MLR Preseason Weekend Review

It was a busy weekend of Major League Rugby preseason action with all 12 teams taking the field across seven matches in three days. Disappointingly none were streamed by their home sides, though huge credit must go to Seawolves fans who threw together a last-minute one-camera production that has since racked up nearly 7,000 views

 

NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS 84 vs 21 NEW ENGLAND INDEPENDENTS
Friday, January 24, Union Point Sports Complex, Weymouth

The Free Jacks outscored the invitational Independents by 12 tries to 3 in a spirited and sometimes heated encounter that saw Naulia Dawai shown a red card. Similar incidents in MLR preseason games have not received further sanction so it seems likely that Dawai will not miss any regular season time as a result.

While the list of scorers was not immediately available, standouts in the Free Jacks backline included Mitch Wilson and replacement pair Ollie Engelhart and Christian Adams. Players of the game honors went to Deion Mikesell for the Free Jacks and Adnan Kawuma of the Independents.

FREE JACKS
1 Kyle Ciquera, 2 Sean McNulty, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 4 Jackson Thiebes, 5 Ronan McCusker, 6 Evan Geist, 7 Owen Hundt, 8 Naulia Dawai, 9 Timothée Guillimin, 10 Tadhg Leader, 11 Poasa Waqanibau, 12 Sam Beard, 13 Liam Steel, 14 Deion Mikesell, 15 Mitch Wilson

Replacements: 16 Diego Maquieira, 17 Steven Hinshaw, 18 Simon Courcoul, 19 Conor Kindregan, 20 Zack Stryffeler, 21 Ollie Engelhart, 22 Peceli Rinakama, 23 Christian Adams

 

RUGBY UNITED NEW YORK vs TORONTO ARROWS
Saturday, January 25, ADPRO Field House, Buffalo

There was no score recorded from the scrimmage at the Buffalo Bills training center as the two sides opted instead for opposed set piece work and a series of 12-minute mini-games. The Arrows reportedly dominated the scrum with the edge in the lineout going to New York. Both defenses held strong in open play.

Numerous combinations were trialed with both teams using all available players. RUNY’s scrum undoubtedly suffered with the absence of starting props James Rochford and Paddy Ryan, with halfbacks Mike Petri and Cathal Marsh also missing though Mathieu Bastareaud made his debut. The Arrows were without backs Jamie Mackenzie, Spencer Jones, Sam Malcolm, and Gastón Mieres.

 

AUSTIN HERD 21 vs 22 COLORADO RAPTORS
Saturday, January 25, Burr Field, Austin

The Raptors came back from a 14-7 halftime deficit to edge the Herd at Burr Field. Scorers for Colorado weren’t immediately available. Austin’s first try was of the penalty variety from their dominant scrum. The second was a powerful run from Potu Leavasa.

Colorado tied the game with 25 minutes to play and would score 15 unanswered points all told before a late try from Lino Saunitoga on a charge-down made for a tense finale. The Herd drafted in Austin Huns flyhalf Alex Rees to play No10 after Saunitoga’s try.

AUSTIN
1 LaRome White, 2 Wilton Rebolo, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Rikus Zwart, 5 Potu Leavasa, 6 Dominic Akina, 7 Moe Abdelmonem, 8 Lino Saunitoga, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Zinzan Elan-Puttick (capt.), 11 Reece Czarnecki, 12 Sione Fangaiuiha, 13 Peni Tagive, 14 Corey Jones, 15 Rodrigo Silva

Replacements: 16 Skyler Adams, 17 Chris Schade, 18 Mason Pedersen, 19 Maikeli Naromaitoga, 20 Tiaan Erasmus, 21 Colby Stevens, 22 Gabe Farley, 23 Rodrick Waters, 24 Alex Rees

COLORADO
1 Xendy Tatibouët, 2 Chad Gough, 3 Kelepi Fifita, 4 Luke White, 5 Kody O’Neil, 6 Brendan Daly, 7 Connor Cook, 8 Mike Curry, 9 Carlo de Nysschen, 10 Ata Malifa, 11 John Ryberg, 12 Robbie Petzer, 13 Chad London, 14 Mason Emerson, 15 Seth Halliman

Replacements: 16 Steve Karas, 17 Marco Fepulea’i, 18 Sam Slade, 19 Mike Stewart, 20 Sean Yacoubian, 21 Tomás Quinlan, 22 Mika Kruse, 23 Nick Boyer

 

HOUSTON SABERCATS 12 vs 47 NOLA GOLD
Saturday, January 25, AVEVA Stadium, Houston

The visiting Gold blasted the SaberCats in the opening stanza, building a 33-nil halftime lead with five unanswered tries. Houston scored early in the second half but conceded two further tries before adding one of their own late in the game.

Making their SaberCats debuts from the bench were new signing Adriaan Booysen and a pair of West Houston Lions call-ups – 18-year-old lock Max Wilson and utility back James Lewis. The latter also acts as video analyst for the MLR side.

Eric Howard led the way for NOLA with two tries, with singles going to Nick Feakes, Holden Yungert, Ross Depperschmidt, Tim Maupin, and Matt Harmon. Scott Gale added six conversions. Scorers for Houston were not immediately available.

HOUSTON
1 Valdemar Lee-Lo, 2 Gabe Romero, 3 Boyd Wiggins, 4 Diego Magno (capt.), 5 Kyle Breytenbach, 6 Luke Beauchamp, 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Mathew Faoagali, 9 Jake Christmann, 10 Zachary Short, 11 Tim Stanfill, 12 Taylor Howden, 13 Matías Freyre, 14 Zack Godfrey, 15 Kieran Farmer

Replacements: 16 Charlie Connolly, 17 Max Wilson, 18 Adriaan Booysen, 19 James Lewis, 20 Max Tacket, 21 Tiaan Loots, 22 Malacchi Esdale, 23 Osea Kolinisau, 24 Sam Windsor, 25 De Wet Roos

NOLA
1 Kevin Sullivan, 2 Eric Howard, 3 Dino Waldren, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Kyle Baillie (capt.), 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Malcolm May, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Scott Gale, 11 Shawn Riley, 12 Con Foley, 13 Ross Depperschmidt, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 Nick Feakes

Replacements: 16 Matt Harmon, 17 John Sullivan, 18 Ben Tarr, 19 Kane Thompson, 20 Billy Stewart, 21 Tabo Maree, 22 Kevin O’Connor, 23 Robbie Coleman, 24 Joeli Tikoisuva, 25 Brian Ptomey, 26 Jonathan Poole

 

SAN DIEGO LEGION 61 vs 14 UTAH WARRIORS
Sunday, January 26, Little Q Field, San Diego

After an opening exchange saw both sides scoring in the first five minutes, the Legion took control to take a 33-14 lead into halftime. The second half was all San Diego who piled on four more tries before the game was called a few minutes early due to a serious injury to an unnamed Utah player.

Jasa Veremalua was in fine form for the Legion with three tries, and Dylan Audsley – starting on the wing – scored two. Nate Augspurger, Save Totovosau, Mike Te’o, and Tevita Tameilau added singles with Luke Burton kicking eight conversions. Scorers for Utah were not immediately available, with the lineups for both sides unreleased.

 

OLD GLORY DC 35 vs 17 RUGBY ATL
Sunday, January 26, The St. James, Springfield

A sold-out crowd of 1,350 watched as the two expansion sides closed out their preseason schedules with a fierce battle that was closer than the scoreline suggested. It was ATL who had a 10-7 lead at the break, with a pushover try from their dominant scrum while DC replied through Travis Larsen.

The second half was much better for DC as Mungo Mason, Mike Dabulas, Doug Fraser, and Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz touched down with Renata Roberts-Te Nana a perfect 5-for-5 from the tee on the day. Alex Maughan had ATL’s only try of the second half.

DC
1 Jake Turnbull, 2 Max Lum, 3 Gordon Fullerton, 4 Tevita Naqali, 5 Api Naikatini, 6 Travis Larsen, 7 Mungo Mason (co-capt.), 8 Josh Brown, 9 Danny Tusitala, 10 Mike Dabulas, 11 Renata Roberts-Te Nana, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 13 Thretton Palamo (co-capt.), 14 Doug Fraser, 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson

Replacements: 16 Mike Sosene-Feagai, 17 Jack Iscaro, 18 Will Vakalahi, 19 Dylan Pieterse, 20 Nic Mirhashem, 21 Michael Reid, 22 Jason Robertson, 23 Ryan Burroughs, 24 Jack McLean, 25 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 26 Vetekina Malafu

ATL
1 Chance Wenglewski, 2 Alex Maughan, 3 Duane Aholelei, 4 Johan Momsen, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Vili Helu, 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Marno Redelinghuys, 9 Kurtis Werner, 10 Duncan van Schalkwyk, 11 Harley Wheeler, 12 Ryan Nell (capt.), 13 Jeremy Misailegalu, 14 Harley Davidson, 15 Rory van Vugt

Replacements: 16 Amro Gouda, 17 Jamie Ferrante, 18 Cronan Gleeson, 19 Harry Higgins, 20 Ross Deacon, 21 Jason Damm, 22 Martini Talapusi, 23 Zander van Schalkwyk

 

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES 29 vs 21 TASMAN MAKO
Sunday, January 26, Starfire Stadium, Tukwila

It was a strong turnout at Seattle as well and the fans were treated to a highly entertaining contest between the two champions sides. The Seawolves led 12-0 at the break with tries in close from Stephan Coetzee and a breakaway from Brad Tucker. Brock Staller added the conversion. Ben Cima was carried off after a nasty fall from an aerial challenge. He has since been cleared of serious injury.

Scott Dean came on at No10 and acquitted himself well, kicking a penalty goal to keep Seattle in front as the Mako roared back to make it 15-14. The final quarter went to the Seawolves with Ross Neal scoring twice and Dean adding both conversions from tricky angles. Tasman scored once more to close the gap but ran out of time.

Seattle had further post-game concerns as Staller came off with a leg injury, and both Harry Davies and George Barton suffered knocks as well. With new arrival Ryno Eksteen nursing a foot injury and Jeff Hassler sitting out with a calf strain, the Seawolves physio department has some busy days ahead.

SEAWOLVES
1 Djustice Sears-Duru, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Jérémy Lenaerts, 5 Brad Tucker, 6 Eric Duechle, 7 Vili Toluta’u, 8 Riekert Hattingh, 9 JP Smith, 10 Ben Cima, 11 Brock Staller, 12 Shalom Suniula, 13 Ross Neal, 14 Mat Turner, 15 Harry Davies

Replacements: 16 Kellen Gordon, 17 Mike Shepherd, 18 Jake Ilnicki, 19 John Hayden, 20 FP Pelser, 21 Taylor Krumrei, 22 Nakai Penny, 23 Jope Motokana, 24 Scott Dean, 25 George Barton, 26 Suli Tamaivena, 27 Siti Tamaivena, 28 Joey Iosefa, 29 Andrew Durutalo