Aspen have been crowned Super League champions with a clinical 56-21 victory
over San Diego side OMBAC in the 2001 Championship game in Rockford,
Illinois.

Playing on a sun drenched Indoor Sports Center field, the Gentlemen of Aspen
ran riot in the second half to clinch their second Super League title in
five years.

The Gents ran in a total eight tries to two in completely dominating a game
OMBAC team striving for its first ever RSL Championship.

OMBAC got on the board first through a try by US Eagles winger Malakai Delai
in the opening minute. The score resulted from a good bust in the open by
hooker Pat Wallace and was followed up just 4 minutes later by an Alister
Steele penalty goal to give the southern Californians an 8-0 lead after only 5 minutes.

Two minutes later Aspen answered with a try to outside center Tomasi Takau
that followed pressure from a scrum on the OMBAC 10m line. Another OMBAC
penalty goal, followed by two tries in quick succession to Aspen wingers Paul Kirk and Juan Grobler gave the Gents a 15-11 lead midway through the first half.

Steele goaled again for OMBAC to close the gap to 15-14 and that's how things stood at the half.

The second stanza began with a Mark Williams penalty goal that pushed Aspen
further in front and from there it was a landslide of Aspen point scoring.
Scrumhalf Isaac Mbereko and props Lance Sigley and Gerhard Le Klerck scored the
next five tries between them, three to MVP Mbereko and one each to Sigley
and Le Klerck, to seal OMBAC's fate.

Flanker Ryan ReBell scored OMBAC's second try in the 65th minute and
although it was converted by Steele, it was too little too late and the match was a done deal.

Aspen's forward pack took control of the scrums while OMBAC's normally slick
backline wasn't in sync and those two factors had a large bearing on the
final outcome.

Each team was issued a yellow card by New Zealand Super 12 referee Steve
Walsh who's in the US as part of a referee exchange program.

Triumphant skipper Chris Morrow said the victory was sweet, "After a little
bit of a wake up in the early minutes, the boys pulled their heads in and
showed what we can really do. It makes up for the disappointment of last year when Life beat us, but this is my first Super League final and my first win and it's a pleasure captaining this team."

Aspen coach Ian Jones said being Super League champions is out of this world, "I was very pleased with the comprehensive nature of the victory. We
knew that fitness, experience and superior skills would come through and I
think the score reflects that. These guys take a lot of derision about
their age from a lot of quarters, but at the end of the day they're the best
team in the United States by a country mile."

A disappointed, but magnanimous OMBAC captain Conrad Hodgson, who played his
heart out, paid tribute to Aspen, "We have absolutely no excuses. We came
out firing at first and I thought the boys were really going to do well, but
we just fell flat. Aspen totally dominated in every phase of the game and I take my hat off to them, they did a great job."

So the Gentlemen of Aspen can now lay claim to being the best of the best in
America and can enjoy the spoils of victory having outclassed the only team
to have beaten them during 2001.

As for OMBAC, the cupboard is still bare, although there's no doubt that
they'll go back to the drawing board in an attempt to find a way to win the
only major championship in American rugby that still eludes them.