2024-05-05 08:53:55
The historical silver medals were won by “Kuršiai” from Klaipėda, and the rugby players of “Baltrex-Šiauliai”, who won the last nine championships in Šiauliai, had to settle for bronze awards.
In the first round of the rugby-7 “Top” league held a week ago, “Ėuolas-Šildykis” won, “Baltrex-Šiauliai” took the second place, and “Kuršiai” of Klaipėda took the third place. It was these teams that claimed the Champions Cup in the second round.
Strengthened for this championship with two legionnaires from Zimbabwe and Uganda, Kaunas became the winners of Group A in Klaipėda, crushing Šiaulius 45:0 and beating Vilnius Iron Wolf 21:17. The second ticket to the semi-finals was earned by “Šiaiuliai”, who beat the Vilnius team 26:14.
In an intriguing confrontation between the leaders of Group B, “Kuršiai” defeated “Baltrex-Šiaulius” 17:14. Both of these teams also beat last year’s vice-champion Vairo-Kalvio-Jupojos-PRO BRO team from Šiauliai, leaving the latter out of the semi-finals.
Thus, in the first semi-final, the finalists of the first stage – “Ažuolas-Šildykis” and “Baltrex-Šiauliai” entered the fight. For Kaunas, a victory would immediately mean the title of champions secured.
As expected, the match started hard and tenaciously. Finally, in the 6th minute, Tapiwa Tsomondo put the Kaunas club ahead, and the goal was accurately kicked by Philip Wokorach. At the beginning of the second half, Ph. Wokorach performed the humiliation himself (12:0).
However, “Baltrex-Šiauliai” did not give up and in the middle of the quarter, Donatas Trumpickas reduced the deficit with a productive attack (5:12). With a little more than a minute left to play, Baltrex-Šiauliai, who fought hard, intercepted the ball and Arnas Prielaid pressed it in the opponent’s scoring area. Matas Miežys made an accurate shot and the result became even.
The outcome of the match was decided in extra time, which was played until the first points. After a foul by “Baltrex-Šiauliai”, “Ažuolas-Šildykis” decided to take a risk with a rather distant free kick, but this decision paid off. Ph.D. Wokorach’s kick was accurate and “Ėuolas-Šildykis” earned a ticket to the final and secured the title of Lithuanian champions.
“First of all, I want to thank all the players who played, as well as the entire staff and staff, President Valdas and all the people who work at the club. This trophy is very nice and it crowns all our joint work”, said Shayne Makombe, the coach of “Ažuolo-Šildykis” from Zimbabwe.
The coach added that a lot of work was put into developing the character and mentality of the players. Strong character allowed not to break when “Baltrex-Šiauliai” tried to stand up. “We prepared the players for this, because attitude is very important. We knew that we have players who can win every match,” stressed Sh. in Macomb.
The coach revealed that this championship is only the beginning of the whole process of “Ažuolo-Šildykis”.
“We are already preparing for the future. In Klaipėda, we could already see five young rugby players who will be an important part of our puzzle in the future. We still have a lot of rules that we want to implement in the team. We still have players who are behind in the training process, so we will have to put in a lot of work to be champions for a longer period of time,” said Sh. in Macomb.
In the next semi-final, “Kuršiai” defeated “Šiaulias” 34:5 and preserved the chances of fighting for silver medals. For that, it was necessary to win the final in Klaipėda.
“Kuršias” managed to do that – Klaipėda residents made their fans happy at home and became the winners of the second stage of the rugby-7 “Top” league. In the final, “Kuršiai” defeated “Ažuola-Šildykis” 28:15 (7:0), which had already done its most important work in the semifinals, so it had nothing to be sad about.
The final itself was quite persistent. “Curonians” immediately took a 7-0 lead, and at the beginning of the second quarter increased the gap to 14 points (14-0). However, then Kaunas managed to answer 10 points in a row and return the intrigue. That intrigue quickly ended, after several more successful attacks by “Cursians”, which resulted in a historic day for Klaipėda residents.
“We shared with Kaunas – we are the champions of the stage, and they are in the overall standings. Of course, this is a form of laughter. We still feel like champions because this is a very big step for our rebuilding club. I won’t hide it – we are happy with the second place, because we always said that the goal is a medal, and we didn’t really dare to dream about silver. In the first round, many players needed to get acquainted with the intensity in rugby-7, and in the second round we were already polished and the result showed itself. I am very proud of my team”, said the playing coach of “Kuršiai” Jonas Mikalčius.
In the match for third place, Baltrex-Šiauliai beat Šiauliai 24:12. Analogously, these teams lined up in the final standings.
Vilnius “Geležinis vilkas” took the fifth place, defeating Šiauliai “Vaira-Kalvi-Jupoj-PRO BRO” 33:5 in the last match. The performance of this team also ended in the first round.
Philip Wokorach was chosen as the best player of the championship. Paulius Sugintas (“Ažuolas-Šildykis”), Kęstutis Karbauskas (“Kuršiai”), Arnas Prielaids (“Baltrex-Šiauliai”), Gytis Balčiūnas (“Šiauliai”), Alan Aleksanianas (“Iron Wolf”) were also selected for the symbolic national team. and Tomas Šimaitis (“Vairas-Kalvis-Jupoja-PRO BRO”). The most productive player is K. Karbauskas.
2024-05-05 08:53:55