Leicester Eagles win Easter Bowl III

10th April 2006

In sunshine and heavy showers the newly formed London Liberty hosted their second tournament of the year in the superb facilities in Ruislip. It was the Leicester Eagles that went home with the Easter Bowl III title after a 13-7 victory over the Barbarians.

The football was very competitive and played in excellent spirit. It was noted that the standard of English Senior Flag is improving all the time, with several of the participating sides training on a regular basis.

Team Voodoo brought their very own Voodoo Priest who did a little spell to ensure a good soaking, but alas for the Voodoo they may have wished it had stayed dry.

The eight competing sides were split into two groups of four, and in group A the Barbarians (making their debut in 2006) stunned the hosts with a 14-6 win. After the Sharks had thumped Bournemouth 33-6 a matchup between the Babas and the Sharks would determine the likely winner of Group A.

Barbarians triumphed in their “derby” matchup with the Sharks 20-7, and proceded to win a narrow match against Bournemouth, with a defensive stand on the last play of the game, 13-7 to win the group. Liberty edged the Sharks 19-13 to take second place with Sharks taking third and Bournemouth fourth.

In group B, two sides were playing their first games of 2006 in the North Devon Dogs and the Brighton Tsunami. Leicester took out the Tsunami 19-7, and the Dogs defeated Team Voodoo 15-6 in the opening fixtures. Momentum swung the way of the Eagles when they narrowly defeated the Dogs 7-6 in the key fixture and went onto wrap up the group with a 19-6 win over Team Voodoo. The Dogs defeated Brighton 20-0 to take second place, and Brighton won their only fixture of the day with an impressive 20-12 win over Team Voodoo.

Onto the knockout phase, and Voodoo took 7th place after Bournemouth forfeited their fixture. Chichester Sharks took 5th place with a 20-0 whitewash over Brighton, and Liberty took 3rd with a 22-0 shutout of the North Devon Dogs.

In a thrilling final, Leicester Eagles took the title with a 13-7 win over the Barbarians. Leicester scored first and converted the extra point for a 7-0 lead in to half-time. Early in the second half the Barbarians burst into life with a long pass and evasive 40 yard run to level the scores on a converted extra point. The Eagles replied with a characteristic, well executed, 50 yard run play to take back the lead. The Barbarians were unable to threaten the line again with the Eagles defence sealing victory.

Leicester’s win moves them up to second in the ESFL 2006 league table with a win/lose % of 77.8%. London Liberty lead the league with 80%, with the other two qualifying spots for the “Final Four” end of season tournament currently held by Barbarians 75% and Chichester Sharks 50%. All teams must play in three ESFL tournaments to qualify for the “Final Four”.

Final rankings from the tournament:

1st Leicester Eagles 4-0
2nd The Barbarians 3-1
3rd London Liberty 3-1
4th North Devon Dogs 2-2
5th Chichester Sharks 2-2
6th Brighton Tsunami 1-3
7th Team Voodoo 0-3
8th Bournemouth Raiders 0-3

Group A results:

Sharks-Bournemouth 33-6
Barbarians-Liberty 14-6
Barbarians-Sharks 20-7
Liberty-Bournemouth 14-0
Liberty-Sharks 19-13
Barbarians-Bournemouth 13-7

Group B results:

Eagles-Brighton 19-7
Dogs-VooDoo 15-6
Eagles-Dogs 7-6
Brighton-VooDoo 20-12
Eagles-VooDoo 19-6
Dogs-Brighton 20-0

Playoff Scores:

Final: Eagles-Barbarians 13-7
3rd place: Liberty-Dogs 22-0
5th place: Sharks-Brighton 20-0
7th place: VooDoo-Bournemouth VooDoo by forfeit