American football: Winless Monarchs lose trial by Fire

FOR THE second week in succession on Saturday the England Monarchs lost at home. This time they fell to Rhein Fire as Mike Quinn, the Fire's quarterback, passed for two touchdowns and Derrick Clark ran for two more in a 31-7 victory at Bristol City's Ashton Gate.

There was only 5,523 to see the Monarchs fall to 0-2 in the NFL Europe - they lost 36-13 to the Frankfurt Galaxy last week - as Fire took full advantage of the home side's five turnovers to extend their record to 2-0.

Quinn, allocated to the league by the Pittsburgh Steelers, connected with 13 of his 21 passes for 194 yards and Clark gained 96 yards on 17 carries. Fire's wide receiver, Marcus Robinson, allocated from the Chicago Bears, had seven catches for 135 yards and one touchdown.

The Monarchs quarterback Josh LaRocca, on loan from the Denver Broncos, threw three interceptions.

Clark opened the scoring with a one-yard run on Fire's first drive of the game and Manfred Burgsmuller's extra point made it 7-0 after 3min 8sec. The 48-year-old kicker made it 10-0 with a 27-yard field goal late in the first quarter.

The Fire extended their lead to 24-0 with 4min 16sec remaining in the first half with two more touchdowns - a four-yard run by Clark and Quinn's 16-yard pass to Robinson.

The Monarchs' only points came with 1:06 to play in the second quarter when Shon Mitchell scored on a one-yard run.

The visitors closed the scoring with Quinn's 20-yard pass to Harold Bishop midway through the third quarter.