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Well, folks, as another season of Florida rugby comes to a close, I would like to thank you all for reading the Sideline Whisperer. I do this column for fun and to get people talking, and I hope some of you even got some motivation and/or laughs from my very amateur insight.
Posted on 4/11/2014 10:48:44 PM
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For the four remaining mens teams left alive in the state,
the motivation this weekend in Clermont is to win and qualify for the first
round of the national playoffs - the round of 32. In D2, the winner of
Miami-Fort Lauderdale will likely play Charleston, who have romped through True
South play. While in D3, the winner of Sarasota-Gainesville will take on the
top seed from Georgia, which will likely either be Savannah or Athens. Division 2 No. 3 Fort Lauderdale vs. No. 1 Miami - The Knights
got a last-second drop goal to upset the second-seeded Boca Raton Buccaneers
last weekend, while Miami also had to work very hard to beat Krewe by six
points at home. Lauderdale is likely playing the best rugby in the state at the
moment and will need to bring all of their talent on Saturday to beat the
one-loss Bumblebees. I have a sneaky feeling the boys in blue will be able to
ride their great momentum of late and pull off a second straight upset. Fort
Lauderdale 23, Miami 20 Division 3 No. 2 Gainesville vs. No. 1 Sarasota - When these two
teams met in Gator country back in early February, the Surge came out on top
30-24 in their closest contest of the year by a long way. In their other five
non-forfeit matrix victories, Sarasota won by an average of 35.8 points to 8.2
points. Yes, this contest is at a neutral venue, which certainly helps the Hogs
with the shorter trip than all the way to the southwest, but I think having
probably the best coach and scrumhalf in the state will power the Surge to the
state title. Sarasota 32, Gainesville 24 Last Week: 3-1
Season: 52-14 (78.8%)
All-Time: 101-32 (75.9%)
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