Women’s Division II: 

The Orlando Griffins  traveled to take on the Jacksonville Sinners RFC.  In the end, Orlando defeated Jacksonville 57 to 14.  Orlando capitalized on 11 tries and one conversion.  Jacksonville was limited to two tries and two conversions.

Men’s Division II: 

The Orlando Griffins  men’s club also traveled northeast to take on the Jacksonville RFC.  The results literally came down to a successful conversion from the Griffins.

Jacksonville held onto a 36 to 26 lead with eight minutes in the game before Orlando scored two tries to even up the game at 36 to 36.  However, the Griffins’ successful conversion on their second try gave Orlando the win over Jacksonville.

Both clubs benefitted from penalty tries (one a piece).  As for the rest of the scoring, Orlando earned five tries and three conversions, while Jacksonville only successfully converted two of its five tries.

Both the Boca Raton Buccaneers v. Miami Tridents and the Fort Lauderdale v. Okapi Wanderers games were postponed due to field and weather conditions.

Men’s Division III

Finally, the Gainesville Hogs hosted Daytona Beach Coconuts Saturday.  Gainesville defeated Daytona 54 (ten tries and two conversions) to Daytona Beach 8 (one try and one penalty kick).
The Palm Beach Panthers  benefitted from the Indian River Raptors forced forfeit Saturday, giving the Panthers their first win for 2019.

Northern California Women’s Division II

San Francisco Golden Gate (SFGG) vs Sacramento Amazons was cancelled.  The reason, according to SFGG Facebook page, was “due to the rain over the past few weeks, our fields have turned to marshlands.”  The match between the two teams has been rescheduled for March 30. 

Northern California Men’s Division II:

Life West Gladiators bounced back from last week’s loss with a slashing of Vacaville Old Dogs.  The old dogs put up a fight as it remained scoreless midway through the first half.  Life West played through a yellow card late in the second half and won at home, 53-0.  San Francisco Golden Gate (SFGG) D2 vs Sacramento Capitals was postponed due to waterlogged pitch.  San Jose Seahawks travelled to Santa Rosa Rugby as both teams attempted to start the season 2-0.  The Seahawks flew into a 2-try lead 5 minutes in, and held the lead 17-20 at the half.  The second half would see 3 lead changes until Santa Rosa would take advantage of back-to-back San Jose yellow cards and walk away with the needed home win 34-27.  Bay Area Baracus hosted their first game of the season against a red-hot Olympic Club Rugby.  #8 Mark Bowers and #11 Tyler Wallace would both have a hat-trick of tries as Olympic Club would be the first team to record a triple digit point differential in the 7-67 road win.  

Northern California Men’s Division III-A

San Joaquin-Stanislaus Rugby at home against Chico Mighty Oaks in a close game leaving both teams tied for first.  The Harlots would score first, which was answered immediately by Chico.  This back and forth would be the theme for the remainder of the game.  One conversion missed early in the game by San Joaquin would be the difference maker at the end allowing scrumhalf Brian Lynn to top off a gritty performance with a heroic dropgoal in extra time, flooring the Mighty Oaks 29-28.  Berkeley Rugby was at home against Olympic Rugby D3.  Berkeley let Olympic Club jump to a 12 point lead before knotting it up at 12 behind a penalty try at the half.  Olympic Club would start the second half with a quick try and capitalize on a Berkeley yellow card to push the lead 12-24.  A late try by Berkeley would be the only answer, as they lost their second game 17-24.  Google Rugby visited Fresno Rugby for their first game of the season.  Google could not benefit from a Fresno yellow card, but remained up at the half 3-7.  Fresno finished the game with 19 more points and Google failed to find an answer in their search for a first win 22-7.    

Northern California Men’s Division III-B

Mendocino Steam Donkeys hosted San Jose Seahawks D3 in a defensive battle that saw the Steam Donkeys behind 0-10 at the half.  Mendocino would kick their way to tying the game at 10.  San Jose would have the last word, scoring a try as time expired clutching victory 10-15.  Bay Area Baracus B travelled to San Francisco Fog and made a season opening statement with a 7-75 conquest behind a 20 point game by #10 Myles Fenwick.  San Francisco Golden Gate (SFGG) D3 vs Shasta Highlanders was postponed due to waterlogged pitch.  Jesters Rugby hosted Reno Zephyrs as both teams looked to bounce back from first game losses.  It was the Jesters that had the only laughs in a highly one-sided game.  Jesters ran up 70 points and a shutout was looming for Reno, until they took advantage of a late yellow card and put up a penalty kick.  3 points is not a comeback, according to Jesters Rugby, and they added to the anecdote with another try, demolishing the Zephyrs 75-3.

Men’s Division I:

The Dallas Harlequins got their first win of the year over the weekend against San Antonio Rugby, 34-19. It was one way traffic from the opening kickoff, as the Harlequins scored 34 unanswered points. San Antonio tried to get their way back into it, through Trevor Brunet- who scored 14 points in 10 minutes; but it was too little too late. The other fixture saw the Austin Huns get their second win of the year through a comfortable 40-7 drubbing of the West Houston Lions.

Women’s Division I:

What looked like it could have been a close matchup heading into the weekend, proved to be anything but. Houston Athletic were on a mission as they bulldozed their way through the Dallas Harlequins. Delia Nava was lethal with the boot contributing 14 points to HARC’s efforts going on to win 73-0.

Men’s Division II:

Dallas Rugby D2 got an impressive 43-0 win over local rival Fort Worth Rugby. Dallas was helped by wing, Tom Hever who notched up a hattrick and hooker Jeff Robertson who matched the number on his back with two tries. The Austin Huns D2 followed their D1 team’s suit and beat Dallas Athletic by a convincing 43-17 scoreline.

In the central division Houston United took down San Marcos 45-17. Mitchell Early was the star for HURT as he bagged a double in the win.

Women’s Division II:

The only game to take place in the Women’s Red River Division II competition put San Antonio Riveters over Dallas Athletic, 57-12. Playing a massive role in the Riveters win for Christine Krieger who scored 17 points.

Men’s Division III:

Completing a perfect day for the Austin Huns were their D3 squad, who were able to beat Alamo City Rugby, 34-18. Playing their first game since their National Championship last year, were Austin Black D3. They picked up where they left off, smothering Corpus Christi 50-0. The biggest win of the day saw the Grand Prairie Mavericks leave Denton Rugby picking up the pieces, as the Mavericks went home with a 97-0 victory.

Elsewhere in a rivalry match, HURT D3 were able to keep home field advantage over Galveston Rugby, beating them 36-19. However, expect Galveston to come back guns blazing in the return fixture. Bay Area rugby came back from a 17-0 deficit to beat the Houston Arrows, 31-29. A yellow card against the Arrows was their foil; as Bay Area put up 21 points in the ten minutes they enjoyed a man advantage. The final game saw Woodlands D3 land a confidence building 22-5 win over the Kingswood Crusaders.

Northern California Women’s Division II

San Jose Seahawks hosted Berkeley All Blues D2 in the kick-off for Women’s Club Rugby in Northern California.  The All Blues put on quite a show as they grounded the Seahawks 14-85 behind a 26 point day by flyhalf Olivia Bernadel Huey.    

Northern California Men’s Division II

Santa Rosa Rugby travelled to San Francisco Golden Gate (SFGG) D2 hoping to start 2019 off with an important road win.  The frost was still present for both teams for fifteen minutes until Jerome Loiti broke the zeros with a penalty kick and a try that opened the flood gates for Santa Rosa.  Down 0-22 at the half, SFGG D2 came out and scored a try at 51 minutes in a feeble attempt at a comeback.  Santa Rosa would not allow any sort of comeback holding SFGG D2 to 2 tries and ran away with the victory 12-39.  Sacramento Capitals hosted Life West Gladiators D2 and jumped ahead quickly with a try from scrum-half Jacob Wright.  Life West got their first points at 31 minutes, but were slapped with a yellow card to finish out the half with the Capitals holding a 13-5 lead.  Life West quickly scored to open the second half, but were again penalized with a yellow card.  This time, Sacramento took full advantage of the man advantage adding 10 points to their differential.  The Gladiators would fight back hard, but ultimately fall to the Capitals 35-31.  Vacaville Old Dogs were still in a winter hibernation as Olympic Club Rugby visited the dog house.  Knotted at 7 in under 10 minutes, Olympic Club chained the Old Dogs and scored 52 unanswered points.  Hooker Donald Deaile and #8 Mark Bowers both had 2 tries apiece in a comprehensive 7-59 win.   San Jose Seahawks welcomed the Diablo Old Gaels and both teams put on quite the match.  The first half saw the lead exchanged 3 times, and knotted up once.  Only a conversion broke the tie at the half, with the Seahawks up 24-22.  The first 10 minutes of the second half saw a defensive battle until a penalty kick by San Jose’s Michael Mitchell.  To keep up with the spirit of the match, Diablo came firing back into the lead with a converted try.  The Seahawks flew ahead by a point once again thanks to another penalty kick from Mitchell.  Midway through the second half, both teams saw a yellow card and played with 14.  San Jose would lengthen their lead, and Diablo would fight hard to get it back, but fall short in the end 44-36. 

Northern California Men’s Division III-A

Silicon Valley Rugby fell behind early to San Joaquin-Stanislaus Rugby and remained behind 7-26 at the half.  The home team would make a winter comeback going ahead at 70 minutes.  San Joaquin would do the best they could to prevent the comeback, tying it at 311 with under 10 minutes in the game.  Silicon Valley would get the last points and prevail 38-31.  Napa Valley Rugby was at home against Redwood Empire Rugby.  The visitors were behind at the half 19-7.  Napa Valley would prove too strong, felling Redwood Empire 43-19.  Olympic Club Rugby D3 travelled to Fresno Rugby and quickly got ahead of the home team.  Down 8-12 at the half, Fresno would jump ahead at 46 minutes with a try from flyhalf Mark Miranda.  Fresno would remain in control and collect the win, 30-17.  Chico Mighty Oaks hosted Berkeley Rugby in a close game that saw Berkeley chipping away at the roots of the Mighty Oaks the entire game.  Capitalizing on a Chico yellow card late in the first half, Berkeley would take the lead at the restart 19-22.  Chico would not let Berkeley maintain the lead long, gathering in two consecutive tries.  Berkeley would score several minutes into extra time, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.  Chico wins, 38-32

Northern California Men’s Division III-B

San Jose Seahawks D3 stood their ground at home against a more than capable Diablo Old Gaels D3 56-3.  Diablo was down a man via a red card early in the first half, and San Jose took full advantage.  San Francisco Fog had a slow start at home against Central Coast Beach Dogs.  Down 8-19 at the half, the Fog crept in and fully engulfed the Beach Dogs late in the game behind tries by #114 Sean de la O and #13 Bryce Lampe.  Jesters Rugby meandered over to Marin Reds and failed to amuse the home team, falling 22-14.  San Francisco Golden Gate (SFGG) D3 had a spectacular home stand against Mendocino Steam Donkeys.  Hat tricks by loosehead Nino Tamburello and #14 Aaron Rambo helped secure the win for SFGG D3 62-12.  Division 3-B saw all home teams win on Saturday, as Shasta Highlanders blew away the Zephyrs 41-14, behind a hat trick of tries by eight-man Urriolagoitia Miner.