Week 13 Preview

By April 29, 2016 Featured, News No Comments

The spots in next month’s Grand Final could be filled this weekend. Glendale are just a draw or even two bonus points away from clinching a spot in their third straight final while OMBAC could punch their first ticket with a win over OMBAC. SFGG are holding on and need to beat OMABC and hope for results later in the season.

SFGG Rhinos vs. OMBAC (3:00 p.m. PT; Treasure Island; live on USA RugbyTV)

Over the first three years SFGG vs. OMBAC has turned into one of the best rivalries in the PRP. OMBAC has narrowly missed out on the Grand Final the first two years while SFGG went on to win it the first year and then fell to Glendale last year. This year OMBAC came out and got results right away, so far losing only to Glendale–and that was narrowly. They have also racked up big wins accumulating a +225 point differential. They are the third highest scoring team in the league (one behind SFGG) and have the second best defense in the league.

Zach Pangelinan is playing well for them at the moment and they will have some players that have also been a part of the PRO Rugby San Diego team. SFGG will also have some of their key players, including a healthy Pila Huihui. He has been the competitions most electric player the last few seasons but injuries have limited him somewhat. With Huihui in the roster SFGG are at full strength and ready to go.

SFGG haven’t had the results they wanted this year and can look to their loss against Belmont Shore last month as the moment they found themselves in a hole. They have also lost matches to OMBAC (22-18 last month) and Glendale. The challenge for SFGG is that if they beat OMBAC they still have to take on Glendale next weekend. That means they will need to pick up all points on offering against OMBAC and hold OMBAC to no points. They will then need a result against Glendale while hoping that OMBAC slip-up against Belmont Shore. All in all, this is a massive match.

Belmont Shore vs. Glendale Raptors (3:00 p.m. PT; Long Beach State)

All Glendale need from this match to ensure that they make the Grand Final is two points or an OMBAC win. Given that Glendale have a league leading 66 tries scored and 11 tries against it looks very likely that they will achieve their objective. They are also taking a strong team that has Mose Timoteo and Armandt Peens as the halfbacks. Belmont Shore aren’t standing down from the match and have also named a big team but they have been officially eliminated from the playoffs and they lost to Glendale 63-7 just a month and a half ago.

Santa Monica vs. Denver Barbarians (3:00 p.m. PT; Orville Wright Middle School)

Both the Dolphins and the Barbarians will be hoping to give themselves a shot at a winning streak to end the season. It’s been a tough season for both teams with Denver having only two wins and Santa Monica one. Once again Santa Monica have struggled defensively giving up a league high points. Denver have been better defensively but they have also struggled to score tries at times. The good news for them in that category this week is that they have Michael Al-Jiboori back in the line-up.

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