Having warmed up whilst the second half was underway in the previous game, the national teams of Malaysia and Gibraltar took to the field shortly after the final whistle had blown. The presentation of their teams by the captains of both sides
to the match delegates was followed by
the National Anthems and quickly thereafter by the opening blast of the referee’s whistle.
The slippery conditions following the earlier rain meant the first scrum wasn’t long in coming and the two, evenly-matched packs were soon packing down. Gibraltar’s forwards quickly asserted their scrum-time dominance, an area of the
game which has quickly become the cornerstone of their performances.
Pushing the Malaysian team off the ball
and winning the scrum against the head, a short attacking move led to a penalty for not releasing once the ruck had formed.
Malaysia kicked for the corner and the rolling maul that followed led to the opening score. Converted from out near the touchline, Malaysia took the lead by 7 points to nil.
The remainder of the first half followed a very similar pattern. Gibraltar dominant at the scrum took numerous penalties against the head. Solid defence from the Malaysians as well as the touring side meant fast backs were regularly meeting solid walls of defending players.
The Malaysian backs however kept the ball under control and managed a number of silky offload manoeuvres which any International 7s team would have been proud of, running in 3 more tried before the end of the half. Add a penalty to this and the halftime score was a healthy 27 to nil lead to the home side.
Game Day One – Report continued
Wednesday 6th of April 2016
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