ESFL Northern Pirates 28-6 ESFL Southern Pirates

The Northern Knights triumphed 28-6 over the Southern Pirates in the 9man English Senior Flag League Allstar match at Witney Rugby Club. Despite subborn defense from the Pirates, the North took the lead in the first quarter on a Martin Brown pass to Nick Moffatt on 4th and 10, to go 6-0 ahead. The Pirates were moving the ball well with the running of Bradley Smith and Neil Henderson, and some good link ups between QB Nick Watson and his Chichester Shark team-mate Pete Steele and Bournemouth Raider Tim Smith. The Knights D was not to be broken though, and Brad Smith was picked off in the second quarter. The Knights extended their lead when Pirates QB Nick Watson was sacked for a safety, and on the subsequent drive MVP RB Michael Soboagl ran in from 55 yards out to put the North up 14-0.

The North came out fired up in the second half, and the devastating running and blocking of Soboagl and Ryan Melbourne  had the South in trouble on a drive which was capped off by Soboagl (who rushed for over 100 yards on the day) for his second TD. On the next drive, Pirates QB Brad Smith got the Pirates back in the game with a blistering 70 yard run, and for a moment it looked like the momentum would swing back to the South as they pulled the scores to 20-6. The North were not to be denied though, and QB Brown added the icing on the cake with a pass to Lawrence Tallon to seal the win.

The South got some revenge in the 5man challenge with a 18-6 victory thanks to 2 TD passes from Nick Watson to Tim Smith, and Barnaby Kerr's safety.

Northern Knights squad

Andy Allen, Lawrence Tallon, Martin Brown, Nick Moffatt, John William Scott, Adam Pollock, Matt Ranson, Dave Parr, Chris Blackwood, Greg Enright, Paul Berg (All Fen Harriers) Darren Kangurs, Keith Phillips, Lawrence Vos, Craig Priest (All Birmingham Raiders)
Ryan Melbourne, Mike Turner, Andy Gambrill, Rich Manning (All Leicester Eagles)
Dan Mearkle, Michael Soboagl, Tesh Patel, Ben Harper, Simon Juniper (All Team Extreme)
Gurkinder Mann, Alex Skivington (All Derby Dream Team)

Southern Pirates squad 

John Parsons, Mark Elliott, Matt Heasman, Richard Cleveland, Tim Smith, Brad Smith, Elliot Smith, Nick Michael, Vincent Gurrea, Barney Kerr (all Bournemouth Raiders) Nick Watson, Pete Steele, Neil Henderson, Dave Giles, Jason Davies, Dan Mitchell, Gary Robinson, Julian Simms, Ben White, Justin Handley, Nick Harris, Andy Ifould, Jon Steele-Mills, Shaun Scutt (all Chichester Sharks) Matt Stevenson, Dave Duncan, Roy Tanton (North Devon Dogs)

 
Southern Pirates squad


Northern Knights squad