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OMBAC Returns To USA Rugby's Final Four (Defeats Cincinnati and San Mateo to Advance)
14 May 2000 - Dallas, TX – After a two year wait, the OMBAC rugby team returns to the United States of America Rugby Football Union’s "Final Four" after victories over the Cincinnati Wolfhounds yesterday and the San Mateo Rugby Club today at Glencoe Park. The last time OMBAC had a shot at becoming National Champions was at San Diego’s Robb Field in 1997 when they finished third. OMBAC is no stranger to this event having won the national title in 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, and 1996 while also finishing second in 1995. The two victories improve OMBAC’s season record to 17-1-1. OMBAC put last week’s loss to the Gentlemen of Aspen behind them as they came out quickly against the Wolfhounds racking up a 27-0 lead before the match was 30 minutes old. OMBAC’s first two tries by Dave DiSorbo and Jon Lee, respectively, came after good OMBAC recycling started near the midfield area. Flyhalf Kyle Aspinall added the conversion on Lee’s try to give OMBAC the 12-0 lead. Aspinall added three more on a penalty before OMBAC put the match out of reach. Jason Wood, who played some of his best rugby on the weekend, started and finished OMBAC’s third try, going the last few meters for the touch down. Conrad Hodgson added to his team leading try count by running 15 meters from a scrum move. Aspinall added one conversion to push the lead to 27-0. Cincinnati got themselves back in the match with a penalty kick and a lapse in defense allowed the Wolfhounds a kick and chase try to close out the half trailing 27-10. It was 27-13 early in the second half before a Malakai Delai try silenced the Cincinnati supporters. Another try off an OMBAC error narrowed the gap to 32-20 but that’s as close as the Midwesterners would get as another Aspinall three-pointer and Delai’s second Yahtzee of the match gave OMBAC the double-up, 40-20 "We played 20 minutes of the best rugby and 20 minutes of the worst rugby in each half," said OMBAC’s Director of Rugby, Bing Dawson. "We’ve got a lot of guys beat up and hurt and we’ll just have to see if our medical staff can get them right." After a good meal on Saturday night, lots of rest and a productive team meeting on Sunday morning, OMBAC was set for the always physical confrontation against San Mateo. San Mateo had reached the final with a hard fought victory over the Kansas City Blues. Today it would be a matter of which team came to play. OMBAC skipper Hodgson showed his team the way on the opening kickoff going right through two Tongan tacklers and delivered a devastating blow to a third and although he received a penalty, the tone was set. OMBAC shrugged off the bumps and bruises and came to play. Dawson asked his team to do the simple things on Sunday and in the first half those simple things produced points, lots of points. Jon Lee, the only player left from OMBAC’s first National Championship team of 1988, got the ball rolling with a try between the posts. More OMBAC pressure – more OMBAC points, as the lack of Tongan discipline came to the fore resulting in three Aspinall penalties to give OMBAC a 16-0 lead. OMBAC closed out the first half scoring with DiSorbo finishing off more reclaimed ball to give Beach a 23-0 lead at the turn. San Mateo never threatened in the first half but came out in the second half and started to make hints towards the OMBAC line. Two set piece possessions gave them their first score as hard running #8 Willie Mahoni barged over for the Tongans’ first points. An Aspinall penalty added three more to OMBAC’s column and then things started getting a bit out of hand as high tackles were followed by late tackles with the end result seeing two San Mateo players watching the rest of the action from the sideline. Despite being down two men San Mateo inched closer with two more tries, including Mahoni’s second of the afternoon, to make it 29-19 but that was as close as OMBAC would let them get as the San Diegans spent the last five minutes camped on the San Mateo tryline. "This was a heck of a performance by this team," said Dawson. "They were banged up pretty good going into the contest but really showed their heart. Eddie (Ayub, trainer) and Doc Chao (team physician, David Chao) did a tremendous job just getting these guys on their feet. We let them in it a bit in the second half but this was a good team we beat today. It’s good to be back in the Final Four." OMBAC’s Aspinall was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, mainly for his 19 point outburst on Sunday where his early kicking took the wind out of the Tongan sails. With the victories, OMBAC now heads to Manchester, NH on June 3-4 to try to regain the National Championship. Their first round opponent will be another tough island side from Northern California, the Hayward Griffins. The other semi-final will pit the three-time defending champion Gentlemen of Aspen against the Golden Gate Rugby Club. OMBAC is on the road this Saturday as they face Old Puget Sound Beach in a crucial Super League regular season finale. A victory and OMBAC is off to Atlanta the following Saturday for a semi-final tilt against Life University. The other semi-final is already set as Aspen hosts Kansas City.
Source: OMBACRugby.com
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