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OMBAC Comes Up Short In Super League Friendly - Team prepares for Dallas in Super League opener
(San Diego, CA) 15 March  -- The OMBAC rugby team came up one game short of a perfect Super League preseason as they lost to San Francisco Golden Gate on Saturday 37-26 at the Little Q. OMBAC fought back from a 17-6 first half deficit but indiscipline and some questionable decision making did them in in the final 10 minutes of the match. This was OMBAC's last tune-up prior to their Super League season opener. They had defeated Austin and Charlotte in their two previous "friendlies." Golden Gate remains undefeated on the season and could be a major player in this year's Super League. They open their season next week at home against Old Puget Sound Beach. With the wind at their backs in the first half, the home side wanted to keep play in the Golden Gate end of the pitch. Things were going according to plan for the first five minutes as Golden Gate had only a sniff of possession. That changed in a flash. With OMBAC controlling possession near midfield, Gate scrumhalf Mose Timoteo stepped in front of an OMBAC pass and scampered 50 meters untouched for the game's first score. The simple conversion by Grant Wells gave the visitors the 7-0 lead. The local's response was quick as Matt Alexander nailed a 40-meter penalty kick after former OMBAC player Paul Jennings failed to release on the restart. Fifteen minutes into the match, United States National Team backrower, Shaun Paga, playing on the wing for Golden Gate, rounded the corner on OMBAC fullback Alistair Steele for the visitor's second try. Alexander cut into the lead with a second penalty but Golden Gate stormed right back downfield. After some solid forward play, Jonny Naciqa made a long dash downfield before dumping a pass off to winger Sai Vadravale for the finishing touch. The conversion was no good but Golden Gate held a 17-6 lead and a 3-0 advantage in the try count. But it was the home side that finished the stronger of the two sides heading into the break. A third successive penalty effort by Alexander made it 17-9. OMBAC finally found the try zone with seven minutes left in the half. Good backline interchange between Brian Leauma, Andrew Webb and Chris Frara moved the ball to the 22. Frara had loads of work to finish off the move but a zig here and a burst there was enough to see the winger home. OMBAC took their first lead of the match just as the first half came to an end. The visitors tried to end the first half with a long clearing kick deep in OMBAC territory. Steele raced back to gather the kick. He was soon engulfed in green but #8 Dan Payne was nearby to keep the ball in OMBAC hands. With a numbers advantage wide, OMBAC quickly spun the ball through the hands of Leauma, Frara, Steele and Webb. The big winger was sandwiched just short of the Gate tryline but got an inside pass off to the supporting Kenny Wilson for the touch down. Alexander slotted his fifth kick of the half as OMBAC went into the break with a 23-17 lead. The blue and white had the lead after 40 minutes but they were also going into the wind in the second half. Would the six-point lead be big enough? As expected, it was mostly one-way traffic in OMBAC's direction for the first 15 minutes of the second half. Golden Gate had two chances to take a couple of three point chunks out of the OMBAC lead but Wells could only hit one of two penalties to make it 23-20. Alexander restored the six point cushion as he made it 6 from 6 on the day midway through the half with a 40-meter bomb. With the hard-hitting game still in the balance, things went terribly wrong for OMBAC over the final 10 minutes of the match. A break by Golden Gate hooker Robbie Flynn led directly to Timoteo's second try of the match. The long angled conversion by Wells just found enough strength to make it over the bar to give the visitors the 27-26 lead. Indiscipline, which caused OMBAC to retreat an additional 10 meters on three or four occasions on the day, once again reared its head at the 73rd minute mark. Alexander, unhappy with referee's Dave Peters interpretation of a call, showed his displeasure and was immediately sent off the pitch with a red card. Wells ensuing penalty kick hit the cross bar then over for a vital three points as the lead increased to four. Down a man, OMBAC threw everything at their opponents for the next few minutes but just couldn't crack a very tough line of defense. Still on attack, an OMBAC possession squirted free to Timoteo who raced downfield before finding powerful center Karl Thomson for the finishing touch on an exciting and physical match. In earlier action at the Little Q, OMBAC defeated Golden Gate's second side 50-10 while in the first match of the day, OMBAC's Division I side lost to Belmont Shore 31-14. All five sides resume play on Saturday, March 20 as OMBAC hosts the Dallas Harlequins in the 2004 Super League opener for both teams. Kickoff at the Little Q is 3:00 p.m. OMBAC's other teams are on the road as the Division I side has two matches at Las Vegas while the Division II side travels up the road for a couple of matches against North County.
Source: USARUGBYSUPERLEAGUE.com
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