Calvisano wins the title

Leonardo Ghiraldini led Calvisano to deservedly win the 2008 Super 10 championship: two tries for Calvisano and a correctly unawarded one for Treviso for a final 20-3. Tension aroused around the end of the match, when Louw charged Griffen after Mr. Damasco's whistle and set off a little scuffle, which ended up in the referee showing Louw a yellow card. At this point, Goosen insulted Mr. Damasco, which in turn expelled him, causing many supporters to throw their big cardboard hands, distributed by a sponsor before the beginning of the match, onto the field.

I don't mean to talk about the match, but I have some comments about the mentioned facts.

First of all, Goosen really deserved his expulsion, because shouting insults at the referee is something I'd rather leave to soccer players (to which I mean no offence): insulting referees (actually insulting anyone) is not in the spirit of rugby, and when it happens it must be severely punished. It's true that Louw got a pair of hard jabs by Griffen, but he knows why he took them: he did something he shouldn't and he paid the appropriate consequences.

To those who said Marcato should have played instead of Goosen, I would like to remind them of the 2007 final, in which the latter kicked Treviso to extra time and had his say in the victory, scoring 13 points out of 28. It's just a pity that this time his nervousness took over his concentration.

About the cardboard hands, thrown on the field to protest against the decisions of the referee: I think it was a very foul gesture, as it was very dangerous; I have seen more than a person hit by them; moreover, even if the refereeing was not so good, this decision was, as I said, correct.

That said, I want to pay my compliments to both the teams for being there; thanks to Francesco, I also had the pleasure to meet Anna, Enrico, Morena (I owe you one), Roberto and Tommaso (I wish you many years of good rugby).

See you next year!