Overseas tame Alligators

Birkirkara Alligators 7
Overseas 41

By Phil Gibbs

Vince Stivala converted. The pressure continued as a series of penalties went Overseas way and only a dropped final pass by Seychelle kept the score the same.  Alligators launched their only real attacking phase of the first half after they won a penalty for a high tackle, and strung together a series of driving mauls, but ended with Nick Vella penalised for not releasing. 

Constant pressure from Overseas kept Alligators pinned in their own half, and Stivala nearly made it to the line with a jinking run, but was tackled just short and the ball was kicked into touch. 

The lineout ball was tapped to George, who darted down the blind side to score.

Three minutes form half-time, another penalty for |Overseas was quickly taken by Stivala, who found George in space. 

He flipped the ball to Dean Mifsud Bonnici, who touched down on the left wing.  The successful conversion took the score to 19-0 as the sides turned around for the second half. 

With the wind behind them, Alligators started to make forays into Overseas territory, with their big forwards constantly running the ball up the inside channels.  Clint Agius was making strong runs, but the forward moves too often ended in scrums, when more use of the wide channels could have paid dividends. 

Overseas then wasted a perfect scoring chance when a breakaway by |George set up Stivala. He found Eugene Milan, but his misplaced pass wasted a two-on-one overlap.  

George Mupimhidza launched a big clearance kick downfield which failed to find touch and Galea put in a nice angled run, before releasing to Stivala, who turned on the gas to  run in a score on the right wing. 

Alligators finally got an attack together in their best passage of play, when they drove downfield to Overseas 5 metre line. First Gordon Grech, then Tyson Freeman attacked the line but were held out. 

Vella spun it left, and Luke Xuereb looked certain to score, but was stripped of the ball after he had crossed the line.  A few minutes later, Alligators finally got their reward for some determined forward play, when they were awarded a penalty, and Mupimhidza made a beautiful break through the Overseas defence to release Brendan Busuttil, who duly delivered the points.  Xuereb converted, but then a further blow for Alligators, when they were reduced to 13 men after an injury, saw Overseas back in the driving seat with a flurry of tries. 

First,  Paul Camilleri got on the end of a long floated pass from Stivala and made ground through the centre, before passing to Jack James.  He passed inside to Koran Green who flew down the right to score.  Then George scored a fine solo effort when he burst through the middle of Alligators tiring defence. 

Finally, just on the final whistle, Green picked up a loose ball deep in his own half, spun out of the tackle and passed to Galea, who ran in unopposed. To make the final score 41-7 in Overseas favour.