Article by Gary Jordan
Once more, after all the stresses and strains of a long
season it is the two powerhouse London teams that have made their way through
to the BritBowl. Some would say it is a mere formality every year, as they
arguably have the best program and coaches – but if their two playoff matches
were anything to go by it was not a forgone conclusion that either would be
lining up at the homme of Saracens RFU this Saturday afternoon.
The London Warriors will be out to defend their title, but
as the last regular season game shows the London Blitz are on a mission to
regain the crown. The Warriors had to see off a feisty Tamworth Phoenix team in
their playoff game, coming from behind to win 14-9. The Blitz beat the East
Kilbride Pirates 19-7 on the road to earn their Bowl berth, but it was close
and tense throughout.
As you will see from the stats below both teams are very
evenly matched and it was only the runaway second half in their first meeting
this season that was a blip on either teams defensive records.
Kickoff is 2.30pm and can be seen on live stream courtesy of
End Run Productions via the dblcoverage.com website http://dblcoverage.com/britbowl-live-stream/
Prices For entry on the day is £5 for Adults, £2 concessions and U16s FREE.
THE ROAD TO BRITBOWL
at Bristol Aztecs
43-0
London Olympians 51-0
at South Wales
Warriors 49-0
London Blitz 38-10
at London Olympians
50-6
Bristol Aztecs 36-0
South Wales Warriors
41-0
at London Warriors
7-13
Points 315-29
Avg PPG 39.3 – 3.6
London Olympians 35-0
At Bristol Aztecs
55-13
Bristol Aztecs 52-12
at London Warriors
10-38
at South Wales
Warriors 59-6
at London Olympians
39-8
South Wales Warriors
49-0
London Warriors 13-7
Points 312-84
Avg PPG 39 – 10.5
The attention may be on London for the big game there but
there are four other games around the country this weekend. The Semi-Finals of
the NFC2 and SFC2 and with promotion still on these eight teams’ minds each of
these games will be fought hard.
The NFC2 matchups have the number one seed Manchester Titans
host the six seeded Peterborough Saxons. The Titans have been scoring for fun
this year and it will take a team to put up at last 30 points to be in
contention of a shock, and a shock is exactly what the Saxons caused in their
opening playoff game by beating a heavily fancied West Coast Trojans team. The
other game has the impressive Sandwell Steelers entertain the Newcastle
Vikings. At the start of the year you wouldn’t have put much money on these two
getting this far, but both are here on merit and even though you would have to
give the edge to the Steelers its playoff football so nothing will be taken for
granted.
SFC2 has all four top seeds surviving, which means number
one Bury Saints will play Sussex Thunder and second seed Kent Exiles welcome
Bristol Apache. Bury and Sussex has the potential to be the game of the weekend
– including over the BritBowl – as both have fast, high scoring offenses. Both
teams will be disappointed if they are not scoring 30+, but a stingy defense or
a big special teams play could be the difference maker. Kent have had a great
season and will look to see off the challenge of an Apache side that has come
into the playoffs under the radar a little. No one has been talking much about
the Apache and this will suit them. Of course the Exiles would have done their
homework and not be sitting on their laurels.
NFC2 Semi-Finals
Manchester Titans v
Peterborough Saxons
Sandwell Steelers v
Newcastle Vikings
SFC2 Semi-Finals
Bury Saints v Sussex
Thunder
Kent Exiles v Bristol
Apache
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