Bingham Cup roundup – Day 1: Sydney storm first day’s play

BINGHAM Cup 2014 hosts the Sydney Convicts made an impressive start on a wet and windy first day of competition with the A team denying both their competitors even a single point in the mud-clogged pitches of Rose Bay.

Before lunch, rugby heavyweights John Eales and Nick Farr-Jones joined political heavyweights Malcolm Turnbull and Anthony Albanese to watch the Convicts dispatch the Melbourne Chargers 19 nothing. Just to show it wasn’t a fluke, later in the day the Convicts saw off Chicago by an even wider margin to nil.

A win over a lacklustre Los Angeles Rebellion should secure the Convicts’ top team as cup contenders.

Melbourne had a mixed day losing to Sydney but seeing off LA. Meanwhile, the Brisbane Hustlers scored 50 points, but didn’t concede even one, against Manchester. Brisbane’s 5-nil win over the San Francisco Fog keeps the Queenslander’s cup dreams alive.

San Francisco might be the spiritual home of the Bingham Cup but the jury is out on whether it will return to the foggy city with one loss and a hardly emphatic win over the New Zealand Falcons.

Sydney’s C side did well pushing aside Southern USA and Amsterdam.

New York’s Gotham Knights scored highly against the Royal Bucks but lost to Sydney’s B side.

Meanwhile, the Kings Cross Steelers ratcheted up two good wins but against, arguably, not the two top teams.

Nonetheless, at the end of day one a London vs Sydney final is looking like a real possibility.

RESULTS

Pool A

Los Angeles Rebellion 33–0 Chicago Dragons

Sydney Convicts A 19–0 Melbourne Chargers A

Melbourne Chargers A 10–5 Los Angeles Rebellion

Sydney Convicts A 54–0 Chicago Dragons

Pool B

New Zealand Falcons 22-0 Manchester Village Spartans

Brisbane Hustlers 5-0 San Francisco Fog

Brisbane Hustlers 50–0 Manchester Village Spartans

San Francisco Fog 11–8 New Zealand Falcons

Pool C

Sydney Convicts B 5-0 New York Gotham Knights

Kings Cross Steelers A 57–0 Charlotte / Atlanta Royal Bucks

New York Gotham Knights 38–0 Charlotte / Atlanta Royal Bucks

Kings Cross Steelers A 13–5 Sydney Convicts B

Pool D

West Coast Phever 24–5 Toronto / Las Vegas / Stockholm Muddy Armada Berzerkers

London Kings Cross Steelers B 15–0 Philadelphia Gryphons

West Coast Phever 0–0 London Kings Cross Steelers B

Philadelphia Gryphons 20–0 Toronto / Las Vegas / Stockholm Muddy Armada Berzerkers

Pool E

Boston Ironsides 12-12 Amsterdam Lowlanders

Sydney Convicts C 37–0 Southern USA Ba Bas

Southern USA Ba Bas 17–0 Boston Ironsides

Sydney Convicts C 34–5 Amsterdam Lowlanders

Pool F

Emerald Valkyries 10–0 Hustler Australian Ba Baas

Ottawa Wolves 14–5 Melbourne Chargers B

Emerald Valkyries 34–0 Melbourne Chargers B

Ottawa Wolves 12-0 Hustler Australian Ba Baas