Weather: Cloudy but no rain.
Temperature: Cold. 3°
Pitch: Good
Kickoff: 13:30
Spectators: 17
Ref: M. Lenne (*****)
Luxembourg:
With a lot of absences due to injuries, illness and school holidays Luxembourg aligned a very young team with some boys playing in positions they are not used to and two boys making their start in the first team. This and knowing Liege has more quality then their position in the table might suggest, could make on doubtful about the final score.
However, the boys were not impressed. Opening the score right after the start of the game and with a devastating first half, any hopes Liege could have were soon vanished and the spectator never had any doubt about whom the winner would be.
In the first 15 minutes Luxembourg dominated all the action and was rewarded with 3 tries by Christopher Rossa on the wing. The first came inside the second minute when the forwards took the action to the right. The ball was played quickly and all the way to the left finding Christopher with plenty of space to run. The second and third were almost identical: scrum on the right, the backs ran the ball with perfect passes and the rest was Christopher’s speed into space.
Around the 20th minute, Luxembourg scored two consecutive tries. The first one was an all forwards effort as they negotiated well 5 successive rucks till the ball ended with Yannick Boone scoring in force. After receiving the ball from kick off, the action went again to Liege 22. A couple of good rucks and passes allowed Robert Irons to find a gap and score.
Before the end of the half, Luxembourg scored again two tries. Luxembourg counter attacked from a Liege deep kick only to lose the ball after the tackle. A Liege player made a careless pass intercepted by Leopold Dumont who just had to run to the try line. In the dying seconds of the first half, another deep kick this time perfectly negotiated by Martin Pacaud avoiding the defence and scoring. Benji Simpson converted all the tries and half time arrived with the score at 49-0.
Both sides continued to work hard in second half but there was less entertainment then in first half. Liege came to the pitch with the intention of not being completely crushed and spent most of the first 10 minutes testing Luxembourg‘s defence. The boys stood firm and took well everything Liege threw at them although a couple of actions were stopped dangerously close to the end zone. With Liege unable to score, the game became less interesting with actions in both sides of the pitch but no real danger. The only moments worth mentioning are the last two tries to
Luxembourg. On the 11th minute, William Dennis scored in a solo effort penetrating into Liege defense from his half. On the 48th minute and when Liege started kicking a lot more, a good catch on the wing, a quick ruck and a couple of good passes sent Martin on an enormous gap to score his second in the afternoon. Benji converted all but one of the tries and the final whistle came with the score 61-0 to Luxembourg.
Man of the Match: Christian Olsen
