This past Saturday afternoon, the match between Denia Rugby and the Albacete team was played at the 'Tio Luis' Rugby Field of the Dénia Sports Center. Before the match, a minute of silence was held in memory of the mother of Neil Collen, one of the founders of the Denia Rugby Club who died a few days ago.
In this match corresponding to the 8th round of the league, the men from La Mancha came with the clear ideas of putting Denia under great pressure from the start of the match. The locals were surprised and soon committed the first penalty blow with which Albacete opted for a stick shot, thus scoring the first points (0-3).
The visitor pressure continued and it didn't take them long to get the first try, which together with the transformation put them ahead 0-10.
Those of La Marina, little by little, were reversing the dynamic and began to impose their rhythm of play. Thus they began to gain ground, but the commission of several penalty blows prevented them from entering the opponent's 22-yard zone.
We had to wait until the 20th minute for Andresito to score the first local try, which was converted with sticks (7-10).
Almost at the end of the first half, Albacete managed to score a try again and convert it to the goal (7-17). Faced with this, the Barbarians once again used Franco's foot to score a penalty shot and get closer on the scoreboard before going to half-time (10-17).
The second half started again in a very even way. Both teams gave movement to their benches, seeking freshness and dynamism in the game. The scoreboard did not move and the punishment shots were numerous. With this, Franco's foot brought Dénia closer again (13-17).
Time was ticking and it seemed difficult for the rehearsals to arrive. New local errors were made and gave Albacete opportunities to have penalty shots, against which they scored twice with sticks, taking the final victory by 13-23.
Hard setback for Denia, which has to improve a lot in organization and rigor to avoid committing so many penalty hits, which in addition to diminishing its attacks, gives the rival too many options to score points.
Work week preparing for next weekend's game, in which they will travel to Valencia, to face UCV.
Rugby School
On the other hand, the Rugby School was represented again by Dario in the Valencian Community S16 match, in their match against the Andalusian team.
Match played at the 'Quatre Carreres' Sports Center in Valencia. The Valencians beat the Andalusians 22-8, a result that does not represent how closely contested the match was, in which Dario was once again a starter, having a good performance.
The national team had lost against Madrid last day, while the Andalusians had beaten Euskadi.
The match was very even during the first minutes and neither team was able to make a difference on the scoreboard. Little by little, the locals began to take control of the game and score points to take the final victory.
The next matchday for the regional teams will be against Euskadi on January 14 in Basque lands.
