Warriors to Face Bulls in Grand Final

2008-08-17

The American National Rugby League semifinals have been decided, although not without some degree of controversy.

The New Haven Warriors outlasted the defending champs Connecticut Wildcats 40-34 in one semi, while the Aston DSC Bulls downed the New York Knights 70-18 in the other.

In a contentious result, the Warriors led the Cats 34-10 at halftime but Connecticut stormed back in the second frame and outscored New Haven by 24-6.

The Cats originally disputed the final scoreline, however, it was determined that New Haven got the victory and qualified for their very first AMNRL Grand Final.

“It was a tale of two halves,” New Haven’s player/coach Matt Doeg told ARN. “We made a few errors like dropped balls and missed tackles that let them back in the game, and I wasn’t happy with our second half performance, but I think it’s going to be a really good Grand Final.”

Ewan Robinson led the way for the Warriors with a brace of tries, while Doeg, Siose Muliumu, Derek Roma, Keith Nelson, Luke Carr, and Ed Reed all chimed in with singles. Carr added all of the extras going 4/8 on conversions.

It was sweet revenge for the Warriors, who were knocked out of the running by the Wildcats at this same stage of the season last year. The loss ended a golden run by the Cats, who have appeared in every Grand Final since their inception.

“At halftime I asked them to stand up and be counted and they responded,” said Wildcats CEO Rich Portale. “They played like the true champions they are and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

In the other semi, the Bulls never looked in doubt and led the Knights 34-12 at the half. The win qualified the Bulls for an unprecedented 11th straight Grand Final appearance.

Aston played a man down for around 20 minutes of what was a very physical game of rugby league. Captain Greg Stelluti found himself in the box for a tackle judged to be a high hit, although New York wasn’t able to cash in on the man advantage.

Former Philadelphia-Whitemarsh trio of Louis Tulio, Conway Maraki, and John Grace helped lay the platform for the big win. Tulio led the way with four tries, Maraki had a double, while Grace was seemingly everywhere darting through gaps in the Knights’ defense and offloading to his support players.

Liam Mulhall scored three times, while John Rourke, Stelluti, and Darren Lewis all dotted down once each, Blair Wards was an excellent 11/12 on conversions. The New York side put in three tries of its own, but it wasn’t nearly enough to stay in contention.

“They started kicking on the third and fourth tackles because our defense was so strong,” Bulls’ skipper Greg Stelluti told ARN. “It got to the point on the third down where they’d try a 40-30 because we were so disciplined on defense.”

The Bulls, who started life as the Glen Mills Bulls in 1998, have won six of the 10 Grand Finals played to date.

ARN is pleased to be partnering with the AMNRL to provide the very first ‘live’ play-by-play audio stream of the Grand Final.