Second half recovery gives NOLA win over New England

NOLA kept their playoff hopes alive with a 17-9 win over New England at Union Point Stadium on Saturday. It was the tale of two halves as the Free Jacks held a 9-nil lead after 40 minutes, but the Gold recovered with 17 unanswered points in the second stanza.

The first half was littered with handling errors and stoppages. It was the home side who had the edge, with three penalties from the boot of Beaudein Waaka accounting for all the scoring. A scrum penalty handed him the first opportunity, with a Dino Waldren yellow card for a breakdown infringement providing to the second.

Whatever was said at halftime to the Gold seemed to work. Just five minutes in the forwards piled over from a lineout drive with Pat O’Toole the man on the back for the try. Carl Meyer had no trouble with the conversion and the gap was down to two.

Just a few minutes later Joeli Tikoisuva was put in space on the left side. The winger stepped on the gas and nearly made the corner but for a flying tackle from Harry Barlow. It was for naught, however, as the challenge was too high with the referee instead awarding a penalty try. Barlow escaped a yellow as the officials could not identify his number in the aftermath.

There would be no comeback from the Free Jacks. Meyer missed a penalty attempt just after the hour mark but made good on another ten minutes later. A scuffle landed one player from each side in the bin with a promising attack started by a Poasa Waqanibau break amounting to nothing.

New England’s postseason hopes are now gone but they will look to disrupt New York’s efforts next Saturday. NOLA will hope for help from the Free Jacks as they face the challenge of league leaders LA at Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.

 

SCORING

NEW ENGLAND 9
Pens – B. Waaka 3/3 (10′, 24′, 27′)
Yellow cards – A. Morris-Lome (74′)

NOLA 17
Tries – P. O’Toole (45′), Penalty try (52′)
Cons – C. Meyer 1/1 (46′), No kick (52′)
Pens – C. Meyer 1/2 (72′)
Yellow cards – D. Waldren (23′), D. Short (74′)

 

TEAMS

NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Sef Fa’agase (18 Kyle Ciquera 74′), 2 Pieter Jansen (16 Stephan Coetzee 70′), 3 Erich de Jager (17 Quentin Newcomer 62′), 4 Jackson Thiebes, 5 Conor Kindregan (20 Vili Toluta’u 50′), 6 Tera Mtembu, 7 Joe Johnston (capt.), 8 Wian Conradie (19 Justin Johnson 72′), 9 John Poland (21 Tom Brusati 74′), 10 Beaudein Waaka, 11 Harry Barlow, 12 Aleki Morris-Lome, 13 Dougie Fife, 14 Mitch Wilson (23 Tuidraki Samusamuvodre 72′), 15 Harrison Boyle (22 Poasa Waqanibau 57′)

NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon (17 Kevin Sullivan 57′), 2 Pat O’Toole (16 Kevin O’Connor 73′), 3 Dino Waldren (18 John Sullivan 64′), 4 William Waguespack (21 Devin Short HT), 5 Billy Stewart (19 Kane Thompson 68′), 6 Malcolm May (18 John Sullivan 31′-33′) (20 Moni Tonga’uiha 47′), 7 Andrew Guerra, 8 Cam Dolan (capt.), 9 Holden Yungert (22 Damian Stevens 46′), 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Joeli Tikoisuva (23 Kyle Rogers 65′), 12 JP du Plessis, 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 15 Carl Meyer

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luke Rogan (USA)
Assistants: Amelia Luciano (USA) & Mike Rudzinsky (USA)