18-22: Silicius Alcobendas advances to the final with a final victory against VRAC

Silicius Alcobendas managed to advance to the final of the Copa del Rey after beating, in an intense and highly contested match, a VRAC Entrepinares Cheeses who paid dearly for his mistakes against a rival who always believed in his options.

Although the Valladolid team started as favorites, being the current champions of the Copa del Rey, the Madrid team made it clear, from the beginning, that they were not going to make things easy for them and, in fact, they were the ones who opened the scoring for Pepe Rojo.

Santi LopezAfter a kick to follow, the oval managed to land on the cheese mark line and, with the conversion of Agustín Cittadini, it made it 0-7, and the locals came out with great intensity, but ran into a serious defense from Alcobendas.

The Argentine kicker of the visiting team was able to increase the lead, but his shot after a rival penalty hit went very wide due to the wind, which became an unwelcome guest.

But Quesos reacted immediately, and took perfect advantage of their superiority – after Eloy de la Pisa’s yellow – to add the first points to their locker, with a try from Sergio Molinero, who knew how to make the previous work of the forward count.

That would encourage those of Diego Merino that, three minutes later, they turned the result around with a score from Álex Pérez after a great play with troops offloadswhich he finished perfectly and which, on this occasion, Baltazar Taibo did convert (12-7).

But Javier Garrido’s men had no intention of leaving control of the match to the locals and took advantage of Cittadini’s quality in the shots on sticks to, after some cheese indiscipline, close the gap (12-10).

The small details were beginning to become very important. Any failure could take its toll and it was essential to take advantage of every favorable opportunity.

One of them, which was already sung as a rehearsal, was in the hands of Alejandro Suárez, who no longer had players to mark him, but he was unable to retain the oval, causing the advance and losing five clear points. Therefore, at 12-10 the break was reached.

After the break, it seemed that every movement was controlled, since both squads were aware that they had to avoid infringements as much as possible. But logically it is impossible to cancel them completely and Silicius paid for an offside with three points for Quesos.

Before, the Valladolid team missed an obvious opportunity to increase their advantage with a lead two meters from the visiting goal line. A maximum concentration was required to add.

Alcobendas did the rest. Roy Lura, after a great play, escaped at speed to avoid the defense of the blue team and tie the match (15-15). Maximum tension in the match, which translated into more nerves on both teams.

Hence the offside of the Madrid team, which led to another three points for VRAC, with Taibo’s conversion with which they regained the lead on the scoreboard, although it was not going to be definitive.

Alcobendas, in a last rush, showing all their strength, built their game to find a loophole in the local defense that Strelczuk saw to add another try that, with the subsequent conversion by Cittadini, left the final result at 18-22.

Technical sheet:

18- VRAC Entrepinares Cheeses: Marcos Muñiz, David Gallego, Mauro Genco, Kalo Kalo Gavidi, Álex Pérez, Martín Serrano, Gabriel Vélez, Maxim Ermakov, Pedro Cane, Baltazar Taibo, Sergio Molinero, Sam Hollingsworth, Fran González del Pino, Miguel Láinz, Arnau Andrés.

Pablo Mateos, Alberto Gómez, Tsotne Tcumburidze, Álvaro Pírez, Arnau Ojeda, Gonzalo Domínguez, Héctor Toquero, Manu Pérez also played.

22- Silicius Alcobendas: Rodrigo Pérez, Diego Vidal, Adrián Zivanai, Roman Gougy, Pablo Guirao, Diego Carvajales, Alejandro Suárez, Beka Kokuashvili, Diego de Minteguiaga, Agustín Cittadini, Santiago López, Aarón Rus, Lucas Michiels, Roy Lura, Eloy de la Pisa.

Mateo Antem, Strelczuk, Rubén Medina, Antonio Santos, Marcos Pérez, Carlos Rodríguez, Federico Rosales, Marcos Herráez also played.

Notes: 0-7 (m.11), trial by Santi López that Agustín Cittadini transforms. 5-7 (m.19), essay by Sergio Molinero. 12-7 (m.22), try by Álex Pérez that Baltazar Taibo converts. 12-10 (m.30), penalty blow that Cittadini passes. 15-10 (m.56), punishment blow that Taibo passes. 15-15 (m.65), essay by Roy Lura. 18-15 (m.70), punishment blow that Taibo transforms. 18-22 (m.77), essay by Strelczuk that Cittadini converts.

Referee: Eki Fanlo Antzin (Basque Federation). He showed yellow cardboard to Eloy de la Pisa (m.18), by Silicius Alcobendas.

Incidents: Match corresponding to the semi-finals of the NTT Data Copa del Rey, played on the fields of Pepe Rojo (Valladolid).