NEWS

Round 18 | First XV, Player of the Week

1. Loosehead Prop, Hubert Buydens (New Orleans Gold) – Hubert Buydens cranked down for the New Orleans side. The NOLA scrum had been under duress over the past few weeks, but the old tactician settled down and New Orleans completed 100 percent of their scrums vs. New York. In the open field, he had six hard carries into contact for 22 meters, and one offload. On defense, he corralled the New York forwards with 12 tackles.

1. Hooker, Dylan Fawsitt (Rugby United New York) – The Butcher cannot be stopped. Fawsitt’s weekend performance showed once again that he is one of those players that is a consistent force no matter the day. He’s tactically taken the New York maul over the line to score tries all season and did so again against the Gold on Sunday at the end of the first half, which created a shift in momentum. On attack, he carried the ball 14 times for 72 meters and one offload. On defense, he helped limit the New Orleans high flying attack with eight tackles.

1. Tighthead Prop, Morgan Mitchell (Toronto Arrows) – A key component to the Arrows dominant scrum, Morgan Mitchell went to work physically on Sunday afternoon as he outmatched his opponent Noah Barker. He made an expert read off a short maul, rumbling in to score the Arrows first try of the match. He finished the day with three carries for 22 meters, one tackle-beak, and four tackles.

1. Left Lock, Mike Sheppard (Toronto Arrows) – A big part of the dominating engine room for the Arrows has been Sheppard. Sheppard proved that once again as the power he and Paul Ciulini generated helped force Glendale to commit seven scrum penalties. In open play, he had seven powerful carries for 37 meters and one line break. On defense, he completed 14 tackles, three of which forced Glendale ball carriers to lose ground in the second half.

1. Right Lock, Nate Brakeley (Rugby United New York) – When it comes to Brakeley, he’s another consistent player that populates the engine room. He carried the ball 12 times for 27 meters and had one offload on Sunday. It was his defense at the breakdown and in the open field where he really made his mark. He completed 20 tackles to help the Roosters secure their victory.

1. Blindside Flanker, Brad Tucker (Seattle Seawolves) – In a match that was rough for the Seawolves, Brad Tucker gave his home side a fighting chance. When he carried the ball, he punished the Warriors by forcing double tackles on nine carries for 47 meters and one tackle break. He made 16 tackles against a Warriors side that did everything they could to key away from the Seawolves’ ferocious back row populated by Tucker, Penny, and Manor. In the aerial attack, he completed 10 lineout takes and proved a nuisance against the Utah set piece.

1. Openside Flanker, Matt Hughston (Rugby United New York) – On the pitch against his former team, Matt Hughston gave the Gold every bead of sweat in opposition as he’d previously done in the Gold and White. He lit the fuse that engaged the New York machine with his try in the twenty-eighth minute of the first half. He finished with 13 carries for 75 meters, one line break, and nine tackles.

1. No 8., Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz (Houston SaberCats) – He wasn’t originally selected to start, but with an illness to Alejandro Nieto, Jamason filled in just fine against the Austin Elite. He scored two tries and almost came up with a third, he proved how powerful he was with the ball in hand. He carried the ball 12 times for 113 meters, two line breaks, and two offloads. On defense, he completed 13 tackles to punish the Austin ball carriers.

1. Scrum-half, Johnny Ika (Utah Warriors) – Where has this Johnny Ika been? Ika put every great portion of his game together on Sunday evening as he scooped up a garbage lineout and cut through the Seattle transition defense with a big line break. He carried the ball seven times for 74 meters and had one line-break, one tackle-break, and one offload. But without his game-leading 20 tackles on defense, it’s unknown where the Warriors would have been versus the Seawolves.

1. Fly-half, Sam Malcolm (Toronto Arrows) – Malcolm proved once again that he can kick from anywhere as he finished with five conversions for 10 points. When he carried the ball he found space. He finished with 31 meters on three carries and had one offload. He forced Glendale to make their exits by kicking the ball in play seven times for 291 meters. On defense, he contributed six tackles.

1. Left Wing, Fetu’u Vainikolo (Utah Warriors) – “Fets” is one of the most dynamic players in Major League Rugby. He proved that again on Sunday against the Seawolves when he found daylight and broke through a double tackle on his two tries in the first half. He totaled 10 carries for 125 meters, had two line-breaks, one tackle-break, one offload, two tackles, and one kick in play for 19 meters.

1. Inside Center, Thretton Palamo (Houston SaberCats) – Coming off a foot injury that sidelined him last season, Thretton has returned to form for the SaberCats in a short time since being added mid-season. He took an offload from Windsor and burst into daylight to find his first score of the day before putting the crescendo on the ‘Cats victory with his second try in the seventy-ninth minute. He had seven carries for 81 meters, three line-breaks, one tackle-break, one offload, and seven tackles.

1. Outside Center, Joshua Whippy (Utah Warriors) – It’s taken most of the season for Josh to fully regain his fitness. During his time at BYU, Whippy was one of the most dynamic players in the college game. Sadly, he suffered a compound fracture in a pre-season match last year. On Sunday, the fans at Starfire witnessed that Whippy was back when he keyed in on a pass from Brock Staller, intercepting it and taking it to the opposite goal line for a try. Whippy’s totals against the Seawolves were 11 carries for 134 meters made, three offloads and eight tackles

1. Right Wing, Tim Maupin (New Orleans Gold) – Tim Maupin put the Gold on his back with his effort on Sunday against New York. He carried hard and eventually found daylight off a maul when he burst through the Roosters defense to score a try in the 22nd minute. He totaled 12 carries for 126 meters, had one line-break, one tackle-break, one offload, three tackles, and one kick in play for 51 meters.

1. Fullback, Gaston Mieres (Toronto Arrows) – If this were baseball, and Mieres was batting cleanup, he’d be in the hall of fame. Gaston was platinum with the ball in hand on Sunday afternoon, cutting through the Raptors defense with three line-breaks and scoring two tries. He finished with five carries for 92 meters, three line-breaks, and one tackle-break.

Player of the Week: Fullback, Gaston Mieres (Toronto Arrows) – Gaston was lightning in a bottle for the Arrows on Sunday against the Raptors. His 92 meters gained on only five carries silenced the Raptors when it seemed like they were gaining ground. He helped lead his side to a resounding home victory as they moved forward in the race towards the MLR Championship series.