London Royals Shake Off Early Loss To Top World 10s Standings
London Royals Shake Off Early Loss To Top World 10s Standings
The London Royals lifted the World Tens Series League Trophy at the end of Day Two after they topped the league standings and confirmed their place as number on seeds for the WTS Cup this Saturday.
The Royals won two of their three matches on Day Two, losing out to the Asia Pacific Dragons in the final game of the day.
World 10s Series Round 2 Scores |
Monday 2 November |
London Royals 11-15 Miami Sun |
Asia Pacific Dragons 27-5 Phoenix |
Ohio Aviators 11-10 Rhinos |
Phoenix 0-22 Ohio Aviators |
Rhinos 0-12 London Royals |
SX10 v Asia Pacific Dragons |
Phoenix 5-0 Miami Sun |
Asia Pacific Dragons 20-16 Ohio Aviators |
London Royals v SX10 |
Tuesday 3 November |
Ohio Aviators 12-13 London Royals |
Asia Pacific Dragons 12-20 Miami Sun |
SX10 24-5 Rhinos |
Miami Sun* 17-17 Ohio Aviators |
SX10 30-0 Phoenix |
Asia Pacific Dragons 5-11 Rhinos |
London Royals 32-0 Phoenix |
Miami Sun 12-14 Rhinos |
Ohio Aviators 14-10 SX10 |
Rhinos 18-5 Phoenix |
Richard de Carpentier was voted most valuable player by the World Tens Series commentary team with Tom Emery the league’s top point scorer with 62.
Day Two saw SX10 make their long-awaited Series entrance and the men from Africa didn’t disappoint. Kenyan flier Collins Injera ran on to a long pass from Cecil Afrika to get them on the scoreboard after less than two minutes against the Rhinos. The Kenyan got a brace of tries and Luke Treharne raced away for a fantastic individual score to give Frankie Horne’s side a bonus point win to start. The Royals edged past the Aviators in game one and then a depleted Miami Sun squad mustered all their energy and strength to claim a 20-12 win over the Asia Pacific Dragons.
Miami and Ohio Aviators went head-to-head in the first World Tens Series shoot-out. With the game tied at full time at 17-17, after Canadian second row Josh Larsen produced an outrageous cross field kick for perhaps the try of the day, Matt Turner, representing Miami and Ben Cima went head-to-head. They matched each other kick for kick over eight rounds before Turner landed a conversion from the far-left touchline. With Cima unable to make his attempt, the three match points went to the Sun.
SX10 had seven points taken off them in their match score against Phoenix for having 11 players on the field, but it was uncostly as they continued their fine form to record a 30-0 victory. Rhinos got back to winning ways with a spirited 11-5 victory over the Asia Pacific Dragons after three straight defeats.
The Royals despatched of Phoenix in the opening match of session three before the Rhinos scraped home against Miami. Matt Turner scored in the corner and opted for the two-point conversion to level the scores, but his effort went wide of the posts and Rhinos prevailed. Aviators produced a fine performance to hand SX10 their first defeat of the day, Tiaan Loots and John Sullivan scoring the tries.
Rhinos made it three wins from four with an 18-5 victory over Phoenix before the SX10 recorded the biggest points total of the day, defeating Miami Sun 42-5. The Asia Pacific Dragons scored a late try in a come-from-behind win against the Royals, Tomasi Alosio scoring a mesmerizing try. It didn’t matter though as the Royals had enough league points on the board to ensure a top spot finish.
Attention turns to the WTS Cup this Saturday in a straight knock out tournament. As the number one seeds, London Royals get a bye to the semifinals.
(Please note we listed the Ohio-Miami game as a tie, but in fact Miami won that game on the shootout. Also, we have not listed the bonus points. This is just a rough look at the teams' records.)
2020 Round 2 Won-Loss Records | ||||||
Team | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD |
London Royals | 3 | 2 | 0 | 89 | 54 | 35 |
Ohio Aviators | 3 | 2 | 1 | 92 | 70 | 22 |
Asia Pacific Dragons | 3 | 2 | 0 | 94 | 73 | 21 |
Miami Sun | 2 | 2 | 1 | 64 | 59 | 5 |
SX10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 64 | 19 | 45 |
Rhinos | 2 | 3 | 0 | 47 | 64 | -17 |
Phoenix | 1 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 129 | -114 |
Overall 2020 World 10s Won-Loss Records | ||||||
Team | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD |
London Royals | 7 | 3 | 0 | 185 | 77 | 108 |
Rhinos | 7 | 3 | 0 | 127 | 90 | 37 |
Asia Pacific Dragons | 5 | 5 | 0 | 173 | 122 | 51 |
Ohio Aviators | 5 | 5 | 1 | 149 | 114 | 35 |
Miami Sun | 4 | 5 | 1 | 118 | 119 | -1 |
SX10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 64 | 19 | 45 |
Phoenix | 1 | 10 | 0 | 25 | 225 | -200 |