US ASSOCIATION OF RUGBY LEAGUE OFFICIAL

Kings Clinch Top Seed in North

The Brooklyn Kings have made a clean sweep of their regular season games in the NORTH Conference by defeating the second-placed Philadelphia Fight in Week 6 of the USARL national clubs competition.
Kings Clinch Top Seed in North

In their final regular season match before the postseason, the Kings came away with a 34-18 victory on the road.

In a game that went back and forth, the Fight took an 8-0 lead with two tries in the first quarter before the Kings came back to score 16 unanswered points.

Then just on halftime, Philly scored a converted try to make it 16-14 at the main break.

The home team was first to cross the line in the third quarter to retake the lead at 18-16, but then Brooklyn added three more tries in the final quarter to seal the victory.

Brooklyn centers Brandon Anderson and Jay Robinson both crossed for braces, as did second-rower Nick Briggs.

“I’m pleased because it’s always tough to travel away and win games in this competition, especially against a side like Philly who were undefeated,” said Brooklyn head coach Brent Richardson.

“It’s exciting to go 6-0, it’s something we’ve never done before as a team, but ultimately if you don’t show up in the next game against good sides we won’t be winning, so we just need to worry about that.”

Fight try-scorers included Tristan Sylk, Harry Kaufman, Brian Madden and Kyle Denham. Player/coach Rich Henson, who’s also the team’s goalkicker, converted one of the tries.

While it was Philly’s first loss of the season, Henson says it’s something they needed ahead of the playoffs.

“The thing about this game is that the intensity was great, and we haven’t had a game like that in a long time. There were times when we had the upper hand and times when they had the upper hand. It had that not quite Grand Final feel about it, but it had a playoff game feel. It’s a game that we needed.”

The result means the unbeaten Kings (6-0) have clinched first place in the NORTH standings and will get a first round bye in the playoffs.

Elsewhere, in a rivalry game on a steaming hot day in New York, the White Plains Wombats scored a 46-28 win against the Knights.

The Knights got the first try of the game in the opening few minutes, but from then on had to play catch up football as the Wombats went on a tear.

White Plains scored 34 unanswered points to lead 34-6 at the main intermission.

“It was a great first half and there wasn’t one set we didn’t complete,” said player/coach CJ Cortalano.

“Sometimes you get into an arm wrestle and things don’t go your way, but you bounce back and put a W on.”

Among the White Plains points-scorers were Jaime Abbas, Thomas Stevenson and Dylan Booth, each of whom scored a pair of tries, while George Reis and Cortalano chimed in with singles.

The win sees the Wombats leapfrog New York to take over sole possession of third place in the NORTH standings.

In the other conference game, the Boston 13s posted their first win of the season by edging the Delaware Black Foxes 36-34 in what turned out to be a highly competitive and entertaining contest in Beantown.

Boston led 20-4 at the half and had extended the margin to 30-22 by the end of the third quarter before holding on against a fast-finishing Delaware side.

Scores:
Brooklyn Kings 34-18 Philadelphia Fight
White Plains Wombats 46-28 New York Knights
Boston 13s 36-34 Delaware Black Foxes

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