Warriors too strong for Elite in Herriman

The Utah Warriors picked up their long-awaited second win of the season as they defeated Austin Elite 35-19 at Zions Bank Stadium on Saturday evening. Two tries from Tongan winger Fetu’u Vainikolo led the way with Utah’s powerful ball carriers proving too much for Austin to handle.

Vainikolo’s first try came just three minutes into the match. Tim O’Malley took on the line and managed to free his arms from the tackle. His offload found his winger on his shoulder and from there it was a 35 meter sprint to the line ahead of the cover.

Austin wrestled their way back into the game 15 minutes later. After being held up in-goal twice, they finally got the rewards from sustained pressure as Juan Echeverría wriggled and rolled to ground the ball at the base of the post-pad.

The Elite took it one further on a first phase attack from a lineout on halfway. Rodrigo Silva’s flat pass sent JP Aguirre screaming through a gap in the midfield. With only James Semple to beat it was an easy two-on-one with Andrés Vilaseca taking it the rest of the way.

Unfortunately for Austin the momentum would soon swing dramatically. O’Malley broke through but the attack was broken up by a Zinzan Elan-Puttick intercept attempt. On the next sequence the ball went wide and quick hands from Gannon Moore and Josh Reeves put Semple into the corner to draw the scores level. O’Malley’s extras gave Utah a 14-12 lead at the intermission.

It was Semple who inspired the next try straight out of the gates. He first claimed a high ball, and then a short ball from Reeves sent the fullback clear down the left sideline. A picture-perfect pass to O’Malley created an overlap and Ara Elkington took the scoring pass in under the posts.

The bonus point came just after the hour mark. Austin’s attack was repelled and when Utah gained field position Don Pati nearly rounded the corner. After several phases Lance Williams took it on and his offload landed in the waiting arms of Les Soloai, who was never going to be stopped from five meters out.

There was time for two more scores. Vainikolo got his double, running straight up the guts and through five would-be tacklers. Austin got the final word, Maikeli Naromaitoga and Silva going close before Rikus Zwart muscled his way over the line.

Utah will take some confidence with them on their trip to Glendale next Saturday. Austin slump to 13 straight defeats and must contend with league-leaders New Orleans on the same day.

 

SCORING

UTAH 35
Tries – F. Vainikolo 2 (3’, 77’), J. Semple (26’), A. Elkington (41’), L. Soloai (66’)
Cons – T. O’Malley 5/5 (4’, 27’, 42’, 67’, 78’)

AUSTIN 19
Tries – J. Echeverría (18’), A. Vilaseca (21’), R. Zwart (80’)
Cons – A. Vilaseca 1/2 (19’), J. Aguirre 1/1 (80’)

 

TEAMS

UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg (16 Frikkie de Beer 74’), 2 Jeremy Leber (17 Metai Tu’imoala HT), 3 Angus MacLellan (18 Alex Tucci 69’), 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Matt Jensen, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Ara Elkington (20 Les Soloai 62’), 8 Arthur Bergo (19 John Cullen 52’), 9 Johnny Ika (23 Ian Luciano 78’), 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Fetu’u Vainikolo (21 Nolan Tuamoheloa 78’), 12 Tim O’Malley (capt.), 13 Gannon Moore, 14 Don Pati, 15 James Semple (22 Josh Whippy 78’)

AUSTIN ELITE
1 Juan Echeverría (17 LaRome White 30’), 2 Peter Malcolm (16 Tiaan Erasmus 47’ {18 Chris Schade 68’}), 3 Mason Pedersen (1 Juan Echeverría 45’), 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.) (19 Maikeli Naromaitoga 58’), 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Dom Bailey, 7 Moe Abdelmonem (20 Rikus Zwart 44’), 8 Travis Larsen, 9 Marcelo Torrealba (23 Soheyl Jaoudat 62’), 10 Rodrigo Silva, 11 Sione Fangaiuiha, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (21 Simon Bienvenu 62’), 13 JP Aguirre, 14 Doug Fraser (22 Reece Czarnecki 44’), 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Derek Summers (USAR)
Assistants: Sam Grove-White (SRU) & Kage Green (USAR)

 

Attendance: 2,672