WARWICK Riga fell to their expected 3.0 defeat against National League Division One champions-elect Mizuno Malory in London on Saturday.
But it was a spirited performance by the visitors who could look back on it with some satisfaction.
They. traded. initial points, and pressure serving by new man Pascal Cottet actually earned Riga the lead. But from 8-.8 Malory progressively edged to 15-9 victory despite fine play by Riga skipper Tom Young, John Gilling, and Cottet.
Although competing even harder in the second, Warwick found it difficult converting possession into points. Setter Phil Wyles found plenty of chinks in the home armoury, and Ben Bunn was enjoying his best game for the team. Malory's England GB international-packed squad inevitably kept the upper hand and eased to 15-6.
The physical and mental demands duly told on Riga in set three, but they came back strongly in the latter stages before conceding 15-7
"We knew we were unlikely to win, but we wanted to-play well, and we did" said Young, 1n fact Malory complimented us on just how well we did play, so we have made measurable progress. Now. we need to do it again, when we take on Sheffield next week."
