Paphos Tigers win at Happy Valley
13th December 2008
by Barrie Hattam

Episkopi Eagles 18  Paphos Tigers 26

The Tigers knew that beating the Eagles at home was not going to be an easy task and things did not look good after 11 minutes by which time the Tigers had gained very little territory and given away 4 penalties, the Eagles slotted the fourth to take a 3 point lead.

The Tigers lifted their game and soon the forwards were dominating the set pieces, a ball won from an Eagles scrum was sent wide and George Agathocleous burst through to be tackled just short of the line the ball unfortunately going forward in the tackle. The Eagles won the ensuing scrum and worked their way clear of the line and sent a long kick towards the Tigers tryline, Marcus Holden winning the race to secure a touch down.

From the 22 drop out the Tigers clawed their way upfield with some good forward power the result being Tony Thoma going over in the corner to score the Tigers first try, Marcus Holden making the conversion. From the restart Warren Dean gathered the ball and made an incisive break down the middle but good defence from the Eagles soon saw them driving the Tigers back and five minutes later the Eagles took a quick throw in from touch and sent the ball wide for a score in the corner, with the conversion missed the eagles had a one point lead.

With both sides making errors the game moved up and down the pitch, the Eagles eventually gave away a penalty for killing the ball, Marcus Holden making a good kick to touch, quick ball from the lineout and Geoge Agathocleous made another great break down the middle gaining 30 metres, the forwards were quickly in to clear the ball from the tackle Kyle Oelofse now made a lovely run and sent the ball wide to Adam Moffat on the wing who was stopped inches short with a scrum being given to the Tigers, a mighty shove from the forwards took the ball over the line but was judged to be held up, in the ensuing scrum the forwards held firm and number eight Warren Dean broke from the back of the scrum and jogged through the wide open door to score under the posts, Marcus converting.

As half time approached the Tigers were once again on the Eagles line and a massive push in a scrum saw them gain five metres and Warren Dean score his second try, Marcus converting, half time score Eagles 8-Tigers 21.

The first 15 minutes of the second half was dominated by the Eagles with the Tigers making little use of what ball they had making numerous mistakes and from a missed touch the Eagles gathered the ball sending it nicely wide and scored in the corner with a man to spare, the conversion was missed. The game looked to be going the Eagles way, a forward pass after a great break prevented a certain try and a period of careless and aimless kicking by the Tigers gave the Eagles even more ball to use in attack, the Tigers were made to worked hard in defence and lived up to the task making some great tackles and it was only after 32 minutes of hard graft that the Tigers at last made good use of the ball.

From a penalty Marcus Holden found a fine touch and lovely clean ball from the line out saw Kyle Oelofse give a beautifully timed pass to George Agatholeous who neatly stepped through the defence and sent the ball to Matt Lowe who confronted with two defenders put a grubber kick behind them for Kyle to score,26-13 seemed a secure score but The Eagles kept coming and on 40 minutes went over for their third try, a successful conversion would bring them within one score for a win but the conversion was missed and the Tigers were content to carry on defending to the whistle and come away with a 26-18 win.

The Tigers came away happy with the win but know there is a lot of work to be done.