Another perfect day at Europa Sports Park meant that the stage was set for two more enthralling games of rugby in the final round of the inaugural u-mee rugby championship 10s.
In the first game, the DHL Europa Stormers retained their unbeaten record with a gritty win but they had to work hard for it against a dogged and determined Sovereign Insurance Scorpions outfit. It was a remarkably close game with both sides trading scores in the early stages but it was strong displays in defence from both sides that kept the score to 10 – 5 to the Stormers at the end of the first period.
And there it stayed with both teams trying to achieve dominance and, despite some further pressure from Stormers on the Scorpions line, their defence held firm repelling repeated forays. It was a similar story when Scorpions mounted an attack, with the Stormers defence being equally resolute. It was clear that it was going to take something special to break the deadlock and it was Chuqi Cruz who duly obliged, with a lovely little grubber kick for new boy Jacob Line to pounce on to score in the corner, taking the score to 15 – 5 going into the final quarter.
It was still a huge tussle in the final period but with the Scorpions defence pressing, Cruz saw his chance and repeated his grubber kick behind the defence. This time he collected his own kick to touch down under the posts giving the Stormers some clear water for the first time in the game. Despite a consolation score from the Scorpions at the end of the game it wasn’t enough and the Stormers took the spoils with a 20 – 10 win, Confirming their status as winners of the inaugural u-mee rugby championship 10s competition, having gone unbeaten throughout.
By contrast the second game, between the IBEX Buccaneers and the In-line Framing Straits Sharks was a real try fest and end to end rugby. It was exhausting just to watch it! The Buccaneers were first to strike, and with their first play of the game they were on the scoreboard. It wasn’t long, however, before the Sharks hit back and going into the half time break the score was balanced at 25-15 in the Buccaneers favour.
Admittedly, the Sharks never managed to wrestle the lead from their opponents but it wasn’t until the final quarter of the game that the Buccaneers could feel confident of victory. Hugely entertaining and with the final score 55-40 the Buccaneers sealed their second victory and consigned the Sharks to their third defeat.
Overall, it was an enjoyable day with plenty of entertaining rugby from all four GRC clubs between the two fixtures, the perfect way to round up the inaugural u-mee rugby championship 10’s. Congratulations go to DHL Europa Stormers who were crowned overall winners of this years competition having won all of their fixtures.
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u-mee Gibraltar Rugby Championship 