July 3, 2016
Ohio Aviators Repel San Diego Breakers From Scaling The Fortress
Photo: PRO Rugby
Doug Coil
The Ohio Aviators broke open a close match during the first half and won 44-21 against the San Diego Breakers. This was the first time that the Aviators did not reach 50 points at home, but they remain in first place with a 7-3 record and 37 points. The Breakers record drops to 4-5, but they remain in third place.
The Aviators travel to Sacramento next week and will be looking for another bonus point win. They then have two weeks off prior to Facing second place Denver at home the final week of the season. That week may decide who wins the League. Denver has a bye this week and then plays four matches. They have 31 points in the standings.
The Breakers have three matches that remain, all away. Ohio will be rooting for the Breakers next week against Denver. San Diego then travels to San Francisco and end their season on July 23rd at Sacramento. The Breakers are a good team and want to finish their season on a winning note.
Match Recap
The first half saw the Ohio Aviators having a number of breakdown infractions. Three minutes into the match, Kurt Morath had an opportunity for the Breakers to take the early lead, however his kick was wide. Three minutes later Shaun Davies slotted his penalty kick for the Aviators and led 3-0.
The Breakers had another penalty kick go wide before Morath nailed his third attempt to level the match at 3 all. A few minutes later Cecil Garber brought a San Diego attack to within 10 meters before the Breakers were penalized for not releasing at the breakdown.
The first try of the match came at nineteen minutes when Ohio turned a lineout into a maul with Dylan Fawsitt barreling over for a try. Shaun Davies converted for an Aviators 10-3 lead.
The Breakers then attacked deep into Aviator territory as Phil Mackenzie reached to within 5 meters of the line. Two minutes later Morath added another penalty kick to narrow the score to 10-6.
Shaun Davies made the Breakers pay soon after for an infraction with a penalty kick of his own and the score was 13-6. Two minutes later, Ohio attacked from the restart and Fawsitt took an offload for a try in the corner. Davies converted for a 20-6 lead.
San Diego then had another long attack to within 5 meters, but were thwarted again from scoring. Ohio had one last attack deep into San Diego territory from a Spike Davies break, but additional points were not added.
The Breakers had three possible scoring opportunities during the first half and had most of the possession, however the Ohio Aviators led 20-6 at halftime.
During the second half, the Aviators would extend their lead and break open an otherwise tight match.
Nine minutes into the second half, the Breakers had a scrum, but a steal by Riekert Hattingh resulted in a try that was converted. Soon after an Aviator penalty resulted in Morath’s third penalty kick of the match. The score was 25-9.
At this point, the Aviators broke the match open with three tries. Spike Davis added the first two, with the second one converted. Sebastián Kalm then added another to make the lead 44-9.
San Diego still had something left in the tank, as Mikey Te’o drew in a defender and Tom Bliss dove over for a try and Kalei Konrad converted. Then Ryan Matyas broke deep into Aviator territory and Epi Kalamani went in for the last try.
The final score was the Ohio Aviators 44-21 over the San Diego Breakers.
My man of the match was Dylan Fawsitt who had two tries after working hard to be in the right position. Spike Davis also increased his try scoring lead to 12 tries with another two try performance, While Sebastian Kalm added another and sits in second place among the try leaders.
The San Diego Breakers pushed the Ohio Aviators today, but the Ohio Aviators defended The Fortress.
Match preview: Ohio Aviators Host San Diego Breakers at The Fortress
Ohio Aviators: 1 Jamie Mackintosh 2 Dylan Fawsitt 3 Demecus Beach 4 Ryan McTiernan 5 Pierce Dargan 6 Filippo Ferrarini 7 Sebastián Kalm 8 Riekert Hattingh 9 Shaun Davies 10 Taylor Howden 11 Alex Elkins 12 Dominic Waldouck 13 Roland Suniula 14 Aaron “Spike” Davis 15 Zac Mizell 16 Chris Kunkel 17 Angus MacLellan 18 Kyle Baillie 19 Allan Hanson 20 Robbie Shaw 21 Chad Joseph 22 Derrek Van Klein 23 Ahmad Harajly Coaches: Head Coach-Paule Barford Assistant Coaches: Paul Holmes, Eamonn Hogan Manager: Tom Rooney
San Diego Breakers: 1 Joe Taufete’e 2 Mikey Sosene-Feagai 3 Jake Ilnicki 4 Ian Carpenter 5 Tai Tuisamoa 6 Bruce Thomas 7 Cecil Garber 8 Sione Tuihalamaka 9 Charlie Purdon 10 Kurt Morath 11 Phil Mackenzie 12 Andrew Suniula 13 Ryan Matyas 14 Pono Haitsuka 15 Mikey Te’o 16 Brice Schilling 17 Mason Petersen 18 Epi Kalamani 19 Jean Baptiste Gobelet 20 Chris Turori 21 Tom Bliss 22 Kalei Konrad 23 Ben Leatigaga Coaches: Head Coach – Ray Egan Assistant Coaches: Matt Hawkins, Rob Hoadley Manager: Sean Lindersmith
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