RUGBY: Super League champs turn in Oscar winning performance

In keeping with the Academy awards in Hollywood US Super League champions, Life College of Atlanta, have opened the defense of their title with an Oscar winning performance.

Life scored ten tries in a 71-7 demolition of Philadelphia-Whitemarsh. Five of the tries were scored by outside center Chip Curtis, while Jason Penaluna kicked nine conversions and one penalty for a personal haul of 21 points. One of the many highlights for Life was a try set up by Arnold Manier who burst into the backline, drew the cover and fed a flying Nkuleleko Skweyiya who sprinted away to dot down under the posts just as a loud thunder clap sounded overhead. Life coach Mel Smith said he was pleased with the result, “It wasn’t a fair indication of our strength, but we were just glad to get the first game of the season under our belts.”

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference, Kansas City scored a narrow 29-26 win over PAC. The Potomac Athletic Club had a 9 point lead with just 3 minutes remaining, but the Blues scored two tries to snatch a last gasp victory. Kansas City’s match winning try came on the very last play of the game.

The other game in the East saw New York Old Blue at home to the Washington RFC. In a dour one-try apiece match, Old Blue ran out winners 14-7 due mainly to the goal kicking prowess of Mark Dempsey who potted three penalties. Washington is still winless since the start of last season. In the Western Conference, the match of the round was supposed to be OMBAC versus Dallas in the big-D. However, 24 hours of steady rain prior to the match turned the field into a quagmire which resulted in a game that was a forward oriented struggle. Only one try was scored on the day, that by OMBAC forward Chris Conklin within the first 5 minutes of the game. With Dallas leading 6-5 in the dying stages, all the home team had to do was win a lineout and kick the ball dead, but OMBAC stole the ball and worked their way downfield where they were awarded a penalty. Alistair Steele booted the extra points for an agonizing 8-6 win.

In Los Angeles, Belmont Shore hosted Old Puget Sound Beach in what turned out to be an exciting display of running rugby. Belmont scored four tries en route to an impressive 35-22 victory, but not before withstanding a late charge by a determined Beach whose cause was aided by referee David Peters awarding a penalty try for repeated offsides by Belmont.

Belmont Shore skipper Greg Alley said his side needed the victory, “Last week was a tough loss so we needed the win and the bonus point.” A philosophical OPSB coach Scott Shepherd said the loss wasn’t the end of the world, “I think we’re going to be all right. We want to be one of the best teams at the end of the year and I think we’ll get there.”

Further north in San Francisco, the Gentlemen of Aspen made amends for their big loss last week with a 25-0 thumping of San Francisco Golden Gate. Both teams had players sin binned during the match and both played the last quarter of the game with only 14 men.

In the final game of the round, Denver edged out a game Old Blue-Griffens 23-18. Denver scored three tries to two.