This game definitely lived up to the pre-match hype. This game should be a strong candidate for match of the year. Denver gets a last minute try and conversion to win the game after spending the majority of the game on the losing side of the scoreboard.

Kurt Morath gets the game underway with San Diego kicking to Denver. Quick penalty against Denver lets Morath have first crack at putting points on the board for San Diego, however he pushes it across the face of the posts. A few minutes later Morath would get redemption as he put the first points of the game on the board, 3-0 SD. Both teams traded missed penalties with Will Magie missing two and Morath missing one more. San Diego thought they had a great looking try from Mikey Te’o who took a kick and ran 70m untouched for a try, however the referee called it back for obstruction on Hubert Buydens. Denver couldn’t take advantage of the penalty and eventually turned it over and committed a penalty allowing Morath to put three more points on the board, 6-0 SD. Denver finally gets on the board with a try from Max De Achaval, which followed a great run and fend from the USA U-20 captain Hanco Germishuys. Magie’s conversion looked no good as the assistant referees left their flags down, but the referee awarded the conversion, 7-6 Denver. Morath ended the half with a 45m penalty kick that was taken after a yellow card to Ata Malifa for not wrapping in the tackle, although replays showed it was close.

Second half gets underway with Denver kicking to San Diego. A few minutes in Denver gets a penalty and Magie puts it through the uprights to give Denver back the lead at 10-9. Morath would takeover for the next few minutes as he put two penalty kicks through the uprights to give San Diego the 15-10 lead. Denver put some good phases together to get inside San Diego territory, but they turned it over. However, that almost seemed to work in their favor as Christian Wiessing would intercept the ball and run 40m untouched for the try, with the Magie conversion, Denver is ahead 17-15. Hubert Buydens would leave the field with a knock to his knee. Morath would put San Diego back in the lead 18-17 with a penalty kick. San Diego would add to their lead with a try from Kalei Konrad. Mikey Te’o took the clearance kick from Timana Tahu and ran to Denver’s 5m line before off loading to Konrad for the try. Morath pushes the conversion wide so San Diego leads 23-17. Back and forth action for some 20 minutes until Denver puts a few phases together and Martin Knoetze chases, reaches, and scores off the kick from Will Magie as San Diego thought the kick was going into touch, but the ball took a bounce back into play and allowed Knoetze to pick it up and score. Will Magie with the difficult conversion to give Denver the lead at 24-23. San Diego had a promising chance to score but knocked it on just inside Denver’s 22m line. Denver gets the ball near San Diego’s touch line and picks and goes to try to stall for time as the clock was close to time. Eventually Denver is able to kick the ball out and the referee blows the whistle.

San Diego thought they had this one but just had a last minute mental error and allowed a try to Denver. Denver played most of this game on their heels as San Diego had the majority of the possession, but Denver’s defense is one of the best in the league. The game MVP goes to Will Magie for his penalty kicks, try conversions, and the last minute assist on Knoetze’s try. Morath is definitely a candidate for league MVP as he almost single-handedly won the game for San Diego. Some bad news for Denver as Niku Kruger is out for the season with a knee injury. Injury was suffered before the San Francisco game two weeks ago. This game is what people should show their friends to introduce them to the sport of rugby.

Scoring

Denver

Tries: De Achaval, Wiessing, Knoteze

Pens: Magie 1/3

Cons: Magie 3/3

San Diego

Tries: Konrad

Pens: Morath 6/8

Cons: Morath 0/1