Glendale, NOLA, and Houston earn preseason wins

The Major League Rugby preseason came to a close for five teams on Saturday with three matches scattered across the country. Glendale were on the road in New York, Austin were hosting New Orleans at Round Rock, and San Diego was celebrating the return of professional rugby to Torero Stadium against the visiting Houston SaberCats.

 

NEW YORK ATHLETIC CLUB 22 vs 35 GLENDALE RAPTORS

Travers Island played host to an entertaining fixture between the Raptors and NYAC. The visitors grabbed two quick tries in the opening minutes and never looked back but an incident just before halftime will be cause for concern.

Loosehead prop Luke White was shown a red card and any length of suspension would be a setback for the team. Georgian prop Giorgi Tsverava is on the books with the Merlins and could get the call-up for the season opener against Austin in two weeks.

Despite playing down a man Glendale finished strongly with two tries in the final minutes including one to Will Magie, giving him 15 points on the day. Other scores went to John Ryberg, Nick Johnson, Mika Kruse, and Max Statler. That makes it three consecutive try-scoring games for the 19-year-old Kruse.

SCORING

NYAC 22
Tries – D. Snead, J. Denise, C. Guiraud
Cons – A. Hodgkinson 2/3
Pens – A. Hodgkinson 1/1

GLENDALE 35
Tries – J. Ryberg, N. Johnson, M. Kruse, W. Magie, M. Statler
Cons – W. Magie 5/5
Red cards – L. White

TEAMS

NEW YORK ATHLETIC CLUB
1 Kirk Hamilton, 2 Anthony Parry, 3 Brian McKellar, 4 Gethin Davies, 5 Nate Brakeley (capt.), 6 Nick Wolley, 7 James Denise, 8 Ross Deacon, 9 Marcus Walsh, 10 Alex Hodgkinson, 11 Greg Voigt, 12 Quentin Pradere, 13 Seamus Kelly, 14 Joe Kelly, 15 David Haigh

Replacements: 21 David Snead, 23 Charles Guiraud

GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Luke White, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Nick Kwasniewski, 4 Grigor Kerdiksohvili, 5 Ben Landry, 6 Devin Vaughter, 7 Brian Wanless, 8 John Quill, 9 Shaun Davies (capt.), 10 Will Magie, 11 John Ryberg, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Mika Kruse, 14 Harley Davidson, 15 Nick Johnson

Replacements: 16 James Del Bozque, 17 Blake Rogers, 18 Kelepi Fifita, 19 Connor Cook, 20 Casey Rock, 21 Jake Christmann, 22 Ata Malifa, 23 Max Statler

 

AUSTIN ELITE 10 vs 38 NEW ORLEANS GOLD

A close game at halftime had NOLA up by only two points but a purple patch in the second half left their hosts for dead. Four tries in a span of 10 minutes proved the undoing of Austin. Matt Hughston, Joeli Tikoisuva, Tim Maupin, and John Sullivan each found the line with JP Eloff adding the extras on three of them plus one earlier.

Maupin’s effort was a scorching finish from halfway. First half tries for the Gold were scored by Peceli Rinakama and Cam Falcon, with Andrew Suniula and an unidentified forward grabbing singles for Austin.

It’s a big confidence boost for NOLA who head into their match against the SaberCats in Houston with two strong wins behind them. Austin will be disappointed and have no time to waste with the toughest possible challenge lined up for their season opener, the Glendale Raptors at Infinity Park.

SCORING

AUSTIN 10
Tries – A. Suniula, A. Other
Cons – T. Guillimin 0/2

NEW ORLEANS 38
Tries – P. Rinakama, C. Falcon, M. Hughston, J. Tikoisuva, T. Maupin, J. Sullivan
Cons – J. Eloff 4/6

TEAMS

AUSTIN ELITE
1 Tim Fitzgerald, 2 Chris Schade, 3 Mason Pedersen, 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Kyle Breytenbach, 6 Deon Minnaar, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 9 Michael Reid, 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Reece Czarnecki, 12 Andrew Suniula (capt.), 13 Sani Taylor, 14 Zac Mizell, 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick

Replacements: 16 David LeMasters, 17 Siaosi Finau, 18 Robert Drummond, 19 Dylan Goulding, 20 Alex Faison-Donahoe, 21 Knute O’Donnell, 22 Vetekina Malafu, 23 Pat Sullivan, 24 Sione Fangaiuiha, 25 Junior Naruma

NEW ORLEANS GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Cam Falcon, 3 Ben Tarr, 4 Matt Wirken, 5 Nikola Bursic, 6 Vince Jobo, 7 Matt Hughston, 8 John Sullivan, 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Taylor Howden (capt.), 11 Peceli Rinakama, 12 JP Eloff, 13 Tim Maupin, 14 Bobby Johns, 15 Michael Baska

Replacements: 16 Derrek van Klein, 17 Amro Gouda, 18 Alec Janotka, 19 Myles McQuone, 20 John Stapleton, 21 Zack Stryffeler, 22 Moni Tonga’uiha, 23 Joeli Tikoisuva

 

SAN DIEGO LEGION 17 vs 33 HOUSTON SABERCATS

The Legion couldn’t get the win they wanted in their first game at Torero Stadium but handed debuts to several newcomers including a surprise appearance from Eagles fullback Mike Te’o who was not part of the original lineup. San Diego led 10-7 at the break thanks to a Cam Dolan try with a conversion from Ben Cima and a late penalty goal via Tadhg Leader.

The second half belonged to Houston, however, with four tries against only one for Legion captain Nate Augspurger. Jake Turnbull, Josua Vici, Justin Allen, Chris Slater, and an unidentified forward touched down for the SaberCats with Sam Windsor good on four conversions.

San Diego will now prepare for a trip north to face the mysterious Seattle Seawolves at Starfire Stadium on April 22. The SaberCats head to their new home of Dyer Stadium to lay in waiting for New Orleans with a score to settle after their draw two weeks ago.

SCORING

SAN DIEGO 17
Tries – C. Dolan, N. Augspurger
Cons – B. Cima 2/2
Pens – T. Leader 1/1

HOUSTON 33
Tries – J. Turnbull, J. Vici, J. Allen, C. Slater, A. Other
Cons – S. Windsor 4/5

TEAMS

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Tony Purpura, 2 Gil Covey, 3 Dolph Botha, 4 Lance Lamprecht, 5 Jay Harmon, 6 Mungo Mason, 7 Devin Short, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 10 Tadhg Leader, 11 Nick Evans, 12 Ben Cima, 13 Anthony Salaber, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 15 Anthony Welmers

Replacements: 16 Josh Zamudio, 17 Sione Tu’ihalamaka, 18 Aaron Mitchell, 19 Chris Turori, 20 Drew Gaffney, 22 Sione Letoi, 22 Garrett Brewer, 23 Mike Te’o

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Jake Turnbull, 2 Lindsey Stevens, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Justin Allen, 5 Robert Meeson, 6 Chris Coyle, 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Matt Trouville (capt.), 9 Chris Slater, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Josua Vici, 12 Conor Mills, 13 Osea Kolinisau, 14 Alex Elkins, 15 Zach Pangelinan

Replacements: 16 Diego Maquieira, 17 Adam Macklin, 18 Petey Hepburn, 19 Charlie Hewitt, 20 Kyle Sumsion, 21 Pago Haini, 22 Kieran Farmer, 23 Dan Paul