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And then there were two. Rugby United New York put a halt to the NOLA Gold‘s perfect start to the season with a 27-24 win at Gold Stadium on Saturday. A late penalty goal from Cathal Marsh sealed the win and put the cap on a man-of-the-match performance from the Irish flyhalf. In doing so New York move to 2-0 on the season with the 1-0 Utah Warriors the only other undefeated side in Major League Rugby.
New York had to cope with late withdrawals of Eagles pair Paddy Ryan and Luke Hume. It didn’t seem to phase Marsh, who made very moment count with a 17-point haul. He might have had more had New York not eschewed early kicking opportunities for lineouts. Eventually they settled for the three points but the Gold came roaring back.
JP Eloff’s penalty attempt rang off the uprights but they retained possession and with another penalty chose the corner. The forwards went to work and the dive went over with Eric Howard the man to get credit for the try. A second try came in short order and in similar fashion as this time Tony Lamborn peeled off to the blindside and crashed for a try in his NOLA debut.
The action came fast and furious with three tries scored in a 10-minute stretch. Marsh sliced clean through and put Connor Wallace-Sims over from halfway. Not to be outdone, Con Foley picked a gap and connected with Eloff who in turn put Joeli Tikoisuva into the clear.
It was all Marsh for the second New York try as he found a hole between two forwards and had the strength to reach out of Kyle Baillie’s tackle to ground the ball on the line. He converted his own to make the scores level at the break.
A second-half deadlock was broken immediately after Dylan Fawsitt was binned for collapsing a maul in a scoring position. With one man down the New York forwards couldn’t stop Lamborn from short range after the scrum had won an advantage.
Fawsitt would get his chance to make up for the transgression at the other end of the pitch. This time it was New York’s maul that did the job. Trevor Cassidy was the lineout target and Fawsitt took up his spot at the back of the drive to make it even with 15 minutes to play.
Points were on offer in the 72nd minute and this time there would be no chances taken. Marsh made good on the kick and New York held on to secure the memorable win underscore their status as legitimate playoff contenders.
NOLA will enjoy a timely bye week to rest and regroup ahead of their first road match of the season against the Utah Warriors on March 2. New York head to Starfire Stadium where they will square off against the Seattle Seawolves on Sunday.
SCORING
NOLA 24
Tries – E. Howard (16’), T. Lamborn 2 (22’, 54’), J. Tikoisuva (31’)
Cons – J. Eloff 2/3 (17’, 55’), S. Gale 0/1
Pens – J. Eloff 0/1
Drop goals – J. Eloff 0/1
NEW YORK 27
Tries – C. Wallace-Sims (25’), C. Marsh (36’), D. Fawsitt (63’)
Cons – C. Marsh 3/3 (26’, 37’, 64’)
Pens – C. Marsh 2/2 (8’, 72’)
Yellow cards – D. Fawsitt (52’)
TEAMS
NOLA GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens (18 Kevin Sullivan 50’), 2 Eric Howard (capt.) (16 Matt Harmon 61’), 3 Ben Tarr (17 Cam Falcon 50’), 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Kane Thompson (20 Billy Stewart 33’), 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Zack Stryffeler, 8 Tony Lamborn (21 John Sullivan 73’), 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Scott Gale, 11 Joeli Tikoisuva (22 Shawn Riley 67’), 12 Con Foley, 13 Taylor Howden (23 Nick Feakes 73’), 14 Tristan Blewett, 15 JP Eloff
Not used: 19 William Waguespack
RUGBY UNITED NEW YORK
1 James Rochford (17 Anthony Parry HT), 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Kirk Hamilton (18 Callum Mackintosh 64’), 4 Nate Brakeley, 5 Trevor Cassidy (19 Matt Wirken 64’), 6 Kyle Sumsion (20 Alex MacDonald 56’), 7 Matt Hughston (16 Mike Brown 52’-62’), 8 Ross Deacon, 9 Mike Petri (capt.) (21 Marcus Walsh 73’), 10 Cathal Marsh, 11 Connor Wallace-Sims (22 Gavan D’Amore-Morrison 75’), 12 Will Leonard, 13 Ben Foden, 14 Mark O’Keeffe (23 Derek Lipscomb 68’), 15 Chris Mattina
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Paul-Henri Courbier (USAR)
Assistants: Ben Crouse (SARU) & Butch Neuenschwander (USAR)
Attendance: 1,328
