On the 20th day of the championship the Varese returns to play at home in what could be considered the first of three “finals” before the group closes. The opponent is the Cernusco, a newly promoted team that played an excellent first part of the season. The match will take place at the “Levi” in Giubiano on Sunday 21 April with kick-off at 3.30 pm. A series of very important matches opens for Varese: Cernusco, Ivrea and Recco and it is in these matches that the red and whites will play for direct survival. Varese is still 8 points behind the second-to-last, Recco, and is now preparing to face this final rush, which will be decisive in deciding who will go to play for the playouts.
Cernusco is the next opponent and the team’s attention is turned towards the match with the Milanese team. To the red and whites we need a victory, which on paper is within reach, but Varese must keep their attention high, also because they will have to deal with a Cernusco team that has legs, quality and many talented youngsters. As anticipated, the Milanese played a good start to the season and their journey then culminated with the home victory over Capoterra, fourth in the standings. Varese can and must play, but he cannot allow himself breaks or declines on a mental level. The stakes, the salvation, is too important and in tight and potentially decisive matches like this one requires a lot of discipline. Errors have often cost Varese dearly, they must be reduced to a minimum, it is not allowed to grant free points to Cernusco, who with his speed knows how to quickly punish an opponent’s distraction. Varese also has quality and has shown that it knows how to play good rugby, offensive and effective, sometimes expressed only intermittently. Varese’s growth is constant, only a little continuity is missing in their performances, both in the individual match and in the general run, and on Sunday maintaining high concentration for the entire eighty minutes will be fundamental. Varese and Cernusco are two teams that move the oval a lot, the pace will be high and there will be no time to measure the energy. The last home match saw Varese take the scalp of Rho, now the red and white players, staff and fans want the second home success in a row, which would be vital to keep Recco breathing down their necks and give them hope for salvation.
“We are approaching a very important match and we want to play it in the right way – explains coach Massimo Mamo -. Our objective is clear and now we will face a formidable opponent who has a good game. We must not put pressure on ourselves, the team has a lot of desire and quality, the group is solid, we still need some details to sort out but we are growing and we must demonstrate it on the pitch every Sunday. Cernusco has struggled a bit in the last few games, so I’m sure they will come here with a lot of determination and desire to find victory again. We can play for it, we want the victory, but we must not get caught up in the heat or anything else, we cannot afford trivial mistakes that benefit them. We have to think exclusively about our route and our performance on Sunday. Against Rho we played well and scored many points, but we conceded too much in defence, this is where we need a little more clarity both in repositioning the line and in tackling. We will play in front of our fans, who are always very warm and present, we want to play at our best, with a solid and effective performance.”
Stefano Sessarego
Tags: Rugby Varese salvation finals Cernusco Mamo dont play pressure
