April 25, 2016
Denver Forwards Charge to Win Against San Francisco
Doug Coil
PRO Rugby opened their season two weeks ago as Sacramento suffered a 37-25 loss at Sacramento, while Denver came back to tie Ohio in regulation and win 16-13 in extra time. PRO Rugby week 2 had Denver traveling to San Francisco and leaving with a 35 -18 win to top the standings.
San Francisco will travel next week to Ohio with both teams seeking their first win. Denver will travel to San Diego in a battle of unbeaten teams.
PRO Rugby San Francisco v Denver: Week 2
It only took four minutes for San Francisco to put the first points on the board as Volney Rouse slotted a 30 meter penalty kick for a 3-0 lead. Nine minutes later, a Denver scrum had San Francisco back peddling. A penalty ensued and Will Magie knotted the score at 3 all.
A few minutes later, Denver had another scoring opportunity off a lineout. Ata Malifa found a gap and went to San Francisco’s 22. A penalty to to Denver had Will Magie going for the posts, but the kick was missed.
The momentum quickly shifted to San Francisco as Denver then found itself defending deep in their territory. A penalty to Denver was taken on a quick tap by Niku Krueger, but resulted in a turnover. At the breakdown, Rouse offloaded to Sam Finau for a try. Volney Rouse missed the conversion, but San Francisco had a 8-3 lead.
San Francisco added another try soon after, as Jack O’Hara streamed down the wing for a try. Once again the conversion was missed. San Francisco lead 13-3.
Denver answered back as Pedrie Wannenburg picked off a scrum to bull his way in for a try to narrow the lead to 13-8. A scrum infraction then had Will Magie added 3 points on a penalty kick.
Denver’s scrum was dominance was evident during the match. A scrum to Denver had Denver driving forward and Logan Collins offloading to Pedrie Wannenburg for a try. Magie converted and Denver took a five point lead into halftime. (13-18)
To begin the second half, San Francisco brought in Tom Coolican in a Hooker to combat the Denver first half dominance in the scrums. Although some improvement was noticed, Denver’s set pieces continued to be a strength.
Denver opened the second half scoring after a 5 meter scrum saw Kruger connecting with Malifa for a try. The score was now 13-23. Denver continued their attacks over the next several minutes without success.
Fifty minutes into the match, Denver substituted Nick Wallace for Pedrie Wannenburg, who was noticeably limping. Wallace entered as Hooker, Fenoglio went to Flanker and Logan Collins went to eight-man. This adjustment did not impact the Denver forwards. After San Francisco held the ball up in-goal, a 5 meter scrum ensued and Logan Collins went in for a try. Magie converted and the score was now 13-35.
With time winding down, David Taimeilau showed the force he is when he added a final San Francisco try. The final score was San Francisco 18 to 35 for Denver.
The warm weather appealed to Denver after last week’s snow bowl. They unleashed their offense and will face another potent offense next week in San Diego.
San Francisco will need to regroup and stabilize their scrums prior to playing Ohio next week. Ohio is very quick on their coverage defense, and showed they can be an offensive threat as well.
Look for two more exciting matches next week, as PRO Rugby continues to captivate attention in the United States.
San Francisco Squad: 1. Maka Tameilau 2 Jay Finau 3 Patrick Latu (captain) 4 Siupeli Sakalia 5 Siaosi Mahoni 6 Sam Finau 7 Alec Gletzer 8 Tevita Tameilau 9 Devereaux Ferris 10 Orene Ai’i 11 Jack O’Hara 12 Martini Talapusi 13 Nick Blevins 14 Volney Rouse 15 Jake Anderson 16 Tom Coolican 17 Fancy Namulau’ulu 18 Codi Jones 19 Issac Helu 20 Junior Helu 21 Michael Reid 22 Michael Haley 23 Charles Mateo Coaches: Head Coach – Paul Keeler Assistant Coaches: Adriaan Ferris, Simon Fathers
Denver Squad: 1 Luke White 2 Zach Fenoglio 3 Ben Tarr 4 Christian Wiessing 5 Casey Rock 6 Logan Collins 7 Peter Dahl 8 Pedrei Wannenburg (C) 9 Niku Kruger 10 Will Magie 11 Michael Al-Jiboori 12 Ata Malifa 13 Chad London 14 Dustin Croy 15 Max de Achaval 16 Nick Wallace 17 Jake Turnbull 18 Soane Leger 19 Gannon Moore 20 Bobby Impson 21 Mose Timateo 22 Mike Garrity 23 Timana Tahu Coaches: Head Coach – Sean O’Leary, Assistant Coaches: Peter Borlase, David Williams Technical Advisor: Andre Snyman Manager: Kieran Browner
