St. Louis Bombers Rugby Football Club

The St. Louis Bombers captured the top seed and a home playoff match in USA Rugby's Competitive Region #2 by dismantling Springfield RFC 82-0 on a sunny, but windy St. Louis day. Springfield had no answer for the balanced Bomber attack in a match that was mercifully ended short of 80 minutes. On paper, this looked to be a competitive match up between two undefeated clubs in conference play. What resulted was a 14 try onslaught from the two-time defending WRFU champion Bombers.

A large St. Louis Ruggerfest crowd was treated to a very entertaining match that saw two sides battle evenly for the first 15 minutes. St. Louis finally broke the scoring draught with a try to hooker Pat Hess from a lineout drive. Flanker Deryk Rieves scored minutes later after a series of pounding runs from the Bomber centers and forwards to increase the lead to 12-0.

Bomber prop Scott "Bowling Ball" Lay punished the defense all day by either committing two or three tacklers per run or breaking through and offloading to his support. Lay assisted on five tries on the day, which is outstanding work from any forward, especially a prop. Lay's long run up the middle at the 20 minute mark gave center Brian Meyer an easy path to the try line and a 17-0 Bomber lead.

Springfield then tried to reel the game in by playing it close to the rucks. Springfield halfback Alexander Janovich constantly probed the blind and put the ball in the hands of hard running forwards Kevin Bennoch and Rhett Smillie. Springfield center Dale Palmer ran hard and straight all day, but there was no way through the Bomber wall of defenders.

The try of the day came when Bomber wing T.J. Ebner counter-attacked from a misguided Springfield kick. Ebner and Brian Meyer played pitch and catch as they weaved their way 60 meters through half of the Springfield team. Meyer was rewarded with the try and a long ovation from the large crowd. Bombers Shaun Tegethoff, Hayden Mexted and Brian Lay all touched down before the halftime whistle as the flood gates opened and saw St. Louis up 41-0 at the break.

Bomber wing Dan Fernandez, playing in his first match of the season due to injury, was a force to be reckoned with as he frequently ran over and around defenders. The try parade continued for St. Louis in the second spell as Tegethoff, Mexted and Brian Lay each notched their second try. Number 8 Phil Reed, flyhalf Rene Monette, center Russell Gall and Fernandez capped the scoring for the Bombers at 82-0.

Bomber coach Ron Laszewski was happy with his side's performance. "We produced some good rugby out there today against a solid team that never quit. Our focus was excellent; we executed well and stuck to the plan. We work hard and take pride in our defense and it showed today. However, we still have some work to do and we'll be back at it Tuesday night."

The Bombers travel to play Palmer in Davenport, Iowa next Saturday before hosting a CR#2 quarterfinal against either Boulder or the Denver Highlanders on April 16.