Paced by some very strong work in the forwards the Great Lakes Thunderbirds defeated the Midwest Barbarians 34-0 in the final of the NCR Men’s Collegiate All-Stars in Round Rock, Texas to take the championship.
The Thunderbirds were impressive throughout, allowing just 12 points in pool play and winning both the quarterfinals and the final by identical shutout scores. Only their semifinal, a 24-17 victory over a tough Tri-State Foundry team, was especially close.
Great Lakes started their campaign on Saturday with a clash with Mid-Atlantic where neither team was able to score. The Thunderbirds had scoring chances but just couldn’t quite get the connections. As they began to be comfortable with each other the Great Lakes players started to find the connections. Flanker Aaron Juma was influential here and another player from Wheeling University, Joseph Iye, was silky smooth in the backs.
Thomas More backs Tshepo Moselane (wing) and Luca Mattasini (flyhalf), and Tommaso Lorenzetti of Marian were all dangerous attackers. While Phil Tracey (Bowling Green), and JD Farrell of Marian, and the second row partnership of Navin Couch (Wheeling) and Chris Jensvold (Louisville) got plenty of go-forward in traffic.
The final itself began as the opening game began for Great Lakes, with chances available to score but perhaps a little too much adrenaline leading to a few miscues. The Midwest was able to get out of trouble but for the most part couldn’t launch much in the way of attacking movements inside the Great Lakes half.
Finally, a big run from Moselane set up the Thunderbirds and after a penalty and a tap Mattasini was in.
Moments later the Thunderbirds worked the ball with a little razzle-dazzle. They got a favorable call on a potential knock-on (replays showed the ball had come off a foot so a correct non-call), and a big charge from Farrell was capped by a pick-and-dive from Tracey.