Honours Shared Between Sharks and Barbarians in Shark Bowl I

21st May 2006

Local rivals, the Chichester Sharks and the Barbarians shared the Shark Bowl title in the latest ESFL tournament of 2006, fighting out a thrilling 6-6 tie in the final.

In torrential rain, North Devon Dogs and Barbarians drew 6-6 in an early group game with Barbarians taking an early 6-0 lead, with the Dogs levelling late on with a pass from Tanton to Stevenson. After that it was down to points difference to see who would take the group win and the right to face the winner of Group B in the Shark Bowl final. Barbarians 42-0 destruction of the Chichester Thespians was enough, as the Dogs posted a 15-0 win over the same opponents. Team Voodoo were more than competitive in their games against the Dogs and the Barbarians losing by a sole TD in each, and then they posted a 19-0 win over the Thespians (who were playing their first tournament together).

In group B, Leicester Eagles trailed 6-0 early on against the Bournemouth Raiders on Brad Smith's run, but the Eagles hit back and won 25-13. Chichester Sharks posted their intentions early on with a stunning 26-12 over the Eastbourne Crusaders. Leicester then went 2-0 with a tight 6-0 win over Eastbourne, whilst Chichester withheld a furious Bournemouth second half comeback after leading 13-0 at halftime to preserve a 13-6 win. This set up a winner-take all matchup between the Sharks and the Eagles. Sharks took an early 6-0 lead on Pete Steele's catch and run, but Leicester hit back with Craig Broughton's catch from John Pimperton to tie it up at 6-6. Midway through the second half, the Sharks scored the winning TD to take the game 12-6 and also the group. In the final game of the group, Bournemouth took the lead against Eastbourne on the first play of the match with Rich Cleveland's interception return and the conversion put the Raiders 7-0 up. Eastbourne hit back to end the half 7-6 down. Allen Gilbert scored a TD from distance, before Eastbourne reduced the score to 13-12 with seconds to go. They went for two points, but the PAT failed giving Bournemouth their first win of the year.

Leicester Eagles defeated the North Devon Dogs 7-6 to take third place on the day. In the championship game, Chichester took an early lead on Neil Henderson's pass to Pete Steele, and the Chichester D defender a Barbarians attack late in the first half to keep a 6-0 half-time lead. Barbarians QB Nick Watson long pass to Dayle Kirby with two minutes left gave the Barbarians great field position, and moments later Watson's pass was caught in the corner of the endzone to tie the scores. The Babas couldn't convert the PAT, and the Sharks had no time to score so the title was shared.