Back Bay Rugby wins title

OBJECTIVE COMPLETED!! Back Bay Rugby Football Club made club history on Saturday at Peninsula Park by the Balboa Pier. The Sharks faced the North County San Diego Rugby Football Club for the Men Division II Southern California Championship.

On a cool day, the Sharks were focus on completing the season with no defeats and they started to do just that. The Sharks were on the scoreboard first from a successful penalty kick from the South African fullback #15 Jon Luc Del Fante. The forwards had dominated, punished and destroyed the North County forwards and North County did not have any answers to stop the Sharks forwards all day. After a long march down the field, the ball was sent wide across the field and went back inside to the #9 scrumhalf Marc Larrue. Five minutes later, a push over try from the hard working forwards was awarded to #5 lock Matt Cooper. The winger #14 Matt Tracy scored first of his four tries for the game. With quickness, speed and deceiving moves he made the North County players miss tackles constantly. With a successful conversion from Jon Luc Del Fante, the Sharks were cruising at half 20-0.

With the start of the second half and the Sharks looking confident, English star flyhalf #10 Barney Pascal scored the first try beginning of the second half. Then it became the Matt Tracy show. He went on to score three tries in the second half. Matt Tracy was like a cheetah cutting left and right without losing pace. He went ahead and scored his fourth try of the day and giving him honors as of “Man of the Match” for the first XV’s. With this victory, the club made history with the first XV’s going undefeated. Head Coach Grant Reynolds stated, “That the forwards finally dominated which gave the backs more room. One of the best games the team has played so far.” The final score was the Sharks 44 to North County 12.

The Sharks made club history this year by winning and bringing home to Newport Beach their first championship in club history. With this win the Sharks qualify for the national sweet sixteen tournament. The club will travel to Austin, TX as the number one seed from southern California. Please help support the club bring home a national championship by going to our website www.backbayrfc.com and look for the donation banner. On behalf the club, we want to say thank you for all the support from the community and look for us to bring the national championship home.