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The historic day for American rugby started at Dyer Stadium where the New Orleans Gold upset the hometown Houston SaberCats 35-26 to claim victory in the first ever Major League Rugby regular season contest. Damp and windy weather combined with a slew of penalties left little room for continuity but the two sides could not be faulted for commitment.
It took nearly 20 minutes for the opening score to come with both teams seemingly over-anxious to get their name in the record-books. Osea Kolinisau will go down as the first point-scorer in MLR history after reaching out from a tackle to touch down following a quick tap on the 5 meter line. Sam Windsor somehow flubbed the conversion but Houston were into the lead.
Almost from the restart a penalty was conceded to allow JP Eloff a kick at goal, which he duly made for NOLA’s first points. What followed next was what the fans were hoping to see.
With his countryman already on the board Fijian sensation Josua Vici scored an early contender for try of the year. The powerful winger ripped through the line, turned on the after-burners and fended off six defenders on the way to the corner. Windsor made good on the conversion despite the difficult angle and the two-point lead became nine.
The Gold would not be intimidated, and with their scrum in the ascendancy they moved into Houston territory. Another collapse close to the line gave Sebastián Kalm an opportunity to go quickly and he didn’t need a second invitation, crashing straight through the defense to cross the paint for a much-needed score before halftime.
There was still time for the referee to lose patience with the SaberCats front row and Jake Turnbull paid the price with a yellow card that would yield points early in the second half. Nikola Bursic made it two Chilean tries as he was driven over from close range. Eloff failed on the conversion but redeemed himself with a penalty goal just before Turnbull’s return.
NOLA were slightly thrown off by a yellow card to Eric Howard for killing the ball in a scoring position, but instead of conceding points NOLA would find the line while a man down. Holden Yungert nudged a perfectly-weighted chip kick over the top of the Houston line and Matt Hughston won the aerial contest for the ball, landing in-goal for the try.
The Cats clawed one back with Turnbull scoring after several phases on the line, but Eloff himself would see to it that there was no comeback on the cards. In converting his own breakaway try the score was pushed beyond Houston’s reach. Vici added his second in the final minutes with a last-minute Eloff penalty bringing the curtains down on a hard-fought contest.
New Orleans can take their time to celebrate this one as they have next weekend off. They’ll return to Texas on May 5 for a meeting with Austin Elite in Round Rock. Houston meanwhile will wonder where it all went wrong. They’ll host Austin in an all-Texas derby at Dyer Stadium next Saturday.
SCORING
HOUSTON 26
Tries – O. Kolinisau (18’), J. Vici 2 (25’, 76’), J. Turnbull (65’)
Cons – S. Windsor 3/4 (26’, 66’, 77’)
Yellow cards – J. Turnbull (37’)
NEW ORLEANS 35
Tries – S. Kalm (33’), N. Bursic (44’), M. Hughston (57’), J. Eloff (73’)
Cons – J. Eloff 3/4 (34’, 58’, 74’)
Pens – J. Eloff 3/5 (21’, 47’, 79’)
Yellow cards – E. Howard (54’)
TEAMS
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Jake Turnbull, 2 Lindsey Stevens (16 Diego Maquieira 56’), 3 Adam Macklin (18 Petey Hepburn 75’), 4 Charlie Hewitt, 5 Robert Meeson (19 Justin Allen 56’), 6 Kyle Sumsion (capt.) (20 Chris Parker 74’), 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Matt Trouville (21 Chris Coyle 46’), 9 Connor Murphy (23 Dan Paul 65’), 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Alex Elkins (18 Petey Hepburn 39’-48’) (22 Malacchi Esdale 62’), 12 Conor Mills, 13 Osea Kolinisau, 14 Josua Vici, 15 Zach Pangelinan
Not used: 17 Estevan Florez
NEW ORLEANS GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens (18 Derrek van Klein 50’), 2 Eric Howard (16 Amro Gouda 77’), 3 Ben Tarr (17 Cam Falcon 50’), 4 Nikola Bursic, 5 Matt Wirken (22 Moni Tonga’uiha 50’), 6 John Sullivan, 7 Matt Hughston, 8 Sebastián Kalm, 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Taylor Howden (capt.), 11 Joeli Tikoisuva (20 Peceli Rinakama 62’), 12 JP Eloff, 13 Tim Maupin (16 Amro Gouda 55’-61’) (21 Zack Stryffeler 61’), 14 Bobby Johns, 15 Michael Baska
Not used: 19 Myles McQuone, 23 Melvin DeSouza
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Paul-Henri Courbier (USAR)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (ARU) & Tim O’Gara (USAR)
