Schilde 5 - Luxembourg 26
Weather: Sunny but cold. 2°.
Pitch: Muddy
Kickoff: 13:30
Spectators: 23
Ref: M. Gatez (*****)
Luxembourg:
Luxembourg Cadets travelled to Schilde to defend their position at the top of Division 2 and for a much more difficult game than the relative positions of the two teams would anticipate.
With a strong start and helped by a lot of handling errors from Luxembourg, Schilde camped in Luxembourg’s half for the first 10 minutes. Although having unusual problems in attack, Luxembourg’s defense stayed solid and the opposition never really had an opportunity to score. The first break came at the 10th minute from a good counter attack. Luxembourg got a turnover in their 22m. For the first time in the game, the ball ran all the back line and Christopher Rossa had space on the wing to beat two defenders and score in the middle of the posts. Matthew Hopwood converted the easy kick.
From this somehow undeserved try, Luxembourg started slowly to rebuild their composure and getting more ball possession. The last ten minutes of first half were the best in the game with Luxembourg now dominating all aspects of the game. They were rewarded with two tries. The first, at the 23rd minute when Matthew penetrated Schilde defense and two perfect passes found Callum Bonnallo with space to score. 2 minutes later, another good work from the forwards on the right and a good run from the backs gave Christopher his second try of the afternoon. Matthew converted the two tries and half time arrived with the score at 0-21.
After good finish in first half, one would expect Luxembourg to be dominant in second half. It didn’t happen. Luxembourg went back to the same mistakes. This time even worst as they were having now trouble in all the set pieces and breakdowns. Without ball, Luxembourg had to suffer Schilde dominance. Fortunately, defense remained solid and the final score was never questioned. Not surprisingly, Luxembourg could only score from a Schilde error. On the 48th minute, Schilde fumbled with the ball close to their 22m, Christopher picked it up and passed to Xavier Boone to score. Matthew missed the difficult kick. Close to the end of the game, Schilde got their deserved points. After a couple of threatening actions close to the end line, Schilde dropped the ball. Luxembourg lost the following scrum at 5m and gave away two penalties in the breakdown. From the last one, Schilde charged all the way to the line. Final whistle arrived soon after with the score 5-26.
It was a bad day for Luxembourg boys whom never really got into the game. Too many errors gave opposition too much ball possession and nothing from where to build effective attacks.
Winter pause arrives now with Luxembourg at the top of the league and a comfortable margin to face the second half of the season.
Man of the Match: Christopher Rossa
