By BRIAN LOWE
LIFE University in Atlanta will be the venue for the 2017 USA Rugby League championship game.
The Atlanta Rhinos will square off against the New York Knights on Saturday, August 26, after posting convincing wins in their respective conference finals.
In the South Conference, the much-fancied Atlanta Rhinos hosted the upstart Tampa Mayhem and it was the Rhinos who prevailed 32-24, but not before the Mayhem, true to their name, caused plenty of headaches for the home team.
Atlanta trailed until part way through the second half and were forced to mount a big effort to clinch a six tries to four victory in what turned out to be a very competitive title game.
“We kind of hurt ourselves in the first half and had to play off the back foot,” said Atlanta captain Nick Newlin. “Almost all the first half we played defence.”
The Mayhem enjoyed most of the running in the first stanza with their unrelenting pressure seeing them in front 18-12 at the main break.
“It was a bit somber in the sheds at halftime but our coach Jordan Smedley picked the boys up and we went on with it in the second half,” added Newlin.
Among the Rhinos’ tryscorers were Terence Williams, Corey Patton Jr, John Paul Jr and Tomu Osborne, while Joe Cowley went 4/6 on conversions.
The North Conference final pitted the high-flying New York Knights against the Brooklyn Kings in an all-New York showdown.
The Knights, who won national titles in the days of the former American National Rugby League (AMNRL), were on a mission from the start and punched their ticket to the final with a 46-24 victory.
A very physical contest was punctuated by heavy hits, two of which saw Knights players Mitch Winters and Quenton Craddock knocked unconscious in the first half. However, New York stayed the course to lead 22-6 at the intermission.
“I think we started in the best possible way,” said head coach Guillaume Cieutat. “We didn’t panic. We were very patient with the ball and our decisions on the sixth tackle were good.
“Our boys really stuck to the game plan. We didn’t try to score on every possession and we kept heading in the right direction.”
The physical nature of the match continued in the second forty with a Kings player being red-carded, which forced them to play a man down. On top of that, they opted to kick early in the tackle count, a tactic that backfired because it gave the rampaging Knights a glut of possession.
Knights co-captain Alex Foster, who made a difference at crucial times in the game, was rewarded for his stellar efforts by being named man-of-the-match.
The USARL championship final to be played at Life University will be the first rugby league match in decades to be played at the institution that specializes in chiropractic education and one which, in recent times, has been more synonymous with rugby union.
“We wanted to host the national championship game at a venue befitting of the occasion and there’s no better place in Atlanta,” concluded Rhinos skipper Newlin.
