When the Florida Youth Rugby Boys DI league merged all of its pools to form on conference, the conventional wisdom was that the season would make going undefeated very difficult - travel, injury issues, and various other distractions would all have an influence - and in fact that wisdom was correct.

Saturday, Riviera Beach Maritime Academy defeated the Tampa Krewe 17-15, giving Tampa their first loss of the season and ensuring that no team in the competition would be undefeated.

Tampa is now 5-1, and so is Jupiter, while RBMA sits at 4-1-1 and Orlando now at 4-1. Those four seem to be the top four at the moment, but with a third of the season still to go, you never know.

For RBMA, the win over Tampa was important.

“The boys played well and controlled the ball,” said RBMA Head Coach David Sellepack. “Tampa did a nice job of trying to poach the ball in the tackle but we were able to counter by wearing them down [and] making them run.”

It was a smart move. RBMA knows how to leverage a smaller group of forwards, and they were certainly successful on Saturday, despite missing three of their regulars due to it being SAT Day.

“We had to utilize our bench a lot more than we have and they stood up to the challenge,” said Sellepack. “Our team is starting to gel and this will help us get more consistent results.”

Out wide, RBMA center Jerry Sosa had an excellent game, especially on defense where he had to help contain the Tampa midfield, which usually includes Obie Cruz and Nick Deannuntis. Tampa did manage to break through for two tries, but overall, holding the Krewe to 15 points was a big win.

Krewe fullback Jordan Haggard was also very dangerous with the ball.

For Riviera Beach, their halfback combination of Riory Cicciru and John Sellepack continues to run a smart offense. They made good decisions, and used their forward smartly. 

Bo Jackson, Chase McKinnis, and Aaron Morad led RBMA in tackles in what was a very good team defensive effort.

Jupiter, which lost to Tampa the week before - their only loss of the season so far - rebounded nicely with a 58-3 defeat of West Pines. 

Hooker Trevor Brueningsen scored two tries and converted two on a day where he played well when he wasn’t scoring, too. And flyhalf Spencer Gray gritted through an ankle injury to lead the team in tackles and control the defensive line.

The Cape Pirates improved to 3-3 with a very tight 27-26 win over Daytona Beach. The Pirates are still in with a shout for the semifinals, but will need to beat Key Biscayne, Tampa, and RBMA in their remaining games, and hope that Orlando trips up at least once.

Orlando is 4-2 after a bit of a shocking loss to Key Biscayne 40-17 - SAT Day might have hurt them also. Another surprise result was Naples beating Okapi 9-6. Okapi had thoughts of moving into the top four, but this loss drops the Wanderers to 2-2-1. This was the first win of the season for Naples.

Tampa remains in 1st thanks to a head-to-head win over Jupiter, and those two, plus RMBA and Orlando are in the semifinal spots for the moment. Improving Key Biscayne has a game in hand, and four wins could see them move into the top four.

The next four will play off for the Plate, with the bottom two teams going for the Bowl.