After heavy overnight rain and on what continued to be a horrible wet and windy day, Denia Cadetes (Under 17s) maintained their position at the top of the Alicante League with a fine performance in extremely difficult conditions against a gutsy Orihuela side. Both teams had several players missing due to the Christmas holidays, injuries, the increasingly more common "playstationitis" and the local favourite, ombrophobia.
However, both sides played with great spirit and enthusiasm and entertained the small but vociferous crowd. Early exchanges saw both sides struggling to maintain possession, but once Denia realized that diving on the loose ball favoured the brave, the home side began to dominate both territory and possession. On several occasions a touch of "white line fever" prevented a score when a consolidated team effort would have sufficed.
The visitors, despite losing a player with a broken wrist, battled hard and also threatened the Denia line but determined home defence kept the score at 0-0 at the interval. After a quick visit to the changing rooms for a clean up, Denia started the second half with the wind and the rain at their backs and totally dominated the rest of the match. Tries from Bevo (2), Juan and Tom and three conversions from Giuliano saw Denia run out winners 26-0. A great performance in awful conditions and credit to Orihuela for their contribution.
Denia Cadetes are gradually developing into a well organised, intelligent side and will look to maintain their superiority in the Alicante League that will provide them with a play-off place against the best sides from Valencia, the ultimate prize being a first ever place for a Denia side in the National Championships.
Training continues on fridays at 7pm over the Christmas and New Year period, with the next game against Akra on Saturday 12th January. The Denia Infantiles (Under 15s) also enjoyed an away win against local rivals La Vila in the newly formated Valencia League. Denia Cadetes: Jose,Oliver,Blake,Nathan,Pepe,Bevo,David,Santi,Ben,Giuliano,Tom,Andrew, Sergio,Inaki,Juan,Ruben & Bobby.
