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As expected, the weather played a role in the East Conference’s schedule, with the fixture between Charlotte and PAC postponed until April 3rd. 

There were mixed results for the Boston teams that travelled to New York.  Boston continued their impressive preseason results with a blanking of Old Blue by a score of 20-0.  While on Travers Island, NYAC built on a 14-0 halftime lead to cruise to a 32-0 win over the Boston Irish Wolfhounds.

NYAC’s Bruce McLane describes the game as being played in unplayable conditions, in “gale force conditions and savage rain,” but NYAC will surely be pleased with taking the maximum points available.  Frank Sharpe, Andrew Lindsey, Shawn Rafferty, Jame Denise and Ryan McTiernan all scored tries for the Winged Foot, Rafferty being the only back among the try scorers.  Peter O’Brien managed to convert a couple, and also added a penalty despite the conditions.  Bruce reports NYAC capitalized on Irish errors throughout and the score perhaps wasn’t reflective of the closeness of the game.  That will be scant consolation for Coach Adam Lewis and his players as they make their way back to Boston.

Over in Chicago, the weather wasn’t much better, with a cold raw day in the Windy City.  The Chicago Griffins handling the visiting Dallas Harlequins 35-13, scoring five tries in the process to get their campaign off to a great start. 

But surely the most eye-catching score of the day comes from the Pacific Northwest, where Old Puget Sound Beach notched fifty points against OMBAC, with a final score of 50-21.  Wingers Isimeli Daveta (3) and Filimoni Botitu (2) racked up five tries between them, on a day where OPSB scored several times on long runs and counter-attacks.  Number 8 Paletasale Ale was very effective for the locals.  OMBAC reportedly struggled to get past the gain-line, although they were successful from close range with a first half try.

Incidentally all three matchups in the West conference involved playing the game in a city with typically colder weather, and the only visitor that fared well in week one was San Francisco Golden Gate.

At Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado, the visitors came away with a solid victory against the Denver Barbarian side.  The final score-line was 31-17, with SFGG holding Denver scoreless in the first half. The Barbos would add a couple of late scores to narrow the gap and make the score more respectable, but there would be little joy for the locals on what ended up being a cold, wet Sunday afternoon in Denver.

SFGG’s coach Paul Keeler was happy to walk away with the bonus-point win, but doesn’t take the victory for granted, adding “we were lucky to come away with the bonus points. We had some good plays and were able to capitalize early on from some scraps, but we started kind of flat. As a team, we just weren’t clicking like we’d like. We didn’t get a whole lot of preseason matches and I think a lot of it is due to our fitness.”

Keeler’s Golden Gate squad will get a couple weeks to work out those kinks, before hosting the Chicago Lions at home on March 27, while the Chicago Lions had a bye week this week and look to get their RSL start by hosting the Griffins next weekend.
 
WEEK 1 RESULTS
 
Week 1 - March 13, 2010
 
Boston Irish Wolfhounds 0 @ 32 New York Athletic Club
Boston Rugby 20 @ 0 Old Blue New York
Dallas Harlequins 13 @ 35 Chicago Griffins
Old Mission Beach Athletic Club 21 @ 50 Old Puget Sound Beach
 
Week 1 - March 14, 2010
 
San Francisco Golden Gate  31 @ 17 Denver Barbarians