Denver outlast San Francisco in shootout

Denver moved to the top of the PRO table with a 31-24 win over San Francisco at Boxer Stadium on Sunday. The Stampede won the try-scoring sweepstakes by 5-4 in an exciting match that featured no shortage of ambitious attacking rugby. While the Rush will be disappointed with the result, they can take great credit for turning their form around in the second half of the season and running the title contenders so close.

The pace of Tongan flyer Pila Iongi was on display from the kickoff. He took the corner on Mike Garrity with ease, handing it to Jake Anderson on the inside and followed up to take a pull pass from Nick Blevins for a wonderful try with barely a minute on the clock. Volney Rouse took the routine conversion and Denver looked like they had been sucker punched.

They found their composure, however, and a few minutes later it was Timana Tahu who crossed from a scorching counter-attack. Devereaux Ferris tried to be a little too cute with a grubber into the box, and instead the ball went quickly to Tahu. The former Wallaby chewed up some ground before putting Peter Dahl into a gap, and then popped up on his teammate’s heels to take a pop pass and dive into the corner.

San Francisco were at it again almost immediately. Quick hands and a miss-out from Orene Ai’i found Anderson, who gassed Garrity and executed the textbook two-on-one to put Iongi in for his second.

Pedrie Wannenburg showed there was more than one way to get results, using his side’s superior rolling maul for great effect. Logan Collins took the lineout ball and the Denver walked 15 meters to the line, stumbling just short but with no defenders left Wannenburg simply picked and flopped over the line to even the scores at 12 apiece.

The home side were there to entertain and magic footwork from Rouse and then Ai’i put Brendan Daly on the charge, the flanker getting hauled down just inches short. Quick ball from Ferris zipped out to Bill Fukofuka, and the big no8 was never going to be stopped by Mose Timoteo at that range.

Ai’i almost created another just before the break with a cheeky show-and-go, bursting clear and chipping ahead for Iongi to run onto. Iongi looked to have won the race ahead of Garrity but the Denver winger just stretched out to get hands on the ball. Without the benefit of the TMO the officials called the 22 drop-out though the replay suggested Iongi might have got there an inch quicker.

Rouse made sure of things himself when the two teams came back on the pitch, with a brilliant break down the sideline that featured two dummies to race in under the sticks for a seven-pointer. Will Magie was left untying his shoelaces but his team would have the last laugh.

The Stampede went back to work with their phase play, and simple hands gave Martin Knoetze just enough room to dive over and touch down inside the corner flag. Timoteo was next, taking a lovely offload from Chris Baumann after the mullet-man tore away on Dahl’s pass from the base of a broken up maul. Magie’s excellent sideline conversion made it all square at 24 with 15 minutes to play.

Chad London struck the killing blow with another cracking team try. Ata Malifa ripped through the line from an attacking scrum on halfway and two quick recycles later Tahu stepped back in to break the line again. With only Anderson to beat he fired a pinpoint wide ball to London on his left for a clear run in and under the posts.

With that it’s all down to the last weekend. San Francisco will travel to Sacramento on Saturday with the loser condemned to the cellar. On Sunday it will be a winner-take-all finale as Denver travel to Ohio. The Stampede can still take the title if they lose by seven or less and hold Ohio to only three tries, but neither side will be reaching for technicalities. Expect a full-blooded affair in the biggest match of the inaugural PRO Rugby season.

SAN FRANCISCO 24
Tries – P. Iongi 2 (1, 14), B. Fukofuka (30), V. Rouse (42)
Cons – V. Rouse 2 (2, 43)

DENVER 31
Tries – T. Tahu (10), P. Wannenburg (20), M. Knoetze (49), M. Timoteo (64), C. London (73)
Cons – W. Magie 3 (21, 65, 74)

SAN FRANCISCO RUSH
1 Codi Jones 2 Jacob Finau 3 Patrick Latu 4 Nick Grass 5 Jérémy Lenaerts 6 Brendan Daly 7 Sam Finau 8 Bill Fukofuka 9 Devereaux Ferris 10 Volney Rouse (capt.) 11 Pila Iongi 12 Orene Ai’i 13 Nick Blevins 14 Michael Haley 15 Jake Anderson

16 Neil Barrett 17 Saimone Laulaupea’alu 18 Fancy Namulau’ulu 19 Siupeli Sakalia 20 Isaac Helu 21 Michael Reid 22 Junior Helu 23 Pila Huihui

DENVER STAMPEDE
1 Ben Tarr 2 Zach Fenoglio 3 Chris Baumann 4 Luke White 5 Logan Collins 6 Hanco Germishuys 7 Peter Dahl 8 Pedrie Wannenburg (capt.) 9 Mose Timoteo 10 Will Magie 11 Martin Knoetze 12 Timana Tahu 13 Chad London 14 Mike Garrity 15 Afa Malifa

16 Nick Wallace 17 Jake Turnbull 18 Brodie Orth 19 Casey Rock 20 Christian Wiessing 21 Bobby Impson 22 Kyle Hitt 23 John Godinet

Referee: Leah Berard
Assistants: Scott Green & George O’Neil