The Rugby Varese he gave himself another very important victory in terms of salvation. The red and whites achieved their first away success of the season and they did so on the Ivrea pitch, overcoming the Piedmontese with a 26 to 27 very tight. Varese in fact repeated themselves by winning a victory at the end, once again secured thanks to the precise footing of Jacopo Bonesso who last week had also decided the home match against Cernusco from the pitch. The four points just won bring Varese equal on points with Recco. After a long run the red and whites have completed the comeback, but the final act is yet to come, everything will be decided in the next and final round of the championship, when Varese will seek salvation at the “Levi” of Giubiano in the direct clash with the Ligurians.
The victory against Ivrea was hard-fought, but conquered thanks to the character of a group who has already shown that he never gives up, that he always believes and he confirmed it in this match. The match was not always favorable to the pace of Varese, who struggled to get the game going initially. The home team made their weight count with some advancing charges, which put the red and whites in difficulty especially in the first half. Ivrea made good use of the physique of its forwards, in fact two tries arrived, one of which was converted for the green and blues, but Varese did not stand by and watch. The red and white scrum responded with a nice show of strength in the twenty-two opponents, with an advancing maul that Ivrea was only able to stop with a technical irregularity. After seeing the foul, the referee had no doubts and awarded a penalty try in favor of Varese. The first half therefore ended 12-7.
In the second half Ivrea immediately raised the intensity of its game, persisting with a good series of phases which often caused Varese to be relegated. But in perhaps the most difficult moment of the match for the red and whites, where on the other hand Ivrea was gaining more and more confidence, Varese scored a very difficult goal for the economy of the match. After another prolonged action by the Piedmontese, it was the center Matteo Baudo who intercepted the oval, the attacking midfielder then ran for about sixty meters before smashing the ball between the posts (12-14). Initially Ivrea suffered the blow but the home team then reacted by increasing the offensive pressure. Ivrea scored two more tries, which came after some defensive oversights by the red and whites’ back guard who allowed the opposing attacking midfielders to score too quickly. On the 26 to 17 the match had taken a bad turn for Varese, but they never gave up and continued to chase this victory. Loretti’s try, which came after a series of pick-and-goes, reopened the match, at this point the pressure in attack was only on Varese. Varese created the opportunity to win and it arrived after the time had expired. As anticipated, Bonesso took charge of the most important football and made no mistakes, bringing Varese to the final 26 to 27, a result worth its weight in gold.
“It hasn’t always been an easy game to manage, but this team always believes in it and these are victories to remember – begins coach Massimo Mamo -. We struggled a bit at the start, they were good at putting pressure on us with their forwards and we suffered a bit from their direct lines. Afterwards we fixed the defense and also the closed scrum and we managed to have more possessions. We made life difficult for ourselves in several situations, we needed to be more consistent and have more continuity in our performance, but I also have many positive ideas after this match. It was a difficult match, a good test for the team, we had won the first leg so they absolutely wanted a rematch, but the team’s focus was on winning and the boys were very resilient and aggressive in seeking this result. We won, we are happy and we scored points, now we prepare for the match against Recco which will be decisive.”
Ivrea Rugby – Rugby Varese 26-27 (12-7)
Varese: Palla, Prina, Malnati, Baudo, Bonesso, Pandozy (c), Sacchetti, Perin, Lasarte, Ciavarrella, Castiglioni, Loretti, Altomare, Diani, Catalfamo (vc). Available: Nardi, Mansi, Arreghini, Spiteri, Fulginiti, Ceaprazaru, Ficarra. All. Mamo
Markers: Varese tries: free kick try, Baudo, Loretti
Transformations: Bonesso (2)
Set pieces: Bonesso (2)
Stefano Sessarego
