Over the weekend, several rugby specialists, former players and fans of this sport gathered at the Upesciema Stadium to watch the exciting final match to determine this year’s champions in rugby 15. In this season’s most important and intriguing duel, the two strongest Latvian rugby clubs of the last decade fought – the five-time champions “Baltic XL/Livonia” and the 15-time title winners “Miesnieki”. As always, the Upesciems stadium was very well prepared, even before the game itself, the host and former national team player Yuri Silov checked the quality.
Even though “Balitc XL/Livonia” this season in the matches between the two strongest Latvian rugby teams, the Livonians celebrated the victory both times, on July 20, in the last game of the main tournament of the Latvian championship, they won very convincingly with 48:12 against the 14-man “Miesnieki”, but a week later the Baltic In the Top League game with a similar result of 46:17, with the decisive advantage achieved at the end of the game, many did not give preference and favorite status to any of the teams, seeing a similar and intense duel.
The game started with a very equal and intense fight on the field, with a slight advantage for “Miesnieki”, who also opened the score of the game in the 7th minute, when Artūrs Alanais made a touchdown – 0:5. The continuation was not pleasant for the home team either, because three minutes later Rafaels Kunutis received the ball in the center of the field and started sprinting towards the touchdown alone, but 20 meters before the end zone he started to lose speed and, safe remains safe, passed to Agrim Apkalnms, who then also brought in a touchdown. Richards Isalnieks was accurate in the conversion shot, the result became 12-0 in favor of the current champions.
In the continuation, even more determination was shown in the ranks of the butchers, thus in the first 20 minutes the Livonians were not allowed to create even a single scoring opportunity. In the 26th minute, the Ķekava club was close to the third touchdown, but the hosts played very well in defense. However, the offensive of the Butchers did not end there at the end zone line, the Livonians defended tenaciously for more than three minutes and in the end did not allow the opponent to score a touchdown, which the “Butchers” wanted so much, not choosing to take a penalty and score three points from a very good position.
In the remaining ten minutes of the half, a similar game took place in the middle of the field, the result did not change and “Baltic XL/Livonia” did not score – 0:12, because they failed to reach the 22 m zone of the opponent’s field in 40 minutes.
Encouraged by the coach during the break, the Livonians, who had not created real scoring situations in the first 40 minutes, started the second half much more determinedly, but the three-minute offensive ended without a result. A few minutes later, Vigo Valdavs junior made a mistake near his end zone, unable to kick the ball out, and the experienced Elmārs Šefanovskis used it, scoring the third touchdown of “Miesniekus” and making it 19-0. Consequently, “Baltic XL/Livonia” found itself in a difficult situation.
In the 52nd minute, Miķelis Jurevičs got a good shot on the right side, but there was no continuation to reveal the number in his team. However, three minutes later, after “Miesnieku” sent the ball forward, Glebs Vorobyov did not catch the ball in his own end zone, whose mistake was used by Alexis Eglītis, scoring “Miesnieku”‘s fourth touchdown and making serious claims to defend the title – 22:0.
However, the winners of the regular tournament “Baltic XL/Livonia”, who have excelled with excellent results in previous meetings, did not lose hope in such a situation. In the middle of the second half, there was a good chance to score the first points, but mistakes prevented it. In the 68th minute, “Baltic XL/Livonia” had a very real chance to score a touchdown, but the visitors prevented it, but a minute later, Mārtiņš Rundāns’ attempt was successful, bringing a touchdown and scoring the first points for the hosts. Dāvids Židelis was accurate in the realization, to restore a little intrigue – 7:22.
The last minutes of the game went with the advantage of the Livonians and some real opportunities for a touchdown, but only Miķelis Jurevič managed to score points with a touchdown in the last minute. Therefore, the game ended very similarly to last year with 22:12 in favor of “Miesnieku”. “Miesnieki” rejoiced for the third year in a row, but the recovery of the “Baltic XL/Livonia” title must be postponed until next year.
2024-09-15 23:18:37