MLR Preseason – Austin, NOLA, and Utah grab wins

With just under two weeks to go until the second season of Major League Rugby begins eight teams were looking to get precious on-field time together. In the end seven teams did – another was left on the bus – and it might be fair to say that they could do with an extra week. Glendale’s win over San Diego was one of two matches that put two MLR sides head-to-head and difference in quality was dramatic compared to those that featured a club side as opposition.

Only four teams are scheduled to play this coming weekend. The Seawolves had the weekend off and will tie up their preparations against the Seattle Saracens in a Thursday night match at Starfire Stadium. On Saturday it’s the SaberCats and the Raptors at Constellation Field, and Austin Elite will head to Mountain View College to play the Dallas Reds.

 

HOUSTON SABERCATS 10 vs 14 AUSTIN ELITE
Friday, January 11, Constellation Field

A preseason Texas derby saw the visiting Austin side topple the SaberCats thanks to some accurate conversion kicking from Mickaël Romera. Austin’s tries were scored by captain Ben Mitchell and replacement wing Aidan McMullan. The latter is one of three Canadians on trial at the club who played in the match including flanker Moe Abdelmonem and center Mike Nieuwenhuysen.

Also named on roster were Austin natives Brian and Craig Welborn. The 36-year-old twins have been regulars in the Austin Huns pack for several years but were not part of the Austin Elite squad last season. It remains to be seen if they will be added to the squad for this year.

It was Houston who ran out to a 10-0 lead after tries from Zach Pangelinan and Alex Elkins. The extras from out wide were too difficult for Sam Windsor to convert, leaving the door open for Romera.

The SaberCats named a trio of West Houston Lions on the bench in hooker Liam Andrews, center Irving Carcamo, and wing Rodrick Waters. New recruit Joe Kelly also took his place on the bench having signed up from NYAC.

Houston will play Glendale on Saturday with Austin adding an extra match against the Dallas Reds.

SCORING

HOUSTON 10
Tries – Z. Pangelinan, A. Elkins
Cons – S. Windsor 0/2

AUSTIN 14
Tries – B. Mitchell, A. McMullan
Cons – M. Romera 2/2

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Jake Turnbull, 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Charlie Connolly, 4 Robert Meeson, 5 Matt Trouville (capt.), 6 Chris Coyle, 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Alex Elkins, 9 Connor Murphy, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Josua Vici, 12 Conor Mills, 13 Osea Kolinisau, 14 Malacchi Esdale, 15 Zach Pangelinan

Replacements: 16 Liam Andrews, 17 Jamie Dever, 18 Matt Almeida, 19 Chris Parker, 20 Luke Beauchamp, 21 Ayron Schramm, 22 Santiago Arata, 23 Kieran Farmer, 24 Irving Carcamo, 25 Joe Kelly, 26 Rodrick Waters

AUSTIN ELITE
1 Simon Courcoul, 2 Chris Schade, 3 Mason Pedersen, 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Kyle Breytenbach, 7 Dom Bailey, 8 Travis Larsen, 9 Mickaël Romera, 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Reece Czarnecki, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Sione Fangaiuiha, 14 Alex Faison-Donahoe, 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick

Replacements: 16 Brendan Rams, 17 LaRome White, 18 Juan Echeverría, 19 Craig Welborn, 20 Brian Welborn, 21 Moe Abdelmonem, 22 Aidan McMullan, 23 Mike Nieuwenhuysen

 

RUGBY UNITED NEW YORK vs TORONTO ARROWS
Saturday, January 12, ADPRO Field House

An untimely road accident put a halt to Rugby United New York’s trip to Buffalo, leaving the Arrows without an opponent. To their credit they did not waste the opportunity to have a run-around in the Buffalo Bills indoor facility and split the team into two sides – Ontario and Toronto.

The scoring is ultimately irrelevant but at least the team got through 60 minutes of work and gave the fans who had traveled to the game a bit of entertainment. In the end 27 players took to the field with more to be considered for the season opener in New Orleans on January 26.

For New York it’s a bit of a worry with no further preseason games scheduled and none played since December 15. They now look set to head into their January 27 game in San Diego having not taken to the field in six weeks.

SCORING

ONTARIO 28
Tries – P. Ciulini, M. Mitchell, M. Richardson, J. Sheridan
Cons – S. Windsor 1/1, J. Evans 3/3

TORONTO 12
Tries – G. du Toit, T. van Horne
Cons – S. Malcolm 1/2

TEAMS

TEAM ONTARIO
Morgan Mitchell, Andrew Quattrin, Paul Ciulini, Mike Sheppard, Marcello Wainwright, Lucas Rumball, Kolby Francis, Jamie Mackenzie, Riley DiNardo, Shawn Windsor, Jamie Leveridge, Mitch Richardson, Johnny Sheridan, Jack Evans

TEAM TORONTO
Rob Brouwer, Mike Smith, Steven Ng, Tom van Horne, Josh van Horne, Peter Milazzo, Andrew Ferguson, Sam Malcolm, Guiseppe du Toit, Spencer Jones, Dan Moor, Kainoa Lloyd, Theo Sauder

RUGBY UNITED NEW YORK (did not play)
1 Anthony Parry, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Nate Brakeley, 5 Myles McQuone, 6 Alex MacDonald, 7 Matt Hughston, 8 Ross Deacon, 9 Marcus Walsh, 10 Cathal Marsh, 11 Connor Wallace-Sims, 12 Will Leonard, 13 Chris Mattina, 14 Derek Lipscomb, 15 Luke Hume

Replacements: 16 Mike Brown, 17 James Rochford, 18 Callum Mackintosh, 19 Trevor Cassidy, 20 Matt Wirken, 21 Kyle Sumsion, 22 James Denise, 23 Gavan D’Amore-Morrison, 24 Mike Petri, 25 Seimou Smith, 26 Mike St. Claire

 

NEW ORLEANS GOLD 72-0 DALLAS REDS
Saturday, January 12, Gold Stadium

The Gold lined up another club opponent and again it was one-way traffic. Dallas put up some opposition in the scrum but elsewhere it just wasn’t a contest. New Orleans touched down a dozen times through nine different scorers. JP Eloff and Scott Gale combined for just six conversions.

Cam Dolan casually grabbed a hat trick with Tristan Blewett scoring a double. Also notable for the Gold was the return of South African loose forward Vince Jobo after eight months on the sidelines recovering from an Achilles injury that ruled him out of the entirety of the 2018 season.

New Orleans will head into the season opener against Toronto having played no MLR opposition in their four preseason matches. Former Eagles winger Takudzwa Ngwenya was due to play for the Reds but did not ultimately take the field.

SCORING

NEW ORLEANS 72
Tries – C. Dolan 3, T. Blewett 2, H. Buydens, K. Thompson, K. Baillie, J. Eloff, T. Howden, J. Sullivan, M. Harmon
Cons – J. Eloff 3/6, S. Gale 3/6

DALLAS 0

TEAMS

NEW ORLEANS GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Eric Howard, 3 Ben Tarr, 4 Kane Thompson, 5 Ignacio Dotti, 6 Nikola Bursic, 7 Kyle Baillie, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Scott Gale, 11 Joeli Tikoisuva, 12 Con Foley, 13 Tristan Blewett, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 JP Eloff (capt.)

Replacements: 16 Matt Harmon, 17 Cam Falcon, 18 Kevin Sullivan, 19 Mason Briant, 20 William Waguespack, 21 John Sullivan, 22 Vince Jobo, 23 Zack Stryffeler, 24 Taylor Howden, 25 Bobby Johns, 26 Cameron Troxler

DALLAS REDS
1 Simba Musarurwa, 2 Jeff Robertson, 3 Paul Davies, 4 Kevin Harrell, 5 Jonny Heron, 6 Richard Stevens, 7 Chad Joseph, 8 Dale Russ (capt.), 9 Tyler Miller, 10 Blake Boulton, 11 Zach Klump, 12 Jake Campey, 13 Rob McDermott, 14 Alex Elali, 15 Michael Kenealy

Replacements: 16 Javier Dávila-Lopez, 17 Chris Hopkins, 18 Kuda Makuvire, 19 Bentley Alsup, 20 Alek Hernández, 21 Jake Bacon, 22 Kelly Kolberg

 

UTAH WARRIORS 25 vs 10 LIFE WEST GLADIATORS
Saturday, January 12, Zions Bank Field House

Another match with club opposition saw Utah beat a resilient Life West side by five tries to two. With no uprights at the indoor venue no conversions were attempted. The Warriors did not release a roster for the match and with no video only a few pictures reveal some of their participants.

Life West had some notables on their rosters including three players with links to the Warriors. Pio Vatuvei was due to play for Utah in 2018 but missed the season with injury. Maka Tameilau was playing No8 having been used as a prop for the Warriors last season, and reserve hooker Tino Mafi also suited up in the 2018 campaign.

NOLA departure Moni Tonga’uiha was on the flank, with San Diego Legion hooker Gil Covey named among the reserves. New USA cap Devereaux Ferris captained the side and may yet join an MLR side, with his Eagles future likely dependent on it.

Utah forward Maika Hafoka suffered a season-ending leg injury late in the match. It’s a situation eerily similar to that which knocked out Josh Whippy – and subsequently his brother Jared – ahead of last season’s campaign.

TEAMS

UTAH WARRIORS (incomplete)
Franco van den Berg, Angus MacLellan, Maika Hafoka, Alex Tucci, Alex Vorster, Logan Daniels, Matt Jensen, Saia Uhila, Lance Williams, Kenny Scott, Ara Elkington, John Cullen, Joseph Nicholls, Ian Luciano, Josh Reeves, Jared Whippy, Iniki Fa’amausili, Tonata Lauti, Jeremy Misailegalu, Josh Anderson, Nolan Tuamoheloa, Josh Whippy

LIFE WEST GLADIATORS
1 Tone Ngaluafe, 2 Jay Finau, 3 Fancy Namulau’ulu, 4 Eminoni Mafi, 5 Sebastian Grimberg, 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Benji Foliola, 8 Maka Tameilau, 9 Devereaux Ferris (capt.), 10 Jim Mule, 11 Junior Tonga’uiha, 12 Josefa Vuatalevu, 13 Lisiate Huihui, 14 Fatai Vailala, 15 Tyler Hutcherson

Replacements: 16 Tino Mafi, 17 Simi Hingano, 18 Alex Lopeti, 19 Gil Covey, 20 Sione Molitika, 21 Naibuka Tawake, 22 Junior Helu, 23 Pio Vatuvei, 24 Keoni Dellermann, 25 Pita Semeane, 26 Siaosi Lata, 27 Peiholani Tameifuna