Barbarians 7 - Luxembourg 72

Weather: 8°. Sunny

Pitch: Soft

Kickoff: 13:30

Spectators: 29

Ref: M. Gillet (*****)

Luxembourg:

Last Saturday Luxembourg Cadets travelled to Brussels to play Day 7 of the Belgium Division 2 and for another victory which puts them in a comfortable position at the top of the league.

It couldn’t start better. Barely 30 seconds into the game and straight from the Barbarians kick off, the ball was recycled to the backs and Christopher Rossa on the wing had the space and pace to conclude in the middle of the posts. Benji Simpson converted the easy kick. Taken by surprise the Barbarians reorganized and managed to stop Luxembourg charges for almost 15 minutes. Eventually the break came when Pedro Ramos took a quick penalty in the opposition 22. He was stopped near the line but passed to Julian Vercruysse in the empty space. From there Luxembourg couldn’t be stopped any more. 3 minutes later, from a ruck inches from the try line, Yannick Boone took the ball and had just to fall in the end zone. Another 3 minutes and the Barbarians fumbled with a ball coming from a scrum. Opportunistically, Jaime Barragan got the ball and scored. One minute later we saw the best try in the afternoon. Receiving the kick off from the previous try, Luxembourg went to a ruck. The ball came quickly to the backs and went all the way to Christopher who managed to slalom in the Barbarians defense before scoring. Benji converted 3 of the tries to settle the score at 0-33.

In the last 10 minutes of the half, Luxembourg lost a bit of the organization they were showing, preferring individual actions and showing some indiscipline in the breakdown. As a consequence, not only the Barbarians could at last have some space to play but they could score near the end of the half after an interception in Luxembourg’s 22. The easy kick was converted and half time arrived with the score 7-33.

If the try gave the Barbarians some hope they could contest the game, it was quickly swept away. On the 3^rd minute, William Denis went for a nice break panicking the entire defense. The ball went to the side only to found 3 Luxembourg players without any opposition. Christian Olsen had the easy try.  From here it was just a succession of Luxembourg charges to the opposition end zone with some of them ending with good tries. First, Benji got a ball from a scrum and entered in the middle to score. A few minute later, Callum Bonallo did the same but was stopped near the line. The offload went to Gauthier Lachaise who scored. On the 22^nd minute, Christian got a ball from a line out against, the ball ran all the backs to Christopher on the wing for his second hat trick of the season. Two minutes later, two rucks well negotiated and a couple of good passes gave William the opportunity to score. On the 26^th minute, a good counter attack from a Barbarians kick put Pedro in a good position. When tackled, the offload went to Callum who just had to score. Finally, in the last minute, Benji scored his second of the afternoon. Final score 7-72   

Another fine display from the Luxembourg Cadets Excepting the last 10 minutes of the first half, Luxembourg played collective - with 9 players scoring tries – moving the ball fast and being superior in all aspects of the game.

Man of the Match: Christian Olsen