Warriors Take Care of Wildcats Again

2008-07-12

The Aston DSC Bulls have further consolidated their place at the top of the standings with another emphatic win in Week Five of the American National Rugby League season.

The Bulls put their cross-town rivals the Philadelphia Fight to the sword with a 72-6 win Saturday in Philly.

Aston ran in 13 tries and led 32-0 at halftime. In a somewhat sloppy game, the Bulls didn’t complete all of their sets of six, which was perhaps due in part to the fact that their player interchange was very active with the entire bench getting a run.

Liam Mulhall led the scoring with four tries and was ably assisted by Matt Stauffer, John Grace, and Rick Dortone, all of whom scored two tries apiece. Ex-Marine John Blythe also chimed in with his first try in rugby league. Blair Wards was 66% accurate with the boot, while Conway Maraki went 1/2 with shots at goal.

“All in all we’re pretty happy with the performance, but we have a lot to work on,” Aston head coach Marcus Vassilakopoulos told ARN. “We have some hard games coming up and the playoffs aren’t far away.”

Ryan McGough was the lone try-scorer for the Fight, and he converted his own score.

“Very proud of our boys and hope they stick with it as we will be better the rest of this year and next for all the punishment we are taking and delivering this year,” added McGough.

The Bucks County Sharks finally got back in the winner’s circle after two straight losses by downing the Fairfax Eagles 64-28. The Sharks stepped on the gas scoring 11 tries and led 32-0 at the main break.

Bucks County defended well when they had to, although Fairfax rattled off 22 unanswered points in the second half to make a game of it. The Sharks opened the second period with a short kickoff that bounced right into the bread basket of Michael McKenzie who dropped the ball, and that set the Eagles on their way. It was the only blemish on McKenzie’s game, who otherwise played solidly.

Among the Sharks’ try-scorers were captain Phil Shipos (2), Zach Padgett, McKenzie, Salvatore Ranniello, Daniel McGovern, and Stephen Thompson, who all went in once each. Thompson also had a stellar day with the boot going 10/11.

Despite the hefty loss, the Eagles earned a valuable bonus point for scoring four tries. “We played probably the best attacking football that I’ve seen in four years,” said the Sharks’ Steve Thompson. “They’re a very spirited team, but we were able to wear them down.”

In a big rivalry game further north in Connecticut, the New Haven Warriors made it a clean sweep of the reigning champs by beating the Wildcats 48-32 in their second head-to-head meeting of the regular season. New Haven led 24-14 at the break but was made to work hard for the W.

Nine tries to six was the final margin, meaning both teams picked up bonus points. All of the Warriors’ tries were shared between three players. Derek Roma, skipper Siose Muliumu, and Ewan Robinson put the Cats away, while halfback Luke Carr went 5/9 on conversions.

In a tight game, first one team would score and then the other would hit right back and that’s how things went for the entire 80 minutes. Carr was one of the Warriors’ standouts with repeated line breaks, putting his support players through gaps in the Wildcats’ defense. New Haven’s Amosa Lio was the man-of-the-match.

Meantime, in north Florida, the hometown Jacksonville Axemen hosted the Washington DC Slayers and thrilled their fans with a 28-10 victory. The match finished with an all-in brawl following a fracas at the final play-the-ball.

“It was tough stuff, it was a thump fest,” Jacksonville head coach Daryl ‘Spinner’ Howland told ARN.

The Axemen earned a bonus point for scoring six tries, while the Slayers came away with nothing despite their efforts. Jacksonville try-scorers included Simon Moate (2), Kenny Brick, Randy Dewey, Brian McLogan, and Brent Shorten. Rich Alleger added a couple of conversions.

And in the Friday night game in New York City, the New York Knights blanked the Northern Raiders 70-0.

“Their play has improved tremendously,” Knights CEO Bob Balachandran told ARN. “They’re a young, young team and they did a good job in holding off the third and fourth tackle. It was just that last effort and we were able to shift the ball wide on them and get things through. But Joel [Venables] has done a good job with them.”

Standings (unofficial):

1. Aston DSC Bulls (5-0)
2. New Haven Warriors (4-0)
3. New York Knights (3-2)
4. Connecticut Wildcats (3-2)
5. Jacksonville Axemen (3-2)
6. Bucks County Sharks (2-3)
7. Washington DC Slayers (2-2)
8. Fairfax Eagles (1-3)
9. Philadelphia Fight (0-5)
10. Northern Raiders (0-4)