Boston Calm Rebellion In Season Opener
The Boston 13s started the defense of their USA Rugby League title with a dominant win over local rivals the Rhode Island Rebellion at Boston University’s Nickerson Field.
Both teams started a bit rusty, the nine month offseason taking its toll. Numerous errors were made by both teams before second year 13s winger Alex Steblovskiy opened the scoring with a long range effort.
It wasn’t long before the visitors hit back to bring the scores to 6-6 on the 20 minute mark, capitalizing on a Boston error.
It would be another 13 minutes of battling before the deadlock was again broken and it was 13s captain and USA international Marcos Flegmann who broke through straight from a penalty.
After the deadlock was broken, Boston went for the jugular by adding two Peter Lupton tries before half time to extend the lead to 24-6 going into the interval.
After the break the home team ran riot. Two former Rebellion players, Mike Jones and Erik Shepard-Lewis, did the early damage to push the lead out to 30 points.
Impressive hooker, Conor Leahy grabbed himself a double, and the half back combination of Lupton and Dustin Cooper added one each, as the reigning champs piled on four tries in quick succession.
The Rebellion weren’t about to roll over and die, and finished the game well with three tries of their own in the last 10 minutes. The pick of the tries being a great solo effort from a scrum by debutant full back Shane Caito.
FINAL SCORE
BOSTON 58 – Lupton 3, Leahy 2, Cooper, Flegmann, Jones, Shepard-Lewis, Steblovskiy. Cooper 9/10
RHODE ISLAND 20