Quins in and Aspen gets fourth seed by Brian Lowe Los Angeles, CA - (May 11, 2002) - The Dallas Harlequins have secured the final wildcard seeding for the USA Rugby Super League playoffs by virtue of a 36-29 Denver Barbarians win over the Potomac AC. And in the other make-up game played Saturday, a red-hot Aspen crushed Boston 78-14 to get the fourth seeding.

PAC and Denver clashed in Colorado's mile high city in a match that had been postponed earlier in the season. There was a lot riding on the outcome as a PAC win would put them into the post season as the eighth seed, whereas a Barbarians' victory would be enough for the Harlequins to sneak in as the final wildcard.

As it turned out, the Barbos did the Quins a huge favor by stopping PAC. Both teams scored five tries, Denver's from Doug Rowe (2), Andre Bachelet, Leon Neville and Jason Kelly. Kelly also kicked a drop goal and four conversions to tally 16 points. PAC hooker Mark Crick nabbed a hat-trick, while Mark Nemec and Randy Stephens got PAC's two other touchdowns, Mike Fabling slotted two conversions.

"We're happy to have a 500 season," said Barbarians' manager Justin Clark. "We knew we could've either folded, or turn the season into something positive. We would've liked to have been in the playoffs, but we got the job done on the day."

"It was a tight one and a pretty good game," added PAC president Tom Lyons. "All in all it wasn't a bad season for us, but I think our loss to Life earlier cost us a place in the playoffs. I think our division is the toughest in the League."

Meantime in Boston, Aspen turned in a clinical display to run in twelve tries to Boston's two. The Gents were up 54-0 at halftime. David Yavala and Bobby Lockrem both scored hat-tricks, while Alec Parker and Mark Williams each grabbed a brace. Rod Guillonta and Jason Walker chimed in with a try each. Williams also booted nine conversions for a personal haul of 28 points and at age 42, he finished the regular season as the League's leading points scorer with 75.

"We played pretty disciplined in the first half, but not so much in the second," noted Williams. "We had a lot to prove, but to their credit, Boston came right at us hard in the second half. Now we have to forget about our loss a couple of weeks ago, because Life will be tough and we'll need to be on top of our game for that one."

The results mean that the Dallas Harlequins will matchup against Belmont Shore in Los Angeles in the quarter-finals, and although it was considered unlikely at the start of the season, both wildcards will come from the same conference, the Quins and Kansas City Blues (Blue).

The other unknown before Saturday's games was who would be seeded fourth and fifth. Aspen's win means they get the fourth seed and will host Life, while OMBAC will be seeded fifth and will go to the Bay Area to tackle San Francisco Golden Gate.