Despite temperatures in the 20s around kickoff the Glendale Raptors had no trouble heating up in a 32-19 win over Belmont Shore. After losing to OMBAC in the first week of the season Glendale have now one three matches in a row, including their first in a long-homestand, and are looking once again like title contenders. After a strong start to the season Belmont Shore have now cooled off and are at 2-2.
The match was tight early with Belmont Shore taking an early lead in the second minute as Ed Pitts broke through the Raptors defense and fed to Ryan Cochran for the try. Andy Jackson would step up and hit the conversion for a 7-0 lead. Glendale responded only minutes later as Brett Willis scored in the corner. The Raptors had used their forwards to push Belmont Shore back and when Belmont were penalized the Raptors made them pay with quick ball from Mose Timoteo and Daniel Fleming out to Willis. Fleming would add a penalty ten minutes later after Belmont were penalized at the scrum Timoteo took the quick tap for the score. Mark Simpson would then add to the score when he collected a grubber from Fleming. Further tries from Cristian Sarmento and Jack Howard put Glendale ahead 32-7. Belmont would grab two late tries from Brice Schilling to make the final score more respectable. The match was even more impressive for the Raptors considering they were missing five players to Eagles camp, including a major chuck of their front row. Even without those players they were able to dominate the Belmont Shore scrum at times. The Denver Barbarians picked up their first win of the season as they beat previously undefeated Belmont Shore 13-6 in a shortened match. About halfway into the match Belmont Shore hooker Michael Sweet went down with a head injury. He was taken to the local hospital that revealed a concussion. However, he should be fine to play in the coming weeks once he has recovered. The delay for the injury was enough to suspend the match and according to league by-laws the result will stand.
Before the injury it was a kicking showdown between Belmont’s Andy Jackson and Denver’s Max De Achaval. Jackson was the first to get on the board just after the 20th minute mark with his first penalty. Denver would be quick to respond with Marcus Taylor scoring the match’s only try. With De Achaval’s conversion Denver led 7-3. Two more penalties from De Achaval would make it 13-3 before Jackson added his second of the match. Next week Denver will return to Colorado to face Olympic Club while Belmont will also make the trip to the Rockies to face Glendale. In a match-up between last year’s regular season champions and this year’s upstarts it was the champions that came out ahead as Glendale beat Santa Monica 46-26 in Los Angeles. With the loss Santa Monica moves off the top of the table but stays second by securing a bonus point. Glendale are right there at 2-1 and 10 points with a game in hand on leaders SFGG.
Glendale had the first opportunity to score within the first five minutes by Armandt Peens would miss the penalty. Instead, it was the Dolphins that would take advantage of their opportunities as scrumhalf Charlie Purdon scored from a quick tap penalty on the five meter line to give Santa Monica a 5-0 lead. That lead would hold up for about ten minutes before Glendale hooker Zach Fenolgio would score in similar fashion. Once fly-half Daniel Flemming hit the conversion Glendale would lead 7-5 after 20 minutes. After giving up the try Santa Monica rallied and only two minutes later scored their second try of the match when Ali Ross touched down. Mathieu Lesgourgues would step up and make the conversion to put Santa Monica up 12-7. As was the nature of the back and forth first half Glendale would respond quickly with a pass from Cody Melphy setting up Peens for the score. Santa Monica would then retake the lead through a Chris Baumann try and Lesgourgues conversion. Glendale would try to equalize with a try from Chad London at the stroke of halftime but the conversion missed giving Santa Monica a 19-17 lead at the break. Not wanting to give up a second loss of the season Glendale responded with a big second half. Five minutes in Melphy would score to put the Raptors up 22-19. Mose Timoteo would add to the total just before the 50th minute mark when Melphy did the hard work on a 60 meter break and fed Timoteo for the try. When Flemming made the conversion the Raptors led 31-19. Santa Monica would score a final try though flanker Philip Osborne but the day would belong to Glendale. The Raptors added tries from London, on a blocked and recovered grubber kick, and Austin Welch, as well as a penalty from Flemming to finish the scoring. Men's Pacific Rugby Premiership
San Francisco Golden Gate 27-31 Glendale Raptors Santa Monica Dolphins 45-13 Denver Barbarians Men's Club vs. Men's Collegiate Colorado State University 22-19 Boulder Rugby Denver Barbarians D2 40-19 University of Colorado Red Rocks College 16-75 Queen City Rams Men's Collegiate University of Denver 28-5 University of Colorado B Boys' High School Aurora Saracens 30-5 Boulder Rugby Ridgeview Rugby 15-20 Titans Rugby
On a sweltering Southern California day, the Santa Monica Dolphins hosted the Denver Barbarians in Round 3 of the Pacific Rugby Premiership. The hosts were coming off a solid win over Olympic Club while the guests were surely looking to recover from a loss to SFGG that literally slipped through their hands. On this day, the Dolphins would come away with a surprisingly resounding 45-13 victory.
Despite the result, the day started in ominous fashion as, before the opening whistle, Dolphins starting flyhalf Harry Bennett went down to injury. Already extremely depleted in the backline, Santa Monica turned to veteran Loa Milford as an emergency fill-in. Said Santa Monica Head Coach Greg Commins, “It’s just one of those weeks where we knew we were up against it in the backs due to injury. We had our starting line-up intact but could ill-afford to have anybody go down. When Harry got injured, I was literally looking around to see how we could replace him as I didn’t have a projected reserve at center. Thankfully, Loa showed up to the pitch ready to answer the call. I can’t say enough what he has meant to this club over the past five years…with his professionalism, skill, and versatility. We are truly blessed to have a former international who can sub-in at a moment’s notice.” The ever humble but jocular Milford responded, “I brought my boots just in case something happened. Harry went down about 15 minutes before kick-off. I got the call. It’s nothing new to me. I actually had 5 more minutes than I normally need to get warmed-up.” Things got even more tense for the Dolphins after the kick-off as, at the 2 minute mark, Ken Aseme was penalized for hands-in the ruck inside the defensive 22. Barbos fullback Maximo De Achaval easily slotted the penalty to give the visitors an early 0-3 lead. On the ensuing kick-off, Denver were penalized at the breakdown for leaving their feet, thus giving Santa Monica an attacking line-out inside the attacking zone. The Dolphins drove down to the try line but the Denver defense was stout – holding the hosts at bay and ultimately getting a scrum via a knock-on. A somewhat strange coupling of events followed as, on successive passages of play, Santa Monica were penalized, Denver failed to find touch, Santa Monica scrumhalf Charlie Purdon returned the kick, Denver deflected the ball, and Santa Monica were rewarded with a lineout deep in the attacking zone. Though failing to score on the first attempt and then getting held-up in goal on the second one, the Dolphins finally cracked the Barbos line on the third try. From a scrum on the 5-meter line near the left sideline, 8-man Ken Aseme picked up from the base and ran toward the posts, he offloaded to a crashing Milford, who then found scrumhalf Purdon looping around for a sneaky try near the posts. Lesgrougues easily hit the extras. 7-3 Santa Monica. Denver immediately responded on the kick-off, pinning the Dolphins inside their own 22 and then getting a scrum on the attacking 5-meter. Not to be outdone, Santa Monica displayed some strong goal line defense of their own and eventually turned Denver over in the tackle and then cleared their line. After a few sequences of interplay where the ball changed possession between the 22s, Denver threw a forward pass at midfield. From the scrum, Aseme popped to Purdon moving toward the right side, Purdon chipped over the first line of defense and a hard-charging fullback Alistair Ross collected the bounce and fed flanker Philip Osbourne who touched down near the 15 meter hash. Lesgourgues failed to convert. 12-3 Santa Monica. Good fortune favored the green and black on the next kick-off. The forwards set up a platform near the 10 meter line for Lesgourgues to kick deep but the flyhalf’s attempt was charged down by Denver’s lock. The ball took a fortuitous bounce, landing right into the arms of center Milford, who was already advancing on the kick. Already past the first line of defense, the former Samoa international drew the opposing center, offloaded to Ross, who drew his opposing fullback and offloaded to winger Mitch Raisch. Raisch took it the final 10 meters and scored in virtually the same spot as Osbourne. Again, Lesgourgues missed the conversion. 17-3 Santa Monica. Denver answered back at the 39 minute mark with a kick-for-points from 30 meters out and in front of the posts. Santa Monica spent a long period of time on defense and, though they defended well, ultimately conceded a penalty for not rolling away in the tackle. 17-6 Santa Monica at the half. The second half started with promise as, from the kick, Purdon cleared his 22 and found touch near midfield. Denver missed their lineout and Santa Monica hooker Philip Lydeard toed the ball through. He gave chase but ultimately knocked on at the 5-meter on an attempted pick-up. On the following scrum, the Dolphins secured a tighthead on an outstanding drive from Lydeard and props Chris Baumann and Rob Cleere. 8-man Aseme kept the drive going before picking up from 2 meters out and diving over for the score. Fullback Ross substituted in for Lesgourgues as kicker and handled the extras. 24-6 Santa Monica. The Dolphins scored again after a helter-skelter 3 minute passage of play that saw the ball change possession multiple times. On the telling interchange, from open play Barbos flyhalf Ata Malifa put his hooker through a gap in the midfield. The ball then got out to wing Elliott White-Herzog, who was streaking down the right sideline. Fullback Ross boxed White-Herzog in against the sideline, forcing him to pass back inside to the replacement scrumhalf. Santa Monica lock Zac Winter did an outstanding job of holding the ball up in the tackle and forced a turnover. Aseme picked up from the base of the ruck and popped to Lydeard, who found a crease near the fringe. Malifa chased down the tackle, but not before Lydeard offloaded to lock James Lowrey. The “other” former Samoa international broke a tackle, steamed down the left sideline, and offloaded back inside to Aseme. From the ensuing tackle and ruck, Purdon sniped across the field and found flanker Pat Roberts in the centers. Roberts straight-armed his tackler and offloaded back inside to Purdon, who ran in under the posts. Ross was true again with the conversion. 31-6 Santa Monica. At the 60 minute mark, Commins made wholesale substitutions. Scrumhalf Danny Carpio replaced Lesgourgues and pushed Purdon out to the pivot. Prop Epi Kalemani came on for hooker Philip Lydeard and pushed Baumann into the middle of the front row. Flanker Jabari Zuberi replaced Philip Osbourne. From the restart, Purdon kicked deep and into touch on the Barbos’ side of the field. Denver again failed to connect on the lineout and after a series of fits and restarts, Lowrey crashed over from a driving maul with Kalemani and Roberts in tow. Ross for two more; 38-6 Santa Monica. “I was glad to see James rewarded for all his hardwork on the day,” said Commins. “His deck-work was simply exemplary and he just kept pushing the boys forward. He and Ken…really, the entire pack…showed up today. We certainly needed and got it from them. Also, that try doesn’t happen if we don’t win the tighthead on the previous scrum. Great job by Epi to come on and immediately make his presence felt.” Denver would score their only try of the day on the following kick-off. Santa Monica failed to cleanly field the kick and then were penalized for being offside. Denver went from the lineout and crashed the ball at the midfield. The Dolphins’ defense was slow to cover the fringe and allowed the Barbos scrumhalf to slide around the ruck and touch down. De Achaval hit the extras. 38-13 Santa Monica. The Dolphins seemed to have closed out the scoring against the run of play. From the kick-off, Denver hit the ball up in the midfield through several phases. De Achaval found a crease on the right side, hit the gap and offloaded to his replacement center, who then attempted to connect with White-Herzog; however, a sneaky Charlie Purdon slid into the passing lane, intercepted the ball, and easily ran it in from 50 meters out. Unfortunately for the 9-would-be-10, he apparently didn’t cleanly field the intercept and was called for a knock-on. The final try did eventually come on a classic Ali Ross maneuver. From a Santa Monica scrum at midfield, Roberts (now playing 8-man), popped to scrumhalf Carpio, who connected with Ross along the right sideline. The fullback posted his defender up, broke the tackle, tightrope walked the touch line, and put in a perfectly placed grubber to winger Raisch. Raisch did the rest as he sprinted in under the posts. Center Shawn Lee got in on the scoring by converting the try. 45-13 Santa Monica. Commented Coach Commins: “Coming out of last week’s match, where we got to see Denver play SFGG, we knew we had a tall task in front of us. We knew they had size advantage over us and that we had to play a quick game. We did that successfully, had some breaks go our way early-on, and kept pressing forward. The score line flatters us a bit too much in that Denver were a few hops and passes away from it being a drastically different game. We have a lot to work on but I’m proud of the effort that everyone put in today. I give a huge amount of credit to Loa and Charlie for picking up the slack where Harry’s injury was concerned. I honestly don’t know where we would’ve been had it not been for Loa. Also to the locks – Zac and James – for their tireless workrate. “We still have a lot of work to do, a lot of growing, but every step forward is a step in the right direction.”
Article by Dominic Riebli | Originally published at santamonicarugby.com
The Glendale Raptors avenged their loss to SFGG in last year’s PRP final with a 31-27 victory in San Francisco on Saturday. The match was an early highlight on the league schedule with both teams bringing their nearly full compliment of players. As expected from last year’s rivals the match was intense with lots of back and forth with neither side showing Valentine’s Day love. In the end it was Glendale that would gain the last advantage and score the win.
Despite ending up on the negative side of the scoreline the match started brilliantly for Golden Gate. Off the opening kick they pinned Glendale in their own end and when Glendale spilled the ball forward after a few phases Soni Pone cleaned up the ball and found the streaking Bubba Jones for the try. Following the try both teams struggled to find their feet as each committed a number of penalties an knock ons. Glendale was the first team to settle down and after Armandy Peens missed a penalty attempt the Raptors pressed SFGG into a lineout deep in their own. Glendale made them pay as a few phases later the ball found the hands of Chad London for the score. Peens would convert and Glendale would lead 7-5. It would only take a couple of minutes for SFGG to retake the lead. Quick recognition from Pila Huihui at the breakdown led to him making a break away. He as caught but his offload found Mile Pulu to run in for the score. Volney Rouse would miss his second straight conversion but SFGG led 10-5. With only a few minutes left in the half Glendale struck again. This time through a well worked ball to Dustin Croy on the wing. Croy did well to break through a couple of tackles on a his way to the tryzone. Peens would hit the conversion. SFGG’s Tai Enosa hit a long penalty just before the half to make it 14-13 in favor of Glendale. By and large Glendale dominated possession in the first and would do the same at the start of the second. That possession turned into points as Cody Melphy scored to extend the lead to 19-13 before Golden Gate responded with a try of their own. Glendale made a mess of their own five meter lineout and Brendan Daly was there to clean up for the try. Enosa would make the conversion and SFGG would retake the lead at 20-19. Things would get worse for Glendale a minute later as substitute Spencer Scott was carded. On the ensuing scrum Daly ran over for his second try of the day. Enosa made the conversion for a 27-19 lead with less than 20 minutes to play. Sensing the match slipping away the Raptors regrouped led by former SFGG captain Mose Timoteo. Quick ball once again found Melphy in space. His try along with a conversion from Peens put the score at 27-26. They would then take a 31-27 lead when Peens scored his first try of the day. That scoreline would hold as the Raptors picked up the victory at Treasure Island. It has the makings of a season changing win for Glendale after their early stumble to OMBAC. They showed great organization and were quick to punish the SFGG mistakes. For SFGG it was a weekend in which there were positives but was not clean enough for the win. |
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