Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Old Glory DC brought a close to their spring exhibition campaign with a 29-15 victory over the Ontario Blues at Cardinal Stadium on Sunday. The MLR franchise-to-be had to overcome some difficulty that saw them trailing well into the second half before pulling away in the final quarter.
Two early tries from Old Glory set alarm bells ringing for the Blues. The DC scrum got the shove-on at a 5-meter put-in and with advantage, captain Josh Brown picked from the back and powered over the line.
The second try came just a couple minutes later. Old Glory went through several phases after the restart and Ayemere Oiyemhonlan made inroads. The ball was recycled quickly for Mo Kotz to slip through a half-gap, his offload finding Ryan Burroughs in space to finish in the left corner.
Ontario snapped out of their funk mid-way through the half and though they couldn’t get over the line on their most promising attack, a bit of luck came their way moments later. Michael Reid made a break and found Darien Pickett beside him but the ball was knocked with Josh Bald there to snap it up. He turned and found a huge hole open to sprint all the way untouched for the try.
The Blues hit their stride early in the second half. This time their scrum won the hit and earned a strike against the head. Three quick passes later and replacement fullback Andrew Wilson was in space, flying through the defensive line and past the cover for a seven-pointer. Nate Boeyenga converted and added a penalty shortly after to make it 15-12 for the visitors.
Replacements came into the game and seemed to add some spark to the tired DC legs. Brown crashed into the line and with his legs pumping fought his way close to the Ontario line. Wale Williams was there for the pop from the ruck and he hit and spun over for the try.
Two late tries sealed the win for DC. A huge cut-out pass from John Davis found John Sage wide open on the left side to dive in. On the other side of the pitch Vetekina Malafu took an Oisin O’Neill offload 40 meters down the sideline to bring a close to the scoring.
SCORING
DC 29
Tries – J. Brown (9’), R. Burroughs (12’), W. Williams (61’), J. Sage (70’), V. Malafu (76’)
Cons – N. Kuhl 2/5 (13’, 62’)
ONTARIO 15
Tries – J. Bald (29’), A. Wilson (46’)
Cons – N. Boeyenga 1/2 (47’)
Pens – N. Boeyenga 1/2 (54’)
TEAMS
OLD GLORY DC
1 Jack Iscaro, 2 Mo Katz, 3 Dante Lopresti, 4 Ayemere Oiyemhonlan, 5 Ryan Smith, 6 Tyler Barberi, 7 Dacoda Worth, 8 Josh Brown (capt.), 9 Michael Reid, 10 Chris Kunkel, 11 Vetekina Malafu, 12 Darien Pickett, 13 John Sage, 14 Ryan Burroughs, 15 Nick Kuhl
Replacements: 16 Oisin O’Neill, 17 Wale Williams, 18 Cullen Barelka, 19 Mason McIlwee, 20 Guy Lopresti, 21 Sean Hartig, 22 Selby Niu, 23 John Davis
ONTARIO BLUES
1 Jeff Wood, 2 Dan Cooper, 3 Emerson Prior, 4 Charles Oulton, 5 Hank Stevenson, 6 John Stoneham, 7 George Manoukas, 8 Matt Fish, 9 Nate Roberts, 10 Nathan Boeyenga, 11 Miguel Palij, 12 Mitch Voralek, 13 Josh Bald, 14 Jordan Henstra, 15 Paul Schroeder
Replacements: 16 Owen Lavado, 17 Graeme Francolini, 18 Aaron Sommerhalder, 19 Levi Konecny, 20 Zach Zorbas, 21 Andrew Wilson, 22 Steve Commerford, 23 Ethan Hager
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Gavin McCandless (USAR)
Assistants: Jake Still (USAR) & Haley Aguiar (USAR)
Attendance: 2,100
