Rivals battle it out for the North-east
The North East Conference final is just one game away and the Boston 13s and the Rhode Island Rebellion are set to clash in a mouth-watering encounter to see who makes it to the North Championship game.
After tonight, the winnes will face the victors of the other playoff game between the Philadelphia Fight and the DC Slayers; one person hoping that his team can make it all the way is Boston 13s Head Coach, Robin Peers.
Peers states that the 13s aren’t in the position he would have hoped at this stage in the season: “If we’d played just slightly better in the regular season we would have finished with a 6-1 record rather than a 3-1-3 record. That would have meant a home game for us today.” That being said, nothing can be done about it now and they must treat their playoff game against the Rebellion with as much respect as possible if they are to win it all. “It’s a do or die playoff game and the other huge factor to throw into it is that Boston and Rhode Island are just an hour apart which makes this a big derby game.”
The 13s have played the Rebellion twice so far this year winning in Round 3 68-18 at the Irish Cultural Center in Boston before the week 8 game that ended in a tie, 32-32. Those games have past now and training won’t be changed to account for anything learned in previous games. Peers said: “To be honest, it’s just been business as usual. We believe in our training structures and process and are confident going into the game. The previous games against Rhode Island have been tough, the boys know it is do or die so are treating it as such.”
The game kicks off at 8pm with a reserve grade game to get the crowd fired up in a show of both clubs’ depth first. Peers left a comment that will make opponents sit up and listen as he still has a whole heap of faith in his side. “We still have stacks of potential in our squad and we do believe that, if we click, no team in the USARL will be able to handle us.”