Double Coverage Shamrock Bowl Conference MVP Nominees

It’s been a controversial Shamrock Bowl Conference season in many aspects. The South division especially has seen ups and downs, whilst it has been competitive the demise of both DCU and Cork saw only three teams finish the season, and even then UCD had to forfeit a game.

Premiership North Power Rankings

1. East Kilbride Pirates (3-0)
An away trip to sunny Blackburn for the Pirates this weekend as they look to extend their advantage at the top of the Premiership North

2. Tamworth Phoenix (5-0)
A hollow walkover win for Tamworth denied them their chance of going top of our rankings. They'll regroup until the end of the month, when they play Doncaster in a game that is likely to decide who takes the second seed.

3. Doncaster Mustangs (4-1)
Doncaster are 5-1 this weekend after West Coast forfeit their second game in a row. The Tamworth game on 30th June looms large for the Mustangs

London Blitz @ Ipswich Cardinals VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Sussex Thunder @ Peterborough Saxons VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Premiership South Power Rankings

1. London Blitz (3-0)
The Blitz cut through the Cardinals like a hot knife through butter, we expected nothing less to be honest.

2. London Warriors (6-0)
The Warriors didn't quite fulfill the 60+ prediction, but it was close. The Warriors offence had a bit of a torrid time as three punt returns for touchdowns and a defensive score pumped the score up.

3. London Olympians (2-1)
We put faith in the Olympians to perform down the stretch keeping them as the #3 seed in the rankings since the beginning of the season, however any more lackluster performances against low ranked teams and they could see themselves over taken by the Aztecs. We thought they would dominate slightly more against Berkshire, however this does open up an interesting match up against the Cats.

National League Power Rankings

1. Colchester Gladiators (4-0)

We have a new number one in the Power Rankings! The Gladiators handed a spanking out to our previous number two team, the Bedfordshire Blue Raiders, and took advantage of Chester losing to take the top spot. A 48-16 win over a previously undefeated Blue Raiders side was an impressive feat and they’re fully deserving of our top spot.

2. Solent Thrashers (4-0)

No game for the Thrashers this week but they move up due to the fall of the Blue Raiders and Romans. Next up for them is the new boys, the Swindon Storm, this coming weekend. With Gloucester and Farnham out of the way will Solent have one eye on an undefeated season?

3. Merseyside Nighthawks (4-0)

How about them Nighthawks? They faced off against our number one team, the Chester Romans and handed out a 47-13 drubbing after a tight first half. They’ve now scored an impressive 197 points in just four games and conceded only 36. But it’s not all rosy as key players Harry Routledge and Duvalle Merchant picked up bad injuries in the game. However Merseyside sit pretty at number three in our PRs and will be looking to move up higher as the season progresses.

Berkshire Renegades - London Olympians Game Report

by Oliver Raffle

The Berkshire Renegades travelled to New Beckenham to face the London Olympians. With the Berkshire side on a three game losing streak, they were looking to try and turn momentum in their favour against the London side.

True to form, the Renegades opted to put their defense on to start the game against the Olympians. With the team’s defense on the field, they faced a stern test in the Olympians who had put 42 points on the East Kent Mavericks in the previous week. The first quarter was a nervous affair with both offenses probing the defense and penalties eliminating an early Olympians score.

With both teams juggling field position, the Olympians were the first to score, however, the extra point attempt was blocked by the Renegades defense. After the kick-off and an excellent return by Liam White, the Renegades offense started midfield and started moving towards the end-zone before Paul Waddington connected with Matt Coppinger on a 24 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was successful and the visiting team held a slim lead 7-6.

Kent Exiles 34-20 Watford Cheetahs

by Martin Jefkins

The Kent Exiles put in a dominating second half performance to see of the Watford Cheetahs at the Beaverwood Club yesterday.

Ben Abbott reaches for the go ahead score. Image courtesy of Kieron Hyams.

The first half was one to forget though as the Exiles offence spluttered whilst the Cheetahs seemed to find some good yardage each time they touched the ball, and in the first quarter they took the lead on a Martin Brown pass to Sam Roberts.

Gladiators take spoils from Raiders

by Nick Foxley

The Colchester Gladiators welcomed the 4-0 Bedford Blue Raiders to Mill Road and sent them packing with an impressive first half performance before a loss of focus turned the second half into a scrappy affair.
Running back Casey Campbell continued where he left off against the Cheetahs a week earlier. His speed and elusiveness was too much for the Raiders to handle and he clocked up another 253 yards from just 20 carries and four touchdowns in just over two quarters of play.

Big plays were the order of the day with Campbell scampering for 44 yards on the Gladiators’ second play in addition to 43 and 47 yard scores. Chris Jackson added a 75 yard scoring run, and backup QB Fabian Ortiz-Barrs, deputising for the injured Curtis Bourke, chipped in with gains of 24, 32 and 43 yards. This amounted to a massive 602 rushing yards on the day, close to an all time club record.

The Gladiators defence started strongly after the Cheetahs elected to receive the ball. James Martin tackled the Bedford running back for a six yard loss before Lox Box stopped him for a loss of two forcing a punt.
The Gladiators’ offence had no problem moving the ball with Chris Palmer picking up 11 yards on first down before Campbell took the Gladiators deep into Raider territory with a 44 yard pick up to the six. Two penalties pushed them back however and Bourke was tackled for a loss by a blitzing linebacker on fourth down to turn the ball over back to Bedford.