San Diego snap Glendale’s unbeaten streak

The San Diego Legion sent shockwaves coursing through Major League Rugby as they upset the previously unbeaten Glendale Raptors 23-5 at Torero Stadium on Saturday evening. Favorites heading into the Semi Finals, the Raptors were completely shut out in the opening half and didn’t have so much as a shot at goal until the 78th minute.

Few if any would have predicted such a result and the performance of the Legion must be praised. Their defense was exceptional and their scrum surprisingly effective against one of the strongest forward units in the league. The achievement was made even more impressive given the absence of a number of top players both through injury and international commitments.

Only two scores had been registered by the break, both penalty goals from Legion captain Tadhg Leader. Along the way San Diego had lost another key player in fullback Conor Kearns who was concussed after getting his head stuck on the wrong side of a tackle.

An expected response from Glendale in the second half never came. Instead it was Ryan Matyas who tore through the backline for a fine solo marker shortly after the restart. With the Raptors continually on the back foot the penalties mounted and on their own goal line Sam Figg was binned for cynical play at the breakdown. With one forward down the Legion had no problems using their well-rehearsed driving maul with Tony Lamborn getting the touchdown in his MLR debut.

The Raptors attempted to break through in the final quarter but achieved little success until the dying moments of the match. Zach Fenoglio dropped the ball at the back of a maul to miss out on a certain try. Thankfully they would break the goose egg via Grigor Kerdikoshvili, the replacement lock smashing over from close range.

San Diego will take massive confidence from the score and now prepare for the trip to Infinity Park next weekend where they will square off against the Seattle Seawolves in the first of a Semi Final double header. Glendale will be disappointed to lose their perfect record but with the return of several key players from Eagles duty should remain favorites as they take on the Utah Warriors for a spot in the Final one week later.

 

SCORING

SAN DIEGO 23
Tries – R. Matyas (48’), T. Lamborn (58’)
Cons – T. Leader 2/2 (49’, 59’)
Pens – T. Leader 3/4 (3’, 20’, 72’)

GLENDALE 5
Tries – G. Kerdikoshvili (78’)
Cons – M. de Achaval 0/1
Yellow cards – S. Figg (57’)

 

TEAMS

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Sione Tu’ihalamaka (17 Faka’osi Pifeleti 8’-13’, 49’), 2 Pat O’Toole (16 Gil Covey 69’), 3 Nathan Sylvia (18 Aaron Mitchell 64’), 4 Devin Short, 5 Sam Peri (19 Lance Lamprecht 51’), 6 Alec Barton, 7 Tony Lamborn (20 Pat Blair 63’), 8 Drew Gaffney (19 Lance Lamprecht 26’-27’), 9 Nick Boyer, 10 Tadhg Leader (capt.), 11 Nick Evans, 12 Anthony Salaber (22 Kyle Rogers 73’), 13 Ryan Matyas, 14 Taku Ngwenya (23 Maceo Brown 73’), 15 Conor Kearns (21 Ben Cima 16’)

GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Blake Rogers (16 Luke White 57’), 2 Zach Fenoglio (capt.), 3 Nick Kwasniewski (17 Kelepi Fifita 47’), 4 Casey Rock (20 Grigor Kerdikoshvili 60’), 5 Connor Cook (19 Devin Vaughter 64’), 6 Brian Wanless, 7 Peter Dahl, 8 Sam Figg, 9 Jake Christmann (21 Mickey Bateman 68’), 10 Maximo de Achaval, 11 John Ryberg (23 Nick Johnson 47’), 12 Chad London, 13 Mika Kruse, 14 Harley Davidson (22 Siale Maka 54’), 15 Seth Halliman (18 James Del Bozque 74’)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Scott Green (USAR)
Assistants: Paul-Henri Courbier (USAR) & John Neiss (USAR)