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The NOLA Gold recovered from a 14-0 halftime deficit against the Toronto Arrows to score a 22-14 victory at The Gold Mine on Sunday afternoon. It was largely a stop-start affair with the humidity affecting ball handling on both sides.
Toronto appeared to be en route for another dominant victory in the first half. Sustained pressure led to the opening try from Manuel Montero at the 7-minute mark. Quick hands from Tomás de la Vega found his countryman unmarked for the score with Taylor Adams adding the conversion.
Adams missed a penalty attempt but a second Montero try before halftime put the Arrows two converted tries up. Leandro Leivas replaced a bloodied Joaquín Tuculet and he quickly made his presence felt, popping up on the opposite wing to create the extra man. Gastón Mieres took the pass from Leivas, stepped back inside and offloaded to Montero for the finish.
The Arrows defense was tested just before the break but NOLA were held up in-goal. At the resulting scrum the Arrows drove the Gold straight backwards to earn a penalty and clear their lines.
An opportunity to go up by three scores was missed by Adams at 50 minutes, and from there on the Gold dominated possession and territory. They were at last rewarded with a score from a lineout drive with Cam Dolan the man to get the credit. Damian Stevens, now on at scrumhalf, took the kicking duties and duly added the extras.
More pressure yielded another score on the other side of the hydration break. With an advantage pending the ball was spun wide to Julián Domínguez who won the race to the corner. The conversion was no good but the Gold were within two.
Stevens missed a shot off the tee as Toronto’s penalty count began to climb. The referee eventually lost patience and binned Adams for killing the ball at a ruck. This time Stevens took the opportunity to knock over three and give his team their first lead of the game.
With time winding down NOLA remained entrenched in Toronto territory. Domínguez popped up on the right side and scythed through a gap that was arguably created by an obstruction. The try was awarded, however, with Stevens nailing the tough conversion from a bad angle.
A yellow card to Hanno Dirksen after a skirmish with Montero reduced NOLA to 14 but had no effect on the outcome. Toronto’s lineout faltered and more handling errors handed possession back to the Gold, who had only to kick the ball into the stands to end the game.
NOLA leapfrog Toronto into first place in the East pending the result of Sunday evening’s game in Seattle. Both teams are back in action next Saturday. The Gold play host to the Houston SaberCats while the Arrows will be considered the home side despite playing Rugby ATL on their own turf in Marietta.
SCORING
NOLA 22
Tries – C. Dolan (57’), J. Domínguez 2 (61’, 75’)
Cons – D. Stevens 2/3 (58’, 76’)
Pens – D. Stevens 1/2 (68’)
Yellow cards – H. Dirksen (77’)
TORONTO 14
Tries – M. Montero 2 (7’, 32’)
Cons – T. Adams 2/2 (8’, 33’)
Pens – T. Adams 0/2
Yellow cards – T. Adams (68’)
TEAMS
NOLA GOLD
1 Kevin Sullivan (17 Matt Harmon HT), 2 Eric Howard (16 Pat O’Toole 55’), 3 Dino Waldren (18 John Sullivan 78′), 4 Cam Dolan, 5 Kyle Baillie (capt.) (19 Billy Stewart 67’), 6 Moni Tonga’uiha (20 Nikola Bursic 53’), 7 Andrew Guerra, 8 Devin Short, 9 Holden Yungert (21 Damian Stevens 46’), 10 Carl Meyer (23 Timothée Guillimin 27’), 11 Julián Domínguez, 12 Juan Cappiello, 13 Lockie Kratz, 14 Tim Maupin (22 Kyle Rogers 69′), 15 Hanno Dirksen
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Cole Keith (17 Pat Lynott 63’), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Jack McRogers 63’), 3 Gastón Cortes (18 Tyler Rowland 46′), 4 Mason Flesch, 5 Mike Sheppard (19 Paul Ciulini 53’), 6 Tomás de la Vega, 7 Lucas Rumball (co-capt.), 8 Manuel Diana (20 Marcello Wainwright 69’), 9 Ross Braude (21 Jason Higgins 58’), 10 Tayler Adams, 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Patrick Parfrey (23 Spencer Jones 54’), 13 Ben LeSage (co-capt.), 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Joaquín Tuculet (22 Leandro Leivas 27’)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistants: Allen Alongi (USA) & Rob Halcomb (USA)
