Stompers imposed a very definite superiority over Kavallieri to win 22-0.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable, if slightly too long, day of sport during which the most striking feature was the emergence of Sharks RFC as determined contenders for the coming season.

Also encouraging was the presence of many promising newcomers in the Alligators set-up, including two players from the US.

Meanwhile, new women's club Panthers RFC have announced that they have secured the sponsorship of Yada Fitness Factory.

This is not as peculiar as it looks. There is a great affinity between dance and rugby particularly fitness, strength, stamina, co-ordination, balance, and, believe it or not, a type of choreography in the development of the moves which open up the opposition defences.