San Francisco Golden Gate took care of business, beating the visiting Denver Barbarians 40-24 Saturday at Treasure Island.

The game was the first ever Papa Naqica Cup, named in honor of Sitiveni Naqica, the patriarch of the Naqica rugby family, who had a special connection with both clubs before his untimely death last year.

His son, Jone Naqica, came on at halftime for SFGG and was electric, scoring two tries in an emotional performance.

SFGG Head Coach Paul Keeler was happy to claim the victory and the bonus point for four tries, but he wasn't overjoyed with the performance.

"I was disappoitned in the simple mistakes we were making," Keeler told RUGBYMag.com. "We got off track and were trying to force things. Denver is a good outfit. Jason [Kelly, Head Coach] has got them going in the right direction and they did a good job at disrupting our play.

They certainly played the ref better than we did."

Referee Aruna Ranaweera would certainly have known SFGG's tricks, and wasn't going to miss much.

SFGG did get some good work in the set piece, an area of concern in the early part of their season.

"But we have high standards, and the boys know they're not meeting them," said Keeler.

 
Box score unconfirmed

SFGG 40
Tries: Naqica 2, J. Thomas, Atiola, T. Okusi, O'Meara, Fukafuka
Convs: Rouse 6

Denver 24
Tries: Post, de Achaval, Humphrey
Convs: de Achaval 3
Pens: de Achaval