Road To WPL Championship: Quins Bring The Hurt
Road To WPL Championship: Quins Bring The Hurt
Latest from the Women's Premier League Road To The Championship.
Everything has changed as the Women's Premier League marches toward Championship Weekend.
Watch All of the WPL Championship Weekend Games LIVE on FloRugby
The once unbeatable Berkeley All Blues are now 3-2 after being humbled by San Diego 43-5. The once afterthought Atlanta Harlequins, 0-2 after the first two rounds, are now in the lead in the Red Conference after winning their third straight.
the 'Quins got some good work from a capable bench and two early tries from flanker Chidinma Chukwueke to dispatch Beantown 43-12. This was the same Beantown that was put itself in title contention with a win over New York a week ago.
San Diego got two tries from scrumhalf Tegan McDonald and led the All Blues 26-0 at halftime. That was enough, although they scored three more times, and the Surfers lead in the Blue.
New York has gone from 1st to 4th in the Red and probably welcomed this week's bye. Meanwhile, the Twin Cities Amazons are another team whose fortunes have changed. A start of two losses and a tie has been almost erased with two straight victories, including a 58-15 result over DC which saw Megan Wolff score 16 points, and Sylvia Braaten and Rachel Lentsch lead the team with two tries each.
It's all still up in the air, then, as no one seems to be able to hold onto momentum.
Part of that is due to travel. It's not easy to piece together the right lineup when you're traveling halfway across the country. That may be why the home team is 14-9-1 this season so far. Take the winless Chicago North Shore out of that equation and home teams are 13-5-1.
(A quick note on North Shore. They had it in the bag on Saturday, up 24-7 with ten minutes to go, and gave up three tries to ORSU to lose.)
So who has the most home games left? Glendale. The Merlins have three scheduled at Infinity Park, and could win all three. Most on the road? Chicago, so that won't be easy for them. Most teams have an even split, which means it's crucial to get some points from road games.
The WPL culminates in Marietta, GA October 26 and October 28 with a weekend of championship rugby. The top two from each conference play in the semis on Friday and the final and 3rd/4th games on Sunday. But everyone has a game to play. The bottom two from each conference play in a semi, with the winner with the larger winning margin playing the winner of #3 v #3 for a chance at 5th in the league. Yes, you can be last in your conference and end up 5th with a good weekend in Marietta.
See all the games on FloRugby.
Latest WPL Standings:
WPL Blue Conference | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | PTS |
San Diego Surfers | 4 | 1 | 0 | 139 | 80 | 59 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
Glendale Merlins | 3 | 1 | 0 | 159 | 66 | 93 | 4 | 0 | 16 |
Berkeley All Blues | 3 | 2 | 0 | 120 | 137 | -17 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
Oregon Sports Union | 2 | 3 | 0 | 117 | 150 | -33 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
Chicago North Shore | 0 | 5 | 0 | 73 | 175 | -102 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
WPL Red Conference | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | PTS |
Atlanta Harlequins | 3 | 2 | 0 | 200 | 101 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
Beantown Rugby | 3 | 1 | 1 | 129 | 106 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 16 |
Twin Cities Amazons | 2 | 2 | 1 | 153 | 126 | -45 | 3 | 1 | 14 |
New York Rugby | 2 | 2 | 0 | 134 | 134 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
D.C. Furies | 1 | 4 | 0 | 87 | 236 | -18 | 2 | 0 | 6 |