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Denia Cadetes (Under 17s) entertained third place Elche on Saturday in Denia, knowing that a win would effectively guarantee a top two finish in the Alicante League and a guaranteed play-off place against the top two teams in the Valencia League. Elche arrived looking full of confidence with a big pack and equally big three-quarters. Denia struggled in the early set pieces and the rucks and mauls, but Elche regularly failed to make use of the possession. From a wayward clearance kick, Juan caught the ball and ignoring the players and overlap to his left, cut straight through the heart of the Elche defence to score under the posts. Denia continued with limited ball, but from a scrum in midfield, Giuliano and Juan combined superbly from a well rehearsed move to put winger Tom away in the corner. From the restart, Elche pushed deep into the Denia 22 for the first time. But cool under pressure, Denia won their own line out ball and scrum half Aiden found Juan, who once again ignored the obvious, a safe kick to touch, opting for a huge cross field kick. The ball bounced behind the winger, allowing Inaki to collect and beat the covering defence to give Denia a 19-0 lead that was to remain until half time. The second half saw Elche again dominant up front but from a handling error in the backs, Aiden was on hand to collect the loose ball, and run 50 metres before offloading to Juan who scored his second try. Elche came back strong and after a period of sustained pressure, where Denia conceded several needless penalties, finally crossed the line for a converted try. As the Elche forwards tired and Denia made several changes, the superior Denia backs continued to dominate with Tom, now at outside centre for the injured Sergio, adding two more tries either side of a penalty by Juan. Denia ran out comfortable winners by 41-7 and now face the toughest of challenges, an away game against second placed La Vila, the only team Denia have lost to this season, in La Vila on Saturday. The forwards never got a mention individually but collectively they battled hard to create the platform for the backs to score the six tries on the day. Denia RC: Jose,Oliver,Blake,Ruben,Pepe,Bebo,David,Santiago,Aiden,Giuliano,Tom,Andrew,Sergio, Inaki,Juan,Bobby,Loic,Pancho,Andres & Ben.
By contrast the Senior side failed to produce once again. Shorn of no less than 10 regular players, Denia still travelled to Valencia with a squad of 20 to play Ciencias, who won their first League game of the season the previous weekend against Elche 5-3. Denia, looking for their first win since the opening League game of the season had trained hard all week and started full of confidence, dominating the scrums and putting pressure on the Ciencias midfield. Errors from the home side created the platform and a swift handling move along the back line saw Yovanny go over in the corner for the first try of the day. Shortly after Yovanny linked with winger Kenny who kicked deep into the Ciencias half, allowing Yovanny to recover the loose ball to score under the posts...but play with called back to half way by the home touch judge who adjudged that Kenny had put a foot in touch before kicking the ball. This clearly frustrated Denia allowing Ciencias back into the game and from a penalty just outside the Denia 22 a speculative chip saw the Denia defence fail to cope and the Ciencias winger collected and beat the covering tackle to score to level the scores at 5-5. Denia responded well, again using the boot to good effect and from a period of sustained pressure, Yovanny was again on hand to touch down. As the half drifted to a close a high tackle from Ciencias and subsequent retaliation from Denia saw the first of many yellow cards produced. With the initial penalty reversed as a result, a confused Denia defence allowed Ciencias to add a try totally against the run of play to level the scores at 10-10, being the final play of the first half. The second half saw Denia start well and they should have taken the lead but a penalty attempt was pushed narrowly wide. Denia made several changes at this point with mixed effect. Shortly after and again under no real pressure, Denia received their second yellow card of the day from another high tackle. Ciencias kicked the ball deep into the Denia half and from the lineout, Denia gave away another penalty for offside. A quickly taken tap penalty and a very poor attempt at a tackle saw Ciencias take the lead for the first time. Again Denia responded well, pushing deep into the Ciencias half, and as the ball was moved wide, Andy seemingly put Chimo away, but the winger hesitated allowing the cover defence to close him down and the try scoring opportunity was lost. Ciencias finally found some shape and their backs began to cut through a tiring Denia defence and they took the opportunity to add three points from yet another Denia infringement. With desperation setting in for both sides, the last ten minutes was a total shambles with a host of petty brawls and persistant infringements from both sides, resulting in the game finishing with only 13 players from each side still on the field. Ciencias' superior fitness on the day allowed a final score and a bonus point, and a 23-10 victory. This coming Saturday, Denia host Elche in Denia at 4pm, please come along and support. Surely it can only get better for Denia ! Denia RC: Adam,Nico,Pescata,Dale,Mac,Adrain,Andy,Gevino,Shaun, Ian,Juan Luis,Mariano,Juan,Kenny,Yovanny, Santiago,Chimo, Nigel,Eddie & Pato.
Eddie D'Arcy - 680 739 821 -
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www.deniarugbyclub.com
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