Okapi moved to 2-0-1 in Florida's U19 league while Cape pulled off a little bit of an upset, and Cardinal Gibbons kept rolling.

Gibbons scored 52 points for the second straight week, and went one better on defense, going from holding an opponent to just one try to holding them for no tries—just a penalty goal.

"Our defense," said Coach Eric Aumann, "is impenetrable."

Offensively the size of the Gibbons players helped cover up the odd mistake, but when the other guys have the ball, Gibbons is in mid-season form.

Cape defeated Jacksonville 29-12 in a clash of two Arkansas State alumni coaches. 

"I knew they would bring the pressure," said Jacksonville Head Coach Aaron Church. "Unfortunately we didn't respond well."

The Wolverines' starting flyhalf, Jackson Chastain, was injured and didn't play and COVID had a couple of other players out. This hurt the team unity of purpose, said Church, and their ball movement and offense suffered.

"We had a valiant effort from the U16 players who had to step up," said Church, who had 15-year-old Cameron Correll wearing the #10 jersey.  Cape made mistakes but the Wilverines weren't always able to capitalize. Jacksonville led 12-5 at halftime, but it wasn't enough.

"I am really proud of how they held their composure and kept their heads in heated moments," said Cape Head Coach Brock Roper. "I think it will be a great year for Cape Pirates Rugby; I have over ten kids who’s first year it is playing rugby so you always have that hurdle but they are getting better every week and I think we will be very dangerous by the end of the season."

In the second half, a yellow card and a couple of tries called back seemed to take the wind out of Jacksonville's sails. And the Pirates then intercepted a pass for a try twice.

"In our league anyone can be a top contender each week," said Church. "Our boys know this was not the standard of rugby we need to play. And we look towards this next week with fire as our missing return to action."

Youngsters Blake Clifton on the wing and Correll at flyhalf both played some excellent rugby and both scored for the Wolverines.

Just Good Enough for Pirates

For Cape, flanker Van McCaleb scoured two tries and was a menace on defense.

"He really brought the team together when things went wrong and led by example all 70 minutes," said Roper. Flyhalf Connar Yancey, who has been a part of Cape Pirates Rugby for five years, controlled the game well and led the backline defensive effort.

Centers Aiden Rutledge and Brody Ackerman also made an impact. Ackerman scored an nicely-taken try on a counterattack.

Cape improved to 2-1, while Okapi moved to 2-0-1 with a 23-19 defeat of Wellington. Director of Rugby Gavin McLeavy said the expectation was they would win by more, especially after they ran in 43 on the Cape Pirates last week.

"I think they are under-delivering," said McLeavy, who also looked back on the season--opening tie with Boca. "We felt we should have beaten Boca. We felt we should have beaten Wellington by more. Part of that is that teams are perhaps better than we expected, and part of that is us not clicking on all cylinders."

Little elements of the game plan aren't quite coming together yet, and with so much depth, the Wanderers have been switching lineups a lot. So that might be why it hasn't come together perfectly yet. Still, they haven't lost.

But there is a lot to be excited about with the Wanderers. The club with probably the best youth program in the state has a high percentage of their players who have several years of experience in the game. What that means is they know how to execute the skills.

"Defensivley we're small but we match them for technique," said McLeavy. "We are small but we win most scrums."

Skilled and unpredictable flyhalf Niko Santos is a playmaker, while loose forward Benito Abbiati has developed as a leader and has worked hard on his game. Wing Segundo Weinstein is quick and multi-skilled—against Cape Pirates he scored 28 points.

Next week Cape faces Boca in a clash that could have a big influence on which teams challenge for the top four.