On Thursday, the Latvian rugby-15 championship saw two giants meet for the first time this season – ‘Miesnieki/Ķekava’ won ‘Livonia’, the Latvian Rugby Federation (LRF) informs.
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The match in Baldone ended 26:23 (13:3) in favor of ‘Miesnieki/Ķekava’.
All the matches between these two teams can be considered as some kind of finals, but Thursday’s game in Baldone turned into a thriller for more than 80 minutes.
Both teams started the game actively and disciplined, looking for holes in the opponents’ defensive lines. The hosts proved to be the first to be more successful when, in the sixth minute of the game, the opportunity to score three points from a penalty kick arose for Lauris Düzelis of Butchers. He was accurate and opened the score – 3:0.
A few minutes later, Andrejs Mantinieks scored the first touchdown of the game after a quick play with his teammates, making it 8-0.
In the following minutes of the first half, the rugby players of “Livonia” took over the initiative of the game, pushing “Miesniekus” into their defensive zone for a while even for a longer period of time. However, the dominance of “Livonia” did not bear fruit in the form of points. In the first half, it was able to realize only one penalty kick, while “Miesnieki” made another touchdown – Düzelis demonstrated his sprinter qualities, reaching 13:3. To some extent, the result of the first half was facilitated by the yellow card of Donovan du Randt, the leader of the “Livonia” team, which he earned for a dangerous play.
The second half began with the teams fighting similarly, “Miesnieki” not allowing the Livonians to manage so freely on their side of the field.
Also in the second 40 minutes, “Miesnieki” were the first to score – an accurate penalty kick by Düzelis and 16:3. However, “Livonia” rugby players continued to check all flanks of “Miesniekus” team, looking for weak spots. So in the second half, they managed to develop a couple of very long, multi-phase and beautiful attacks that resulted in touchdowns. Valery Runzo successfully ended the attack twice, while du Randt scored another touchdown, and in the 78th minute of the game “Livonia” was already in the lead with 19:23.
It seemed that the fate of the game was also decided with that, however, in the last minutes, “Miesnieki” managed to spin a massive attack in the opponent’s defensive zone, which culminated in another touchdown. Emils Balodis, after intense pressure from his rivals, landed the ball in the opponent’s penalty area, making it 24:23. After that, Düzelis added two more points with an accurate conversion shot, putting an end to this match.
Therefore, “Miesnieki” have won both games this season, while “Livonia” rugby players have two wins in three matches.
This season, five teams are participating in the Latvian championship in rugby-15.
