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Denia Rugby Club started the Second Phase of the regular season with an away trip to local rivals La Safor Rugby Club in Gandia. Both teams have been put in a Relegation Group along with Elche and Ciencias (Valencia), the bottom two facing relegation play-offs against teams from the Valencia Second Division. La Safor had beaten Denia twice in the First Phase and Denia knew that a good start was vital to both the game and the Second Phase matches. Denia started well enough, with the forwards comfortably winning their own ball, but all to often handing errors in the backs saw possession turned over. However, when the ball finally stayed in hand and reached debutant South African flyer Kenny on the wing just inside his own half, he beat no less than six La Safor defenders to score under the posts, Eddie adding the extra two points. Again Denia looked comfortable in possession but again handing errors proved costly. From a scrum just inside the Denia 22, the La Safor fly-half ran a couple of dummy moves and created an overlap from which the scores were ultimately leveled. After a period with both sides struggling to dominate, Denia finally pressured the La Safor line and Eddie added three points for a 10-7 lead. From the re-start and subsequent ruck, the ball was knocked on. From the scrum the La Safor inside centre broke through some weak tackles for an uncoverted try and a 12-10 lead. On the stroke of half time, Denia had the opportunity to edge in front but Eddie pushed the penalty attempt inches wide. The second half saw Denia make several changes and dominate both territory and possession but again the backs failed to convert forward pressure into points, and after half an hour Denia settled for a further three points from Eddie for a 13-12 lead. However, Denia again managed to turn over possession and give away needless penalties, failing to clear their own line on several occasions. La Safor finally got what they wanted, a catch and drive lineout opportunity close to the Denia try-line. Having prepared well for this after the previous games, Denia held the drive but the ball popped out of the maul and could have gone anywhere, but it popped straight into the hands of the La Safor fly-half who crashed over to score an unconverted try for a 17-13 lead. With five minutes remaining Denia battled hard and perhaps with hingsight should have added a definate three points with a few minutes left. The forwards remained dominate and crossed the line in the corner, but with the ball hidden at the bottom of the maul the referee declined to award a definate try and gave a scrum to Denia instead. Again Denia pressured but it was not to be as time ran out. In all a better preformance from the forwards, but the bcaks need to put all their hard work in training into effect in match situations. This Saturday Denia travel to Valencia to play Ciencias in what is a must win situation. Denia: Adam,Nico,Pescata,Jerry,Mateo, Gevino,Andy,Adrian,Shaun,Ian,Kenny, Juan,Yovanny,Juan Luis,Eddie,Chimo,Tony,Pato,Hans,Glenn,Mariano,Richy.
The Cadetes (Under 17s) travelled to bottom side Akra and recorded a comfortable 67-0 victory to stay top of the Alicante League. The Infantiles (Under 15s) played Tecnidex of Valencia at home at lost 17-7. On Saturday the Cadetes play Elche at 12.30 in Denia whilst the Infantiles travel to Valencia to play Abelles. Details of training for all age groups can be found on the website.
Eddie D'Arcy - 680 739 821 -
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www.deniarugbyclub.com
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