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Make it four in a row for Austin. The Gilgronis started slow but dominated the second half as they cruised to a 42-15 over the Seattle Seawolves at Bold Stadium on Sunday evening.
A number of penalties conceded early on by Austin saw Robbie Coetzee sent to the bin in only the 8th minute. Seattle’s attack was foiled, however, and an enormous kick from Will Magie pinned the Seawolves in their own end. They in turn handed Mack Mason a shot a goal, which he duly slotted to open the scoring for the AG’s.
Seattle finally made the extra man count two minutes later. A set move saw Ross Neal enter the line off his wing, breaking one tackle and fending off a desperate attempt from Marcelo Torrealba to touch down just beside the uprights. Kieran Joyce converted to make it a full seven.
On the other side of the hydration break a superb offload from Ned Hodson connected with Isaac Ross, the big lock taking it to the line with Mason adding the extras. Moments later the Joyce drew the scores level as Austin conceded yet another penalty.
Coetzee nearly went from villain to hero but his would-be try was instead called back for a double movement and Austin instead settled for another three from the boot of Mason. With time winding down in the half Hodson broke two tackles and burst upfield, completing the two-on-one to send Zinzan Elan-Puttick away to make the score 18-10.
Two minutes into the second half Elan-Puttick was in again, this time doing it himself after receiving a poor kick from Joyce. Soon after and it was a double-double for Austin as Ross went in again from close range despite playing in some discomfort from an earlier knock.
At 30-10 the result looked inevitable and replacements streamed into the match. Riekert Hattingh scored on an angled run to bring up the possibility of a losing bonus point, but those hopes were dashed when Christian Ostberg crashed over soon after. An acrobatic finish from Ned Hodson with time expired put the icing on the cake.
Austin will enjoy a bye week before hitting the road to play New England on May 8. The Seawolves limp home to Seattle with a 1-4 record but have their home opener to look forward to against Rugby United New York next Sunday.
SCORING
AUSTIN 42
Tries – I. Ross 2 (23’, 48’), Z. Elan-Puttick 2 (39’, 42’), C. Ostberg (75’), N. Hodson (80’+2’)
Cons – M. Mason 2/4 (24’, 49’), K. Morath 1/2 (76’)
Pens – M. Mason 2/2 (14’, 36’), K. Morath 0/1
Yellow cards – R. Coetzee (8’)
SEATTLE 15
Tries – R. Neal (16’), R. Hattingh (71’)
Cons – K. Joyce 1/1 (17’), J. Aguirre 0/1
Pens – K. Joyce 1/1 (28’)
TEAMS
AUSTIN GILGRONIS
1 Jamie Mackintosh (17 Jake Turnbull HT), 2 Robbie Coetzee (16 Mason Koch 64’), 3 Mason Pedersen (18 LaRome White 60’), 4 Isaac Ross (19 Christian Ostberg 51’), 5 Cam Dodson, 6 Dom Bailey, 7 Maclean Jones (16 Mason Koch 10’-18’) (20 Dominic Akina 66′), 8 Michael de Waal, 9 Marcelo Torrealba (21 Pele Cowley HT), 10 Mack Mason (22 Kurt Morath 58’), 11 Conner Mooneyham, 12 Ned Hodson, 13 Bryce Campbell (capt.), 14 Frank Halai (23 Zinzan Elan-Puttick 30′), 15 Will Magie
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa (17 Djustice Sears-Duru 49′), 2 Obert Nortjé, 3 Tim Metcher (18 Jake Ilnicki 19’-23’, HT), 4 Les Soloai (19 Jacob Flores 55’), 5 FP Pelser (20 Conor McGill HT), 6 Samu Manoa (16 Mike Shepherd 52′), 7 Tommy Clark, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 Devereaux Ferris, 10 Kieran Joyce (22 Juan Pablo Aguirre 59′), 11 Sitiveni Tamaivena (23 Aaron Matthews 67′), 12 Shalom Suniula, 13 Seta Tuilevuka, 14 Ross Neal, 15 Mat Turner
Not used: 21 Ronald Dwyer
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Luke Rogan (USA)
Assistants: Kat Roche (USA) & Butch Neuenschwander (USA)
