NEWS

Colton’s Corner: Week 8

Colton’s Corner will be a weekly feature on five topics from around MLR.

Rugby United New York Defeats Toronto Arrows 21-20

The first professional rugby match in New York didn’t disappoint. As if a match in New York wasn’t enough to move the needle, the fact that it featured this year’s two expansion teams and was the byproduct of an already established rivalry certainly helped make the match an interesting one. This match was a perfect example of the best of both of these sides. Toronto, playing in their seventh-straight match on the road, took the red-hot RUNY down to the wire. RUNY continues to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with in their first season. They can score a variety of different ways and are never totally out of a match. MLR should be extremely proud of the two quality sides that they added ahead of the 2019 season.

Seattle Seawolves Earn Comeback Victory Over Austin Elite Rugby 29-17

Say what you want about Austin Elite Rugby, but they aren’t quitters. They gave the reigning MLR Champion Seawolves all they could handle for the first 60 minutes, but the combination of their inability to close out a match and the resiliency of the Seattle put Austin on the wrong side of a 29-17 result. This match was surprisingly the first match that Seattle has won on the road this year, but I think it’s safe to say that the Seawolves are back to their championship form. Regardless of the situation, the Seawolves just keep coming at you. If there is time on the clock, the Seawolves always have a chance to win. While Austin didn’t pick up the win, they are slowly but surely trending in the right direction – it’s just unfortunate for their sake that it’s probably too late to turn their season around.

NOLA Gold Rolls the Houston SaberCats 49-11

Houston put NOLA in a 6-0 hole early, but the first-place Gold woke up after that. NOLA used a hat trick from outside center Tristan Blewett to hand 49 points on the SaberCats. Those 49 points were the most scored by an MLR team this season and Blewitt’s three tries gives him six on the season, tying him atop the MLR leaderboard with Glendale Raptors’ wing John Ryberg. We’ve seen this year that when presented with the opportunity, NOLA can bury an opponent in a hurry. They lead the MLR with a whopping +61 point differential. Houston, on the other hand, possesses a -98 point differential and, like Austin, their season might be beyond the point of salvation.

San Diego at Glendale

I loved this match for a handful of reasons. This match featured a little bit of everything. If you were looking for stout defense, crafty tries, or dialed in kickers, this was your match. These are two of the premier teams in the league and they put on a show on Saturday night. This match also featured some of the best players the MLR has to offer. Glendale’s back three features two of the MLR’s leading try scorers in wings John Ryberg (6) and Harley Davidson (5), and one of the best distributors in the league in fullback Dylan Taikato-Simpson (4).

“There is a lot of talented back threes, there is a lot of talented players in this league, but we have a good chemistry. We click together, we all get along, we joke around and stuff but at game time we’re serious. When the ball comes out to the edges we try to finish. That’s our job.” – Glendale Raptors’ wing John Ryberg

It also featured perhaps one of the most accurate placekickers in the MLR in Legion fly-half Joe Pietersen. Both Pietersen and front-rower Paddy Ryan have been the beams that have supported the Legion throughout the season.

“Joe is a fantastic character whose leadership was personified in the coolness he showed throughout the game. He is a run, pass, kick threat and drives the team around the field. His kicking was immaculate under pressure and rounded off excellent work by the team in scoring the four tries.”

I am already looking forward to the rematch on April 20 at Torero Stadium.

Draws

Major League Rugby went an entire season without a tie but has now seen two in a month. I know that the fans aren’t in love with the thought of a draw. All it took was one question with the members of the Raptors and Legion head coach Rob Hoadley to gather that even the members of the teams weren’t happy with the outcome, but this was because they both felt like they had chances to put the opponent away and failed to do so. While even I am admittedly not a huge fan of draws, I don’t think anyone could’ve watched that match last night and came away unsatisfied. I think – and I haven’t asked either Glendale, Utah or San Diego about this – that in every draw in any sport, one team always tends to feel like the result resembles more of a loss while the result for the opposition tends to feel more like win.

In the first draw of the season, as an observer, I thought had to feel like more of a win for Glendale and a loss for Utah. In Saturday night’s match, though, I thought that it had to feel like more of a win for San Diego and a loss for Glendale based on the fashion in which the match ended and the reactions of both sides after the final try was scored. It wasn’t until I had the chance to catch up with both teams for the recap that I realized they both felt like they let an opportunity to win slip through their fingers.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that I hope there isn’t another draw in the MLR this season, but I’m not totally opposed to the rule after Saturday night’s match because it always gives the teams something to play for even if a win is not on the table. For instance, there was a point in that match where it became clear that San Diego wasn’t going to be able to win, but an extra two points in an already jammed league table had to have added a little extra incentive to finish the match strong. While the incentive of overtime would be nice, but I think that opens a whole other can of worms that I’m sure will be explored somewhere down the line as the league continues to evolve. The topic is one that I’m looking forward to diving into in the near future. We have to live with the rules we’ve got for the time being. I can only hope that every draw is exciting as the one we had the pleasure of watching on Saturday night.

What did you think about this week’s action? What did I miss? I would love to hear from any and all MLR fans as the season moves along. Feel free to shoot me an email at colton@usmlr.com with any MLR related topic that might be on your mind. I’ll address any emails in the next week’s Colton’s Corner.