The rugby match, played under a torrential downpour, kept the suspense alive until the very last seconds.
This season, Slava has often shown a peculiar inconsistency, inexplicably underperforming in game segments. This pattern recurred in Monino. The visitors started strongly, immediately taking control of the match. The situation worsened for the home side when Monino`s lock, Nikita Arlashov, received a yellow card as early as the 5th minute. By this point, Slava was deep in their opponents` 22-meter zone, clearly aiming for a try. Despite coach Maxim Tolmachev`s calls to kick for goal, the players initially opted for scrums, an area where the Moscow rugby players looked unconvincing in the first half. Anton Nastavshev, for example, infringed three times during set pieces. Nevertheless, Slava eventually heeded their coach`s advice and scored six points from successful penalty kicks within the first 20 minutes.
However, these initial points were the only bright spots for the visitors before halftime. Otherwise, the Moscow team frequently committed fouls, conceded forward passes (possibly exacerbated by the rain), and attacked ineffectively. Their defense also lacked brilliance. VVA, on the other hand, breached the opponent`s 22-meter zone twice, and both incursions resulted in tries. Dmitry Drozhdin successfully converted both, giving Monino a comfortable eight-point lead at halftime, 14:6.
Whatever was said in the locker room clearly had a profound effect on Slava, as they emerged for the second half as an entirely different team. By the 47th minute, the visitors had leveled the score with a try from Ilya Datsenko and a successful penalty kick from Gleb Farkov. By the 66th minute, they had taken the lead. Igor Abramov scored a try, Farkov added the conversion and another penalty. Thus, VVA`s 14:6 lead swiftly turned into a 24:14 advantage for Maxim Tolmachev`s side.
By this stage, VVA had clearly lost their grip on the game and struggled significantly in attack, frequently turning over possession. It wasn`t until the 69th minute that `Voenlety` mounted their first meaningful offensive of the second half, culminating in a try by Nikita Arlashov, converted by Dmitry Drozhdin, which narrowed the score to 21:24.
Slava immediately responded with another penalty, extending their lead to 27:21. What transpired next is difficult to comprehend. Monino earned a penalty in the opposition`s half, and the sensible decision would have been to kick for touch closer to the try line, as a converted try could secure victory. However, the hosts opted to kick for goal. Dmitry Drozhdin was successful, but merely narrowed the gap. Immediately after the restart, VVA committed a forward pass within their own 22-meter zone, allowing the visitors to launch an attack from a scrum and score yet another try.
Andrey Sorokin`s team deserves credit for playing decent rugby as the underdog and putting up a strong fight against Slava, but in such tense contests, victory often goes to those willing to take calculated risks.
