Saphire Series Round Two - Results, Reports and Standings

Round 2 of the Sapphire Series played out this past Saturday and left some more teams bruised and battered. Already suffering from the last round were the Derby Braves who couldn’t make the trip to Manchester to fulfil their Division One games. This was due to not being able to field a full strength roster and therefore risking player safety.

As the day wore on the Iceni Spears of Division Two South suffered the same fate and were unable to play their second game of the day. Such is the learning curve when you have new teams featuring new players that these unfortunate incidents occur. From what we understand the injured players are recovering well and will hopefully not be put off by their misfortune going forward.

So onto the action and as somewhat expected the Birmingham Lions continued their dominance of Division One with two shutout wins. Hertfordshire kept up the pace though and should the Lions slip up they will be the first team to capitalise. Leeds will take something from the day as they were not completely humiliated by Birmingham and put up some decent numbers against the Tornadoes.

Images from the Division One games in Manchester can be found here courtesy of Geoff White - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.474854929373152.1073741894.187980794727235&type=3&__mref=message_bubble

Division Two North looks to be the most evenly matched. After a good opening round Edinburgh were pegged back and could only manage a tied game and a narrow loss. They were leapfrogged in the standings by Teeside. Chester won big against host team East Kilbride, before succumbing to the Steelers.

Division Two South is in danger of becoming an exhibition for the London Warriors. Outscoring their opponents 114-0 on the day they are the dominant force right now and even though Sandwell are tucked in nicely behind them in the standings they are going to be at their best in a fortnight to derail their free scoring rivals. Portsmouth and Wembley will be a good test for Sandwell in the race for second spot.

DIVISION ONE

BIRMINGHAM 28 LEEDS 0

LEEDS 29 HERTFORDSHIRE 58

BIRMINGHAM 43 MANCHESTER 0

MANCHESTER 20 HERTFORDSHIRE 50

DIVISION TWO NORTH

CHESTER 46 EAST KILBRIDE 13

EDINBURGH 2 TEESDIE 2

EAST KILBRIDE 8 EDINBURGH 6

CHESTER 6 TEESIDE 12

DIVISION TWO SOUTH

PORTSMOUTH 0 LONDON 60

WEMBLEY 18 SANDWELL 6

ICENI 0 LONDON 54

PORTSMOUTH 18 SANDWELL 19

Gordon Dedman reports from the games played in Portsmouth with some great images from the day.

The latest round of the Sapphire Series South took place on the sunny south coast with Portsmouth University hosting the London Warriors, the Sandwell Steelers, the Wembley Stallions and the Iceni Spears.

The most proficient team, confirmed by the dominance in their 60-0 and 54-0 victories over Portsmouth and Iceni, was London. Slick and athletic, they oozed the professionalism you would expect from a Warriors organisation and certainly expressed it on the field with their high scoring offense and commanding defense.

In the round robin process that is the Sapphire Series, Sandwell lost to a spirited Wembley team who overcame the loss of their starting quarterback at the end of the first half to win 18-6. The Stallions have the smallest squad, but maintained their focus to gain the victory.

With Iceni forgoing their second game, it was left to Portsmouth and Sandwell to put on a display of flip flopping football in the final act.

Sandwell scored early, but Portsmouth hit back and took an 18-7 lead with four minutes remaining.  The Steelers warming to their task put together two scoring series to win 19-18 with just one successful point after separating the two teams.

If there are any doubts about the intensity of the ladies game, the two injuries that delayed proceedings awaiting ambulances confirmed the fervour the game is played in. I wish the Iceni and Wembley injured players a speedy recovery.

LONDON WARRIORS v PORTSMOUTH DESTROYERS - https://www.flickr.com/photos/107007642@N02/albums/72157665733755532

SANDWELL STEELERS v PORTSMOUTH DETROYERS – https://www.flickr.com/photos/107007642@N02/albums/72157665866731116

SANDWELL STEELERS v WEMBLEY STALLIONS - https://www.flickr.com/photos/107007642@N02/albums/72157663583477834

STANDINGS AFTER ROUND TWO

DIVISION ONE                                                F A             PTS

BIRMINGHAM LIONS                                     157         10           12

HERTS.TORNADOES                                        164         90           10

LEEDS CARNEGIE                                              101         98           8

DERBY BRAVES                                                 20            184         4

MANCHESTER TITANS                                    18           78           2

                                                                               

DIVISION TWO NORTH                                                                 

TEESIDE STEELERS                                            78           20           11

EDINBURGH WOLVES                                    55           31           9

CHESTER ROMANS                                          78           88           6

EAST KILBRIDE PIRATES                                 28           100         6

                                                                               

DIVISION TWO SOUTH                                                                 

LONDON WARRIORS                                      239         6              12

SANDWELL STEELERS                                      71           47           10

PORTSMOUTH DESTROYERS                       38           123         6

WEMBLEY STALLIONS                                    42           85           5

ICENI SPEARS                                                   11             140         3