Both Rugby Club Luxembourg (RCL) teams travelled away to Frankfurt last weekend with the 1st XV playing their 3rd match against Frankfurt Eintracht and the 2nd XV starting their season against Frankfurt 1880 2nd XV.

The 1st XV won convincingly against Frankfurt last season but came expecting a tough test nonetheless.

Despite the heavy downpour, making the conditions difficult, and fly-half Steven Clarke being substituted off for blood early on, the Luxembourgish side quickly started to rack up points against a completely outclassed opposition.

RCL’s pack dominated the set piece, using the maul to particularly good effect, and created the platform for the back-line. The back row caused havoc in attack, breaking through the defence almost every time they touched the ball, and the backline was clinical throughout.

In all, RCL scored a total of 16 tries with Jesper Christiensen, James Clarke, Simon Horner, El Hadji Malik Samba and Francois Simon scoring one each. Adrien Timmermans and Jean-Baptiste Vert both picked up a brace, while Eduardo Angioni and Tertius Barnard both scored four tries for a final score of 98-0.

There were too many brilliant performances to single out any two players for honourable mentions but special mention has to be made for Malik Samba who won Man of the match after tireless efforts in defence and attack and continuing to play despite an injury he picked up within the first ten minutes.

The 2nd XV came up against a tough Frankfurt 1880 side, bolstered by several first team players returning from injuries.

RCL were able to pick up some points through two well-taken tries from the two centres. Santiago Parilli scored the first after kicking a lose ball on and racing past the opposition to collect it and score. Quentin Leveque got his minutes later, timing his run beautifully as he intercepted a wide pass and ran it in uncontested.  

The Luxembourgish side went into half time leading 14-12. Frankfurt made the most of their strong bench in the second half and started to pull away, ultimately winning comfortably 47-17.

 

Photo by RCL