NEWS

Round 14 Recap

WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER DIEGEL FOR THE RUGBY NETWORK

As more teams are eliminated from contention the list of contenders is dwindling every week, making for some intense battles as we reach the season’s later stages. Get caught up on the weekend’s action below.

Utah Outlasts New York in Potential Playoff Preview

The Utah Warriors notched their third narrow comeback win in as many weeks. New York’s Apenisa Cakaubalavu got the home team on top early when he streaked past the Utah defense on a well-designed lineout play. Utah came right back moments later with its first try to tie the game up 7-7 early.

With Paul Mullen in the bin New York struck at 22’ when fly half Harry Bennett finished off a break. The Warriors came right back at 31’ when big Olive Kilifi crashed across the line, then the teams traded tries just before halftime to head into the break separated by just a conversion, 21-19 New York.

With a penalty and three points offered to the hosts NY chose its trusty lineout and maul, and were rewarded for the confidence with the try and conversion to go up 28-19 at 45’. That would be the last points of the game for New York however, as Utah used two unconverted tries to seal its second 29-28 win in the last three weeks

The win keeps both teams in the #2 spot in their respective conferences. Utah holds a ten point lead over Austin while New York’s bonus points in the loss keeps the team three points ahead of NOLA Gold and five points behind Rugby ATL with a game in hand for the top spot.

NOLA Keeps Pace with Win over Toronto

NOLA Gold notched the season sweep over the Toronto Arrows via an 18-12 victory Saturday night. After some strong defense from both sides and back and forth play, NOLA wing Julian Dominguez scored an impressive try at 19’, breaking through tackles as he powered down the left sideline.

Toronto then turned defense into offense with a charge down and recovery from #13 Ben LeSage; the successful conversion put his team on top, 7-5 at 27’. That score held until well in the second half when Cam Dolan picked off the back of a stalled maul to quickly score between the posts and put NOLA back on top 12-7.

The Arrows tied the game at 63’ with a beautiful stab from #12 Spencer Jones, recovered in the try zone by wing Gaston Mieres. NOLA closed the game out though with two penalty kicks to make the final margin, 18-12.

NOLA still has work to do but remains in the middle of the playoff chase while Toronto drops to 4-9 on the season.

Atlanta Outlasts Houston to Survive Upset Bid

Rugby ATL used a big second half to take down the Houston SaberCats and stay on top of the Eastern Conference. The game was tied at 12 apiece heading into halftime, putting the league on upset alert as the top team in the Eastern Conference was knotted up with the last place team in the West.

Atlanta used tries from Ross Deacon, Te Rangatira Waitokia, Ross Deacon and Jason Damm, plus a penalty kick to outscore Houston 21-3 though to seal this one up. With NOLA and New York both within eight points with a game in hand, it was an important victory for Atlanta after last week’s loss to NY.

Next week it’s back to an Eastern Conference clash as Atlanta hosts Old Glory.

LA Takes Down San Diego to Secure California Cup

The LA Giltinis took down a spirited San Diego Legion side to secure the season sweep and first iteration of the California Cup. The Legion started things with a Joe Pietersen penalty kick, then LA let a handful of scoring opportunities go begging with some missed penalty kicks and near-try held up by the stout San Diego defense to keep the shutout going early.

With LA fly half Luke Carty in the bin the Legion, in front of its home crowd for the first time since March of 2020, jumped up 10-0 at 35’, but the Giltinis came back to score a crucial try just before halftime.

LA scored the early second half try, converted this time and took a 12-10 lead that held all the way until 68’ when Immortal Joe Pietsersen’s nailed the penalty kick through the posts, but the Giltinis still had something left in its bag of tricks.

The Giltinis were awarded a scrum at 72’, scrummy Harrison Goddard fooled the defense with a massive dummy then found Johnny “Muscles” Ryberg who sprinted ahead and barreled through would be tacklers to score the game-winning try. San Diego was down to 14 men due to late injuries after some tactical subs had already been made, but still threatened to pull this one out. The LA defense held on to secure the victory, however, and all but eliminated the Legion from playoff contention.

Next up for LA is another Western Conference match at Seattle. San Diego will try to regroup versus Austin.

AGs Roll with 36-31 Win over Seattle

It was another narrow loss for the retooled Seattle Seawolves, whose comeback bid fell short against the Austin Gilgronis.

Austin got the scoring started seven minutes into the match when a loose Seattle pass was recovered in the try zone. Seattle came right back moments later with Lauina Futi’s try, then the AGs went on a little run with back-to-back tries at 17’ and 31’ to grab an early 19-5 lead that lasted through to halftime.

Seattle got back into the match with Mike Shepherd’s try early in the second stand, then Futi found the try zone again, the conversion was good from the corner and the match was knotted up at 19 apiece. The Seawolve bobbled the restart, though and Austin got right back on top with a converted score. The death blow was committed at 66’ when Frank Halai picked off a wide Seattle pass and took it all the way under the sticks

The Seawolves did fight through to the end, coming nearly all the way back and threatening in the final moment, but Halai’s try + an insurance PK proved to be enough for Austin to secure the win and a three-game winning streak.

Seattle hosts LA next week while Austin heads to Torero Stadium to face the Legion.