St. John Bosco upset St. Augustine to take the SCIRF title over the weekend, in a win that was not without controversy.

Bosco did well to stifle an impressive St. Augustine attack, and held the Saints to just 11 points.

But in doing so, Bosco also struggled to get its offense moving and trailed 8-0 into the second half. But Bosco found an extra gear and surged through with three tries in a 22-minute period to go up 19-8. Augustine added a penalty goal, but nothing more, and Bosco took the Southern California Interscholastic Rugby Federation title 19-11.

However ... there's a caveat. Partway through the second half, Bosco subbed on a player, and failed to take one off. For a period of about 26 minutes, St. John Bosco played with 16 players. This was not noticed by the coaches or the officials until the match was almost over. Video evidence shows that Bosco did indeed have 16 players, and the referee, Vince McLeod, acknowledged as much in an official letter to the teams.

With about a minute remaining in the game, an assistant referee notified McLeod that there were indeed 16 Bosco players on the field, and Bosco was penalized with a yellow card for the offense. Adding to the difficulty was that one of the assistant referees did not show as scheduled. Another person was found to serve, and it was that backup assistant referee who spotted the disparity in numbers. 

(The disparity can be seen easily in the game film. Right from the scrum after the illegal substitution, Bosco was running with an eight-player backline. How everyone missed this is a mystery.)

There was no 4th official for this game, and that was a crucial issue, as it is the 4th official who deals with substitutions and confirms who is on and who is off. Perhaps if the other assistant referee had shown up, then perhaps the person who stepped in as AR could have performed that 4th official role.

So what happens here? Likely nothing. While the referee evaluation on McLeod will likely be a tough one for him to hear, the result itself will likely stand. There is no doubt that there two teams were close. St. Augustine's victory over St. John Bosco earlier in the season, by 40 points to 31, was easily the closest game for Augustine. St. Augustine did not lose a game all season until Saturday.