Stompers continue winning

Mike Turner

Kavallieri started this well with a strong backing wind helping them drive into Stompers territory from kick off. However Stompers gained respite after penalties. Cutajar was dominating the lineouts and stealing Stompers throws.

A great driving lineout maul took Kavallieri to the line but a dropped ball wasted the effort. Stompers sent the ball along the line to Pavanello whose speed gained ground, they won the ruck when he was stopped and Cerketa continued the drive forward but Kavallieri countered with another huge wind backed kick. Camillieri counter attacked for Stompers with a jinking and penetrative run but was stopped dead by a crushing Azzopardi tackle.

A cheeky chip by Lamon threw Stompers back on their heels as yet again they stole the Stompers lineout. Fiore attempted a drop goal but missed. The territory was all Kavallieri but they were not scoring, partly because they did not take easy penalty kicks at goal.

Camillieri and Fountain were prominent in counter attacks from deep in Stompers half, but Kavallieri continued to exert pressure, failing to cross the line against a well marshalled defence.  At least two big trade mark driving lineout mauls took Kavallieri right to the line but Cerketa and his valiant pack kept them at bay. Stompers surged up field with a series of finely timed offloads until Azzopardi made another try saving tackle.

The speedy Pavanello was taking some good high ball catches and using his speed to  stretch Kavallieri, and  finally exert consistent pressure. A Fiore clearance was charged down and Stompers were within a few metres of the line. Cerketa led a charge but grim defence by Kavallieri kept them out. Stompers fly half Meintjes made some odd decisions as to distribution and the opportunity was lost when  penalty was given away from which Kavallieri cleared some 50 metres.

At last Kavallieri kicked deep into Stompers half, confusion reigned in the Stompers defence and  Fiore scored a much needed try to open the score. Hefailed to convert.

A lead of 5-0 after playing with such a strong wind behind them was poor reward for Kavallieri, and Stompers immediately hit back with an Attard penalty. This seemed to sting Kavallieri and they then scored a superb try after  driving into Stompers half and a nicely timed distribution along the line to wing Debierre put him into the corner. Stompers changed up a gear and started to stretch Kavallieri with serial hard running attacks. The Kavallieri defence began to panic and gave away another penalty which Attard converted from half way - a big morale booster.

From then on the Kavallieri heads went down, and Stompers confidence grew and grew with a dazzling display of skill and speed, combining both forwards and backs as a fast running unit against which Kavallieri had no answer.  Five excellent tries were scored by  Attard (2), Pavanello, Fountain, and Cammillieri and Malcolm Attard had a wonderful day, converting every kick to register  24 points personally.

The direction changes, switches and speed just bewildered the defence as the lead was built up to 34 points from 0-5 down at half time.

Stompers Debattista is developing as a centre, and when Satariano came on as a substitute he injected his own magic timing; Briffa was a constant hard worker, with Pavanello learning more how to improve every week.

However, even this striking win does not guarantee Stompers as League winners and the Cisk League will only be settled by the results on 17^th March. Any one of three teams can win it on that date, one of the most exciting contests for several years.