Premiership South Week Eight Power Rankings

1. London Blitz (2-0)
Finally back in action this week (Week 8 of the season!) and the Blitz show they haven’t missed a beat, at least offensively. 79 points is no easy feat in a game no matter your opponent and shows the Blitz are still able to score often with their offence. Hell even Joe Thompson got in on the action, not bad for a PAT holder. The 20 points conceded put a twist in the tail of an otherwise dominant scoreline and the Cats have shown they can score on the best two teams early in the game against starters.

2. London Warriors (5-0)
The Warriors weren’t messing around this weekend either, putting up 71 points and conceding none against a beleaguered Berkshire team that had no answer. Perhaps this was just a warm-up for the Warrior bowl this weekend!

3. London Olympians (1-1)

The Olympians have been a point of contention in our rankings, with some suggesting they shouldn't be as high up as 3^rd. While the win against East Kent shows they have what it takes to beat teams (with only 1 loss before, this was waiting to be shown), the win was perhaps not as comfortable as might have been hoped. This result does certainly make the O’s vs both the Aztecs and the Cats very interesting fixtures,

4. Bristol Aztecs (3-2)

The Aztecs showed that they deserve to be in the top 4 this week, after two results they’d sooner forget against the Blitz and the Warriors. With the Olympians showing signs of weakness on their defence, the Aztecs must forge focus for the match up against them in just 3 weeks, but they certainly cannot discount the two teams behind them in the rankings

5. Cambridgeshire Cats (2-2)
The Cats now have their two tough games behind them, and can focus on looking ahead to nab one of the playoff spots from the Aztecs or Olympians. Scoring 20 points on the Blitz is a feat that only a handful of teams have managed in the past 4 years, with even the Warriors struggling to achieve this feat. Although conceding 79 is unfortunately not something that will separate you from the pack in this division.

6. East Kent Mavericks (2-1)
East Kent have shown that they can put in performances against the upper level teams in the division, granted they lost the game, but it was closer than it appeared with the O’s scoring on the last play of the game. We have heard the starting QB for EKM was injured during the game, and given his dual threat nature this could cause problems down the road.

7. Peterborough Saxons (1-2)
Peteborough get a 2 place bump this week up the rankings. Their 47-0 defeat has been discussed to the hilt, and while it is a big defeat, it’s not a 71-0 defeat, thus bumping them ahead of Berkshire. Peterborough vs Sussex will be an interesting game to gauge the relative strength of a div2 champ vs a div1 champ. Fortunately for us, this game is this coming weekend, for the moment Peterborough stand ahead of Sussex, but this could very well change after the game!

8. Sussex Thunder (2-1)

Their first taste of a premiership caliber team has shown Sussex that not much has changed since they were last in the division (literally), in fact this was the biggest defeat against Bristol they have ever suffered. Perhaps this is a sign that the gap between teams has widened in the past years, or perhaps that Sussex have lost some of their Division 1 championship form.

9. Berkshire Renegades (0-3)
Berkshire had held some promise with their respectable score against Bristol, but unfortunately it seems the Camel’s back was well and truly broken this past weekend when the Warriors rolled into town and scored for fun, quite the baptism of fire. They have the Olympians this weekend and after seeing 1pt victors East Kent do well against them, they will feel like they have a fighting chance.

10. South Wales Warriors (0-3)
Our two lowest ranked teams get the joy of welcoming the two top London teams onto their turf this weekend. While having the home field advantage does play into their hands, especially given it’s in another country, I can imagine the London Warriors will be travelling up with something to play for against the South Wales Warriors even though we can’t see it going any other way but London’s.

11. Ipswich Cardinals (0-3)
Ipswich welcome the national champions to their back yard this week, a team that last year hammered them twice. The Cardinals showed some heart against Sussex and perhaps will eek out of a couple of wins this season against one of the other bottom teams in the division. Unfortunately the Blitz are not one of those bottom teams, and the chances of winning are slimmer than a very slim thing.

Premiership North Week Eight Power Ranking

1. East Kilbride Pirates (3-0)
Ha. Ha. Ha. That's the sound of our prediction of a close game getting laughed all the way out of town. East Kilbride shifted up a notch against Doncaster, handing out a old-fashioned beat down. THE team to beat

2. Tamworth Phoenix (4-0)
Well, they conceded against Nottingham, but it was on offence (a length-of-the-field fumble recovery no less). As expected, it was a dominant performance over the lackluster Caesars. Even with two games before then, the focus of the division is on Tamworth's trip to Hamilton at the end of July.

3. Doncaster Mustangs (4-1)
Ouch Donny, ouch. Losing 53-12 in a game that should have been close made them - and, more importantly, us - look a little silly. They can, however, still look at a potential home game in the play-offs if they can turn over Tamworth in a couple of weeks.

4. Sheffield Predators (2-0)
With the league this week confirming that there will be four play-off places for each division, Sheffield are favorites to tie up that final post-season berth.

5. Lancashire Wolverines (1-1)
If the Black Swarm can beat Coventry this Saturday, they'll seriously be thinking of a six win season and an outside chance at the play-offs - that would be some achievement

Gateshead Senators 40 @ DC Presidents 20‏

by John Hill

At one point in the second quarter, it looked like a young DC Presidents side might give their North East rivals Gateshead a black eye in the first derby of the year.

DC running back Matt Caley had just run in from short range, and former Senator Matt Long had hauled in the two-pointer to make it 20-6. Gateshead were giving up costly yards on penalties, and had just had a player ejected.

Then the Senators unleashed Evander Harewood.

Evander Harewood (#22) carries the ball for the Gateshead offence. Picture courtesy of Durham Photography.

National League Week Eight Power Rankings

1. Chester Romans (3-0)
Another week and another no game for our leaders. That’ll change this week as they head to Merseyside to take on the Nighthawks. It’s going to be a tough game but it’s time to prove they belong at the top of our Power Rankings.


2. Bedfordshire Blue Raiders (4-0)
Again no game for the Blue Raiders. They get their shot at staying here on Sunday as they face off against their sternest challenge yet, the number 4 Colchester Gladiators.


3. Solent Thrashers (4-0)
Another week and the Thrashers may have moved up in our table with a 19-0 shut out of the former big boy Farnham Knights. It’s an impressive win for the rebranded Solent side  and with Farnham out of the way and a decent win over Oxford the Thrashers might start to look at an unbeaten regular season.