The match opens with the hosts taking control of the reins without the Savona team having the opportunity to react properly: the first two tries in the first 5 minutes of the game influence a Savona team already in difficulty and held together with plasters, and another 10 minutes will be enough for the Cernusco players to score the 4 goals that are worth the offensive bonus.
Savona builds but the quality of execution is not up to standard, and if the closed scrum will always be in favor of the guests, in open play the home team will always show superiority in choices and play without the ball.
The Savona team found the big target with Tommaso Rossi, but the hosts countered with another 4 heavy goals. The try scored by the young Garzoglio, loaned from the Under 18s to the senior team, will close the first half with the result 54 to 14, but the even higher cost will be that of the injured: in particular a fortuitous header at full speed between Bernat and Vallarino : the former will be able to recover and play a good part of the match again, while medical treatment will be essential for the latter.
In the second half the Savona team made up for the injured players with some substitutions, and continued by attacking with energy: thanks to good work from the scrum pack they found the third goal scored by Franchello. But the balance of the match does not change, and despite a brief period of numerical superiority the Savonese score a try that the match director does not validate, as he detects a nervous gesture and punishes the prop from Savona with an extremely heavy red card. Cernusco then regains control of the match and scores again three times, while Savona will need all the remaining minutes to finally manage to score the fourth thanks to captain Paoletti’s flash of pride.
The precious point gained with enormous sacrifice removes the playout bogeyman for the Savonese, leaving this specter to the direct challenge between Pro Recco and Varese scheduled for the last day.
For the Savona team, the last challenge remains to be faced on friendly soil with the Sardinian team from Capoterra, who conducted this championship well, maintaining contact with the top of the class until a few days before the end of the season, finishing with a fourth place overall respect: the match scheduled for next Saturday at 3pm in Savona will not be able to influence the current ranking in any concrete way.
For Savona the following took the field: Baccino, Magnaghi, Giacobbe, Franchello, Ramaj, Paoletti (c), Garzoglio, Pivari, M. Bernat, T. Rossi, Vallarino, Correoso, Franceri, Fanciulli, Serra. Available: Di Murro, Dogali, Maruca, Urbani, Guida, A. Rossi, Boraschi.
For Cernusco the following took the field: M. Manzoni, Dudi, Mezzalira, Campo, Barbieri, Rebuzzini, Colombo, Formichetti, Bisighini, Barletta, Scioscia, Brioschi, Green, Motta, Radice. Available: Buratti, Dimitri, Rabotti, Ticozzi, D’ercole, Verardi, Licci.
For the youth categories: the last day of the second phase of the U18 regional championship was played on Sunday 21st.
On the Marco Calcagno field of Cogoleto, Savona Rugby and UR Riviera faced each other in a match where the red and whites had only one useful result to be able to qualify third and access the final phase in the chase for the title: the victory with the bonus point.
And so it was, in a match where Savona immediately imposed their game, supported both by the motivation for the result to be obtained and by some important returns such as that of F. Rossi, Briasco, Sahrane and Scaramuzzino.
