St. Louis Bombers Rugby Football Club

The St. Louis Bombers advanced to the WRFU Final Four by defeating the Denver Highlanders 51-10 in a home playoff quarterfinal. The powerful St. Louis forwards carried the weight of the match on their shoulders, keeping Denver on their heels for the majority of the match.

Denver jumped in front 3-0 in the first minute with a penalty kick from Brad Nelson, but St. Louis quickly responded with a try by center Brian Meyer to go in front 5-3. The remainder of the first half was one-way traffic for St. Louis. Hooker Pat Hess and lock John McGuire each scored from lineout drives to push the lead to 17-3. Fullback Conail Boyd finished off a 60 meter break to extend the lead to 22-3. Bomber flyhalf Rene Monette followed up play and received a nice inside pass from lock Hayden Mexted to finish the first half scoring at 27-3.

Denver capitalized on a Bomber miscue to begin the second half when flanker Jeff Wieland scooped up a loose ball and crashed into the posts to narrow the score to 27-10. St. Louis responded to the Denver challenge by scoring twice more from lineout drives. Pat Hess notched his second try of the day, then prop John McBride dotted down to give the Bombers a 39-10 lead. Fullback Conail Boyd then bagged his second try by finishing off another Brian Meyer break to push St. Louis to a 44-10 lead. Bomber wing Justin Gillenwater's try in the corner from a John McGuire pass, and Monette's sideline conversion brought the final score to 51-10.

Denver battled hard right to the end, and only good Bomber tackling kept the match out of reach. Several Highlanders stood out in this fast and fierce affair. Center Shane Kawana was a tough man to bring down all day. Young lock Luke Lesnansky is a player to watch down the road. Scrumhalf Tim Guerra and flyhalf Nigel Smith were an excellent nerve center.

St. Louis relied on its considerable depth to get the job done in a match where the loser's season is over. Prop Scott "Bowling Ball" Lay, wings T.J. Ebner and Dan Fernandez, and fullback Chris Schlereth all were given the day off to heal. St. Louis advances to play the Woodlands in Ft. Worth on April 30 in the final four of USA Rugby's Competitive Region #2.

Whites 47 - Kohlfeld 19

The Bomber White side defeated MRFU Division 2 champions Kohlfeld Scorpions from Cape Girardeau, MO with a superb second half performance. The Bomber backs unleashed six tries on the day, with wing Leon Scott getting the hat trick.

Bomber fullback Steve Bosse opened the scoring by blazing through a Kohlfeld gap. Kohlfeld answered with a quick tap penalty and a 7-5 lead at the break.

The second half saw the Bomber backline decide to move the ball through the hands, which made the wings very happy. Wing Jim "Monkey" Moyer scored his second try of the season to start the assault. Then came two tries from Leon Scott, as scrumhalf Scotty Giljum and flyhalf John Ruzicka began feeding the ball superbly. The Bomber loose forward trio of J.P. Shen, Zach Giljum and Jim Hoffmann dominated the second half, with Hoffmann being rewarded with a try.

Leon Scott nabbed his third try of the day in the 76th minute, but the try of the day came in the last minute of play from Bomber center Eric Hinson. Hinson made a crunching tackle in the midfield, got to his feet, poached the ball, and then split two defenders en route to scoring between the sticks. Hinson also was good on 6 of 7 conversions on the day, bringing in a personal haul of 17 points against his former team.

Scotty Giljum got the best from his forwards while playing in his last match before undergoing scheduled season-ending surgery.

Many legends of rugby were spotted near the touch line. Spotted in the sea of supporters were: Harley Meyer, John Kyle, Jim Manley, Terry Swap, Sterling Hayden, Earl Langhorst, Mark Sasser, Seth Chavet, Craig "Rock" Naunheim, Jim Boggeman, Dave Stofer, Ron and Pat Skiljan, Cliffy Schlereth, Jack Martin and many more. Also spotted were former Eagle great Gary Lambert (whose son Garrett plays a pretty good #8 for Desmet H.S.) and former St. Louis Falcon prop Vi Mafuli (who still looks like he could play) and is helping out with the SLU H.S. team.