Dela nyhet
First round of finals
28 sep 2018 0 kommentarer
Exiles are once again in both the male and female finals and once again their opponents are Pingvin and Vänersborg respectively. Unfortunately we don´t get to play both games at home the next week, but that is presumeably the luck of the draw. The girls have announced their team for Saturday and I´ll leave it to them to report how the game progressed.
Exiles´ Men head off to Trelleborg with perhaps their strongest team of the season. The have 13 internatioanls as starters and the other two are Georgian prop Ghiga who has lived in Sweden for four years and stand-off Jack from Scotland who came this season. Exiles brought in 3 - 4 players this season to compensate for our many players on GP 7s duty, but Jack is the only one to have made the cut as a starter in the final. Many feel Ghiga should be in the Swedish team a.s.a.p.
The front row is a very solid Bevo, Darbs and Ghiga while captain Erik and Mak make up a mobile second row. Competition for the back-row was murderous, with Neets, Sean and Theo getting the nod. Pingvin will be facing a fully fit Matt at the base of the scrum for the first time in a couple of years and Jack can put over anything from at least 50 metres. Sami P. is given a run in his old centre position, making up a formidable pair along with Rikus. The back three are speedsters Oliver, Ian and Daniel N. who scored three in the last league game against Pingvin. All eight on the bench are very strong as well and there will not be many gaps appearing when they come on.
The Pingvin pack will be their usual solid grouping and it could be a good contest up front. It´s not clear whar the lineup will be in the Pingvin backs. There is talk of flying players back from England and a Swedish 7s player seems to have bobbed up on the wing. Exiles will face anyone who turns up and a tough battle is ensured there as well.
I have mentioned that some of the referees have been returning to bad habits by trying to find penalties rather than to avoid them. Let´s hope this game is played in a good open spirit. If Exiles keep their penalty count down and at least hold their own in the lineout I think they will win both games. Otherwise it will be a fight to the finish.
Kommentarer