The UM Wolves women’s team took another step closer to winning the MRFU 7s Series for the first time ever with a hard-fought win over Stompers last Saturday.
It was the only competitive match of the day, and promised to be a well-fought match as both teams remain in championship contention as the season approaches its conclusion.
Wolves were playing with the wind behind their backs in the first half, and a long kick-off from Mari Clemensen allowed them to put pressure on Stompers, keeping them in their 22 until a pass was fumbled and went into the dead ball zone.
A scrum for Wolves on the 5 metre line followed, and while the ball remained in green hands, Stompers were piling on the defensive pressure. It took six phases of play – a particularly high number given that this is Sevens that is being played – until Tessabelle Sultana Evans pushed her way past two tackles to score the first try of the match.
It went unconverted, meaning the score stood at 5-0.
Wolves piled on the defensive pressure as Stompers tried to return, ultimately winning a scrum on the halfway line. It was a bit of a scrappy game thus far, but Deborah Cutajar then broke through the Stompers line.
She was brought down with a great recovery tackle 15 metres from the try line, but the ball was knocked on, giving Stompers possession. Wolves won the ball back, but as the ball went wide, the final pass was a touch too far in front of Raisa Farrugia and the ball went out for a Stompers lineout.
As the half time whistled rang out, the score remained 5-0 – all to play for in the second half.
Stompers piled pressure on as Wolves received the restart, and an interception was almost made – but it was dropped and resulted in a Wolves scrum.
The ball was taken up and then played wide, arriving at Farrugia who ran outside before stepping back in to make a break up into the Stompers half – the ball was lost at the breakdown however, and Stompers came away with the ball but failed to capitalise.
Play continued to be back and forth, but it was Stompers who made an impact on the scoreboard with a winding 50 metre run ending in a try out wide. No conversion made the score 5-5.
The restart went long, and bounced back into play off the post. Rebekka Bartolo offloaded under pressure to Sultana Evans, who in turn put Clemensen into space, who then offloaded back to Sultana Evans.
She ran 90 metres down the field to score and put Wolves back in front. No conversion meant that the score stood at 10-5 going into the final minutes.
Stompers tried to play the ball from side to side from the restart, but a wayward pass was dropped forward and Wolves had the opportunity to counter. That was snuffed out with a smart interception, but Stompers also failed to capitalise, knocking the ball on in the next phase.
It was frenetic stuff, and Wolves came out with the ball in their half, shipping it wide to Farrugia, who again did her trademark step inside to free herself of the defender. She ran 60 metres to score and make the score 15-5.
Stompers broke quickly off the restart and hit back with their second try, which was converted to make the score 15-12 – but time was up, meaning that it was Wolves who came away with the win.
With the result, the UM Wolves RFC women stretched their lead at the top of the table to 4 points, meaning that winning one out of the last two weekends would be enough to secure the championship title.
They are back in action in the penultimate round of the league on Saturday 16 March.
SQUAD: Raisa Farrugia (C), Tessabelle Sultana Evans, Rebekka Bartolo, Mari Clemensen, Deborah Cutajar, Rasvita Sluckute, Sairita Cassar, Amber Dalli, Annah Mallia, Emma Borg, Earlin Cheska Gayle Millado de Ocampo, Nathalie Shaqiri, Luana Dona Borg
