Ohio blasts San Francisco

In the first professional rugby match held in Ohio, the home side used a clinical effort to blow out the traveling San Francisco side. Ohio scored eight tries with Spike Davis, Sebastián Kalm, and JP Eloff each scoring two tries apiece in the blowout victory. As in their first two matches this season, San Francisco looked dangerous with ball in hand in their backs, but their forwards couldn’t keep up with the tempo that Ohio set. Led by Captain and scrumhalf Shaun Davies, Ohio pushed the pace of the match throughout the first half which wore down the San Francisco pack and led to a late barrage that turned a 32-10 lead in the 65th minute into a convincing 51-17 win.

Ohio came out strong and controlled possession for the bulk of the first half of the match. Davies provided good service to the back line led by JP Eloff and the Ohio forwards were providing excellent support. It didn’t take long for Ohio to take the lead as Spike Davis scored in the corner after a great series of phases from the home side. The conversion from Davies gave Ohio a 7-0 lead which they extended in the 11th minute when Pierce Dargan ran a nice support line to get an offload and score. Another Davies conversion and Ohio led 14-0.

Chilean No. 8 Sebastian Kalm got in on the action. With San Francisco pressuring deep in the Ohio half, a turnover ended up in Kalm’s hands which he put to foot downfield. Kalm provided support on the chase and ended up with the ball back in his hands to finish for another Ohio score to push their lead to 19-0.

Reeling from the pace of the match, San Francisco finally got on the board with a 25th minute penalty goal from Volney Rouse. Ohio bounced right back with a penalty from Davies to extend their lead to 22-3. Ohio continued their pressure on San Francisco and found themselves with a scrum deep in opponent territory. After a penalty at the scrum, Kalm took the quick tap and scored his second try of the match to give Ohio a 27-3 lead.

San Francisco got a glimpse of hope towards the end of the first half. Under pressure from Ohio and time winding down, San Francisco made a break with Pila Iongi cutting a swath. A penalty downfield led to a yellow card to an Ohio player. San Francisco used the momentum and scored with Jacob Finau bulldozing his way to a try. The Rouse conversion cut the Ohio lead to 27-10 going into halftime. With a man advantage coming out of the break, the visitors had a golden opportunity to get back into the match.

San Francisco quickly returned the yellow as one of their players was sent off to begin the second half. With each team down a man, Ohio dashed any hope of a comeback as Felipe Ferrarini scored in the 45th minute. The score came as Ohio stole a scrum from San Francisco with only seven players in their pack and Ferrarini came out with the ball and a clear path to the endzone.

Both sides struggled for the next 10-15 minutes of play with repeated knock ons and infractions. Both sides were showing the wear of a high pace first half with San Francisco showing, once again, that their forwards drop off in the second half. The final 15 minutes ended in a barrage from both sides. Davis added his second try of the day in the 66th minute to give Ohio a commanding 37-10 lead going into the final ten minutes of play.

San Francisco picked up a consolation try in the 75th minute from flyhalf Orene Ai’i. The conversion from Rouse closed the gap to 37-17 with less than five minutes to play. Instead of sitting on the lead, Ohio turned up the pressure in the final minutes. JP Eloff found his way into space and stepped his way to tries in the 76th and 79th minutes as Ohio became the first PRO Rugby team to crack the 50-point barrier.

The victory was a clinical effort by Ohio who showed good balance between their forwards and backs as they improved to 1-1 on the season. Jamie Mackintosh led the front row and had support from an active back row of Ferrarini, Kalm, and Matt Hughston. Kalm put in a Man of the Match performance with two tries, multiple breaks, and some heady plays. Ohio came to play in front of their home crowd and looked the better side from the opening minutes. Ohio appears to be a team that can challenge in the inaugural PRO Rugby season.

San Francisco falls to 0-3 and appear to be in serious trouble. While they boast a big pack of forwards, the group hasn’t been able to keep up with the pace of play. Long breaks from their backs went unsupported throughout the match and led to turnovers by Ohio.

OHIO 51
Tries – S. Davis 2 (4, 66), P. Dargan (11), S. Kalm 2 (19, 35), F. Ferrarini (45), J. Eloff 2 (76, 79)
Cons – S. Davies 2 (5, 12), J. Eloff 2 (77, 80)
Pens – S. Davies (27)

SAN FRANCISCO 17
Tries – J. Finau (41), O. Ai’i (75)
Cons – V. Rouse 2 (42, 76)
Pens – V. Rouse (25)

OHIO
1 Jamie Mackintosh (capt.) 2 Peter Malcolm 3 Angus MacLellan 4 Pierce Dargan 5 Kyle Baillie 6 Filippo Ferrarini 7 Matt Hughston 8 Sebastián Kalm 9 Shaun Davies 10 JP Eloff 11 Mason Baum 12 Roland Suniula 13 Ahmad Harajly 14 Spike Davis 15 Zac Mizell

16 Cameron Falcon 17 Demecus Beach 18 Anthony Parry 19 Dominic Pezzutti 20 Zach Stryffeler 21 Robbie Shaw 22 Chris Kunkel 23 Alan Hanson

SAN FRANCISCO
1 Niko Lolohea 2 Tom Coolican 3 Patrick Latu (capt.) 4 Siaosi Mahoni 5 Rich Knight 6 Siupeli Sakalia 7 Sam Finau 8 David Tameilau 9 Michael Reid 10 Orene Ai’i 11 Jack O’Hara 12 Martini Talapusi 13 Volney Rouse 14 Pila Iongi 15 Jake Anderson

16 Codi Jones 17 Maka Tameilau 18 Fancy Namulau’ulu 19 Jacob Finau 20 Naibuka Tawake 21 Isaac Helu 22 Junior Helu 23 Charles Mateo