by Twm Owen
Something has to give in the British American Football league’s division two west this Sunday when the unbeaten South Wales Warriors face the equally perfect Torbay Trojans.
Both teams sit at the top of the British American Football Association (BAFA) division two west table with five wins each and no losses.
The Sunday, July 8 clash (2.30) at Paignton is the first of two back to back fixtures for the leading pair, who will meet again at the Warriors’ home in Llanharan on July, 22, that are likely to decide which takes the division title and guaranteed play-off place.
The Warriors have scored 216 points and conceded only six all season while the Trojans have amassed 140 points and given up just 23 – but one of the Devon side’s victories was a 1-0 walkover against the Jurassic Coast Raptors, who the Warriors defeated 50-0 at Llanharan Rugby Club’s Dairy Field.
That victory set the standard for the Warriors who have followed it with two 48-0 victories over third place Worcestershire Black Knights and a 62-0 hammering of the Cornish Sharks. The only team to have pushed the Warriors, who were relegated from division one after a winless 2017, are the Somerset Wyverns. A late touchdown, in their first league game, frightened their visitors who headed back across the Severn Bridge with a narrow 6-8 victory in week one.
Many wondered if the hard-fought victory over a spirited and well-prepared Wyverns team, who do not meet the Warriors again, would be an indication of how they’d fare in the bottom tier.
But instead the Welsh side have shown themselves to be a cut above most of their divisional opponents with the only team they’ve yet to face being the Trojans. As well as a potent offense, built on a strong running game and dangerous passing attack, the Warriors stingy defense is the best across all of division two.
Torbay go into Sunday’s clash off the back of a 64-0 thrashing of the winless Cornish Sharks who finished second in the division last year but in the close season lost a number of players to their south west rivals. The Trojans, who are one of British American Football’s oldest clubs, having been established in 1983, are enjoying their best season since re-forming in 2012 and only won three games last year.
The Sharks were overpowered in the first half against Torbay and the Warriors have also started strongly in their past four games.
Despite the big victory last weekend Torbay haven’t otherwise posted cricket type scores. They defeated the Wyverns, in Somerset, 16-34 and also inflicted a first defeat of the season, back in week five, on the Black Knights who fell 15-7 on their trip to the Devon coast. That the Trojans opened their season with a 0-26 victory in Cornwall suggests they have now found their stride ready for their meeting with the Warriors.