The date will go down in history; 1066 the Battle of Hastings; 1704 the Gibraltar nation is born; May
7th 1944 Victory in Europe day and May 26th 2011 the Grand Final of all Grand Finals – Cepsa Gibraltar
Rugby Super IVs: the epitome of what sport stands for – 2 teams taking the field, standing face to face
to do battle, all players taking part in the greatest Rugby occasion in Gibraltar’s history. For those lucky
enough to be allowed to witness the event made their way down to the Devil Tower Road military
facility looking forward to seeing these titan teams jostle to be top dog in town -if only Gibraltar Rugby
had its own facility; the terraces would be packed to the rafters. Back to the game and there is a reason
why you keep score in sport – to record who wins; the “Kedhlow Gibraltar Bay Buccaneers” led by
Captain Chad Thomson, taking a small points for advantage, against skipper Chris Lugnani’s “Powerade
Europa Stormers” were to meet for the 2nd time in six weeks following a draw in their first encounter.
The two Captains combined weight of 38 stone (240kgs) set the atmosphere of two heavy weights, toe
to toe, bout for bout, slugging out which team was going to be deserved of taking all honours.
The teams lined up to the sound of Tarik’s bagpipe blasting out some familiar rugby anthems. The
Honourable Edwin Reyes meeting the captains and his players, added to the expectation that this was
not just any other game. This was for the glory of being Super IVs champions.
Crowd silent, blast of the whistle, game on…..
The Europa Stormers with the more experienced pack took the game to a nervous Buccaneers team,
the ferocity at the breakdown put pressure on the Buccaneers forcing a number of uncharacteristic
errors which the ever spritely Nick Cruz snaffling up and exploiting opportunities putting Lee O’Sullivan
in under the posts for the first score. 5-0 Europa Stormers, kick converted by Gibraltar rugby legend
Paul Howard 7-0. Bucaneers, under the cosh, were awe struck but a rampant Storm from Europa, the
blue and white check didn’t let up. Strong runs from Alex Lavarello and Chris Lugnani kept the pressure
on. The classy presence of Teddy Sacerello in the midfield added to the direct play the Stormers
orchestrated. Buccaneers defended aggressively on their try line with big tackles going in by Steve Cary,
Sixto Parody and Moussa Tuznani kept the Storm at bay, great runs from whippets Mikey Massey and
Danny Sweeney threatened the Stormers but that final pass went missing, “Arr, me hearty!” the crowd
yelled as yet another pass went behind the back of the hard running Ashley Martins, failing to get on the
end of another swash buckling move. The Buccaneers picking up the pace with feverish side stepping
by Dave Martinez and the gliding action of Big Bob Massey was too much for the Stormers at times.
Unfortunately, continued mistakes by the Buccaneers led to Charlie Laverello turning over the ball with
Nick Cruz ultimately crossing the Buccaneers’ line to score 12-0 Europa Stormers, conversion missed.
Half time score 12-0
Howling back into the Stormers came strong runs from youngsters Nathan Ponce De Leon, Sixto Parody
and the experienced South African player Larry Nel controlling the game from fly-half. Andy Long John
Wright and Hamish Black Sheep Couper (black beard’s southern hemisphere cousin) at centre put a
number of passes together. The Stormers were receptive and defended well. Ronnie Gache and Martin
Currie stood up to be counted and put in the hardwork to keep the Buccaneers at bay. The Buccaneers
started to gel, put together a string of passes and final result being a try by Hamish Couper, conversion
James Russo. The tide was beginning to turn 12-7 Stormers.
Hamish continued to threaten the Stormers midfield despite the experienced Sam Worvell and Teddy
Sacerello marshalling it. A good turn over from Chad Thomson at the breakdown created an over lap
in the backline, Ashley Martins being on the end of the line crossed to bring the scores level 12-12. A
great restart from Paul Howard put the Stormers on the front foot Nick Cruz continued to snipe the
flanks caused the over confident Buccaneers to rest on the laurels. Stormers crossed the Buccaneers line
thanks to Stefan Figueras linking with Teddy Sacarello who scored under the posts. Howard kicked the
conversion 19-12 to Stormers.
The Buccaneers came back and felt hard done by on a 50/50 call for a forward pass from Sixto
Parody to Ashley Martins who would of coasted in under the posts, from the resulting scrum Charlie
Laverello marched the Stormers forward and into another scoring chance to put the game beyond the
Buccaneers, a try saving tackle from Buccaneer Mikey Massey forced the Stormer’s winger into touch
just before he touched down.
19-12 and this was becoming increasingly tense. Indiscipline from the Stormers started to show with
referee Paul Forster marching them back on several occasion. Both sides battered and bruised knew
there was only 10minutes left to play. The Younger Buccaneers team maintained the velocity of the
game and cracks started to appear in the Stormers defence, continued infringements saw the touch
judge intervene for foul play by the Stormers handing in a ruck. James Russo took a quick tap and passed
to a future up and coming Gibraltar Rugby star Sixto Parody to crash through three defenders to score,
conversion missed to leave the Stromers 19-17 in the lead.
Five minutes left and the intensity was still there, the battle was almost over and with only 2 points in
it everything was still to play for. Tactical kicking from both sides created a territorial advantages to be
created the stalemate on offence was almost in the Stormers favour until indiscipline forced them back
to defend. Slipping off a few tackles, near the end of time Hamish Couper crossed the line to put the
Buccaneers in front for the first time in 78 minutes of the fixture 22-19, conversion success for James
Russo. 24-19.
The score remained until the final whistle, Bucaneers jumping for joy and jubilation, the Stormers
dropping to their knees in despair. All 30 players gave it their all in this epic battle with the Gibraltar Bay
Buccaneers lifting the Cepsa Gibraltar Trophy to be the 2011 champions!! A special mention for Hamish
Couper who scored two tries in the final and finished top overall try scorer with seven tries in total.
