The Pacific Rugby Premiership saw a high standard of play in its opening tripleheader this past weekend, and that's only the beginning.
FloRugby live-streamed all three opening matches, which included big wins by OMBAC and Life West and Belmont Shore edging SFGG by a point.
But it wasn't necessarily a runaway for the three victors.
"We haven't been known in the past as a team that scores off mistakes," said OMBAC fullback Ian Denham, who captained the team on the day. "So to do that was something we were happy about. Last year we saw we wasted some turnover opportunities. Nick Evans and Timmy Stanfill did a good job with that."
But, said Denham, "[Olympic Club] looked pretty good and they've got some strong ball carriers. We leaked in defense a little bit."
In week two's matchups this Saturday, OMBAC takes on Life West while Santa Monica hosts SFGG and Olympic Club visits Belmont Shore.
Here are our picks:
OMBAC 33, Life West 28
Playing at home, OMBAC has a bit of an advantage but will struggle against a hard-nosed Life West team. Up front, Life West might well be the better squad, but the Gladiators will potentially tire late with a couple of players called up to the USA and a more organized defense against them.
SFGG 32, Santa Monica 16
Santa Monica captain Shawn Lee said he liked what his team did in terms of playing open, attacking rugby this past weekend. But in the pack, SFGG has a load of talent, even with Brendan Daly off with the USA team. What SFGG was not able to do was keep focused for a full 80 minutes, so the Dolphins need to take advantage of those slack times.
Regardless, SFGG, burned by that last-second loss to Belmont Shore, will come out firing.
Belmont Shore 41, Olympic Club 12
Expect a better performance from O-Club, and despite Denham's kind words, we think Olympic Club's main problem was breaking through defenses. If it can target gaps and get more support to runners, O-Club can find some tries. Belmont Shore plays very together as a team and has some breakout talent. Scrumhalf Jonathan Gray said the key last week was keeping the ball in hand. Patient and powerful, Shore should win.