St. Louis Bombers Rugby Football Club

The two-time defending National Champions Boston Irish Wolfhounds eliminated the St. Louis Bombers in USA Rugby's Sweet 16 playoffs with a thrilling 33-30 comeback victory. Boston wing Mark Tutton's penalty kick tied the match in the final minute of regulation to force overtime. Tutton then calmly slotted a forty meter kick in the last minute of the second overtime period to finalize Boston's comeback.

St. Louis raced out to an early 5-0 lead, as BIW had no answer to the fast-paced Bomber attack. Bomber lock Hayden Mexted opened the scoring after flanker Shaun Tegethoff poached a BIW ball near midfield. Bomber center Brian Meyer raced around the edge of the blind-side defense to extend the lead to 10-0. St. Louis scrumhalf Brian Lay bulled over the line after a build-up of several phases to push the lead to 15-0. BIW responded with a Mark Tutton penalty kick to cut the margin to 15-3. Bomber fullback Conail Boyd took an inside pass from veteran flyhalf Rene Monette and raced home from 30 meters out to finish the half with St. Louis out in front 22-3.

St. Louis prop Scott Lay opened the second half scoring with a try from 5 meters out, made possible by a punishing 40 meter run from wing Dan Fernandez. Monette's conversion increased the lead to 27-3. BIW quickly responded with another Tutton penalty kick to draw the score to 27-6. St. Louis added a penalty kick to move out to a 30-6 lead with about 25 minutes remaining.

The next five minutes produced a series of events that would tip the momentum to Boston. BIW finally crossed the tryline when prop Chris Wheeler bulled over from short range to cut the deficit to 30-13. However, St. Louis went back on attack as Brian Lay and Mexted teamed up for some pass and catch that saw Lay racing unopposed to the tryline. But a whistle from a distance from the referee brought the play to a halt and a large chorus of boos from the crowd, as Mr. Peters deemed the last pass was thrown slightly forward. Moments later, it was another whistle and a second try called back for the same offense, this time from a Boyd to wing Justin Gillenwater pass. The referee overheard several "you must be joking" comments and penalized St. Louis. From the penalty, Boston kicked deep into the corner. Wheeler launched over for his second try of the day- again from short range, and Tutton's conversion closed the gap to 30-20 with ten minutes to play.

Boston wing Ian Flanagan then finished off a backline movement, and the Tutton conversion trimmed the lead to 30-27 with only minutes remaing. Tutton would become the hero with less than a minute remaining as he slotted a difficult angled kick from 40 meters and the wind at his back to draw level at 30-30. St. Louis flyhalf Rene Monette had one last chance to salvage the match, but his identical length kick into the breeze fell just inches short of the crossbar.

The first overtime produced no scoring as the teams prodded away at each other. The second overtime saw Bomber Conail Boyd's drop goal sail just inches wide with only 3 minutes to go. BIW launched an attack inside the Bomber half and were rewarded with a penalty. Tutton nailed the kick again to move BIW in front for the first time all day, with less than a minute on the clock. St. Louis managed to get their hands on the ball one last time, but were denied at the tryline as a BIW defender knocked the ball from the arms of center Chris Schlereth as he dived for the line.

The loss put St. Louis into a consolation match on Sunday vs. Life from Atlanta. The bad news was that the Bombers, still reeling from the heartbreaking loss to Boston, were going through the motions and lost 34-17- with all due respect to a very good, young, athletic Life side that played very well. The good news was that Bomber coach Ron Laszewski cleared the benches and found playing time on the weekend for every member of the 28 man traveling squad. Highlights for St. Louis were tries from Justin Gillenwater and Shaun Tegethoff. and the play and kicking of center Eric Hinson. Flanker Zach Giljum played a great match, injecting some much needed enthusiasm.

Thanks to the Supporters

The large squad of Bomber supporters spotted in Michigan was impressive. Seen in the stands were: Harley Meyer, Jonathan Grace, Lenny Gall, Bob Jones, Bill Griffin, Craig "Rock" Naunheim, Tim Lindeman, Bill Griffin, Nino Simini, Sterling Hayden, Vic Miller, Tom Ebner, John Kyle, Mark Sturmoski and more.

The Bomber ladies (Val, Sarah, Erica and Katie) affectionately nicknamed the "Bombshells" were in full force, cheering loudly- attractively adorned in their new Bomber camisole tops. So if you see the girls together and they all have matching V-shaped sunburns- you'll know why.