Dhekelia Lions 29 – Paphos Tigers 7
So the day of the first "Big Cat Fight" arrives. Yet again this fixture had to be rearranged due to pitch & weather conditions in Paphos, so this was played away at Dhekelia.
Rugby is played with a squad of 22 players and all are necessary but unfortunately 6 of the Tigers forwards 14 man squad were carrying injuries so this depleted their back up seriously, so these holes were filled with young Tigers and good old reliable Gary "Sinatra" Thomson who made yet another come back and played brilliantly.
The match got off to a flying start and the Home side Lions narrowly missed a penalty after only 2 minutes, but a hard fought match with the ball travelling from end to end and desperate tackling by both sides to prevent scores being made, kept both teams on their toes and it was 33 minutes before the first score came to the Lions, who created a great try from a short tap penalty, and duly converted to take them to a 7-0 lead.
From the restart a bad kick ahead from the Tigers went straight into the Lions hands and from their own 22 metre they counter attacked and scored again but missed the conversion so the Lions now lead 12 -0, and this score line held until half time.
The Tigers needed a quick score to get back into this game but unfortunately another aimless kick ahead from them resulted in another pick up and counter attack with the Lions getting another converted try and taking them to a good lead of 19-0.
However this was not all one way traffic and the Tigers started to get more possession and their forwards were starting to get the edge over their much larger opponents.
Five minutes late centre George Agathocleous pounced on a loose ball on the Lion's 22 metre line after heavy pressure from the Tigers and sprinted for the line scoring and converting so bringing the Tigers back into this game at 19-7 and another 30 minutes to play..
The Tiger's lineout's were a vast improvement on the previous week with AJ Pugh and Ginge "The Spring" Carruthers doing great work, but it was not enough to claw back the score despite numerous attempts by the Tigers who were just falling narrowly short of scoring, and the Lions took another fifteen minutes before they got another score this time a penalty which took them to 22-7.
This hard battle ensued right into injury time when the Tigers with their backs turned let in an unusually soft try which flattered their opponents score and made the final score Dhekelia Lions 29 Paphos Tigers 7.
This was the first loss of the season for the Tigers and a very hard match had been fought, and both sides were battle scarred bruised and bloody at the end, but a right royal rugby match had been played and enjoyed by both sides and their enthusiastic supporters.
The Tigers now need to go away and lick their wounds and learn to stop aimlessly kicking away such hard earned possession and that will soon get them back into their winning ways
Nigel Jarvis Secretary PTRFC
Paphos Tigers are sponsored by M1 Lux Cyprus, Horizon group & Mercato del Golfo.
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