The Seattle Quake defeated the San Francisco Fog in sudden-death overtime at this year’s Magnitude 15.0s invitational rugby tournament. Over 250 rugby players and fans from nine states and Canada converged at Marymoor Park in Redmond, Wash., on Saturday, May 7, to take part in the biannual event hosted by the Seattle Quake Rugby Football Club.

The championship match provided a dramatic finish to a hard-fought game between the Quake and the current reigning gay rugby world champions, the Fog. Neither team had scored by halftime, but early in the second half, Fog winger David Santos took advantage of a quick break to score the unconverted first try, putting the Fog up 5-0. In the last minute of the match, Quake flyhalf Kirk Hanson broke several tackles in a 60-meter run to score in the corner, tying the game 5-5.

The match went into two sudden-death overtime periods. The Fog looked certain to win at the end of the second overtime period, with a two-on-one breakout run out on the wing. But a poor decision by the Fog backs to pass the ball provided Quake inside center Brodie Woodward-Pratt the opportunity to intercept the ball and sprint 70 meters to score. The Quake won 10-5, securing the tournament’s top prize, the John Cook Memorial Cup.

Both team established their dominance in the round-robin pool play earlier in the day. The Fog handily beat both a rebuilding Los Angeles Rebellion and a Barbarians side in its pool.

In the other pool, the Quake shut out both the San Diego Armada and the Dallas Diablos. With the seeding set for the single-elimination portion of the tournament, it seemed that both undefeated teams were on a path to meet in the final. The semifinal rounds saw the Quake beat a surprisingly strong Barbarians side, while San Francisco handed a more determined Los Angeles team another defeat.

This year’s invitational was the second time the tournament has been held and was the largest in its two-year history. The tournament grew from four sides represented in 2003 to 11 gay rugby teams represented at the tournament, demonstrating the growing appeal of rugby among gay men. Players hailed from Atlanta, New York, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Vancouver, Canada.