Denver pushes past gutsy San Francisco

Home town favorites Denver held off a defiant San Francisco team by a score of 41-37 in another thrilling PRO Rugby result. Chad London ripped through the line to score his second try and push Denver out to an 11 point lead, but a a late try by Maka Tameilau made things interesting and kept tensions high through to the final whistle. The result pushes Denver to a perfect 5-0 record while San Francisco drops to a polar opposite 0-5.

The two sides went back and forth with a narrow 24-20 halftime score leaving it all to play for. A raft of penalties on both sides of the ball saw first Timana Tahu and then debutant Bill Fukofuka sent to the bin, and the opportunities opened. While Denver outscored San Francisco six tries to four, 17 points from the boot of captain Volney Rouse kept his team in the game.

Denver will enjoy another bye next weekend, while San Francisco host Ohio on Sunday at Boxer Stadium.

DENVER 41
Tries – C. London 2, Z. Fenoglio, L. White, C. Rock, C. Wiessing
Cons – W. Magie 4
Pens – W. Magie
Yellow cards – T. Tahu

SAN FRANCISCO 37
Tries – P. Iongi, O. Ai’i, D. Tameilau, M. Tameilau
Cons – V. Rouse 4
Pens – V. Rouse 3
Yellow cards – B. Fukofuka

DENVER
1 Luke White 2 Nick Wallace 3 Ben Tarr 4 Casey Rock 5 Christian Wiessing 6 Logan Collins 7 Peter Dahl 8 Pedrie Wannenburg (capt.) 9 Mose Timoteo 10 Will Magie 11 Timana Tahu 12 Ata Malifa 13 Chad London 14 Mike Garrity 15 Maximo de Achaval

16 Zach Fenoglio 17 Jake Turnbull 18 Chris Baumann 19 Brodie Orth 20 Hanco Germishuys 21 Bobby Impson 22 Martin Knoetze 23 Dustin Croy

SAN FRANCISCO
1 Niko Lolohea 2 Jacob Finau 3 Fancy Namulau’ulu 4 Brendan Daly 5 David Tameilau 6 Siupeli Sakalia 7 Sam Finau 8 Bill Fukofuka 9 Michael Reid 10 Volney Rouse (capt.) 11 Pila Iongi 12 Orene Ai’i 13 Nick Blevins 14 Michael Haley 15 Martini Talapusi

16 Codi Jones 17 Maka Tameilau 18 Patrick Latu 19 Isaac Helu 20 Jack O’Hara 21 Devereaux Ferris 22 Junior Helu 23 Jake Anderson

Referee: Nick Ricono
Assistants: Kurt Weaver & Paul Knowles