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LA retained the Cali Cup with a 26-13 win over the San Diego Legion at Memorial Coliseum on Saturday. It was a committed performance from the defending champions, who made the most of their scoring opportunities to secure a four-try bonus and inch closer to getting back into the playoff race.
The bounces didn’t quite go San Diego’s way from the start. Will Hooley made an early intercept and sprinted away before chipping the ball ahead. Ryan James was there to cover, but his pass was in turn picked off by Ben Mitchell. The lock made it over the line but was driven into touch-in goal before he could ground it.
At the other end Hanco Germishuys charged down a clearance attempt from Joe Pietersen. The flanker nearly scored himself, and when he was brought down the ball was quickly spun wide to Will Chambers who was waiting with open arms to finish in the corner.
Pietersen replied with a penalty for San Diego before two near-misses. Hooley looked to have scored a try at the end of a long breakout but it was called back for an accidental offside picked up by the TMO near halfway. Ben Grant then charged down a kick deep in LA territory but the ball went dead just before the second row could ground it.
Just before halftime the Giltinis got their second try. It came after several phases, and with the defense slightly out of sync Billy Meakes popped a short inside ball to Orene Ai’i screaming through the gap. Luke Burton added the conversion to make it 12-3 to the home side after 40 minutes.
Shortly after play resumed LA were again working through the phases. Dave Dennis powered ahead and was stopped just short, but the Legion left the blindside unguarded and Hanco Germishuys trotted over to score. Despite the difficult angle Burton was on-song with the extras.
Another long sequence of attacking play saw the Giltinis backing the Legion up to the shadow of their own posts. This time San Diego won a turnover and quickly spun it wide to Pietersen. He broke one tackle before freeing Kainoa Lloyd down the right sideline. The Canadian winger beat the last defender and sprinted clear, with Pietersen’s kick making closing the gap to 19-13.
Tiaan Loots found himself in the sin bin for a late hit on Burton. Despite the disadvantage the Legion pushed ahead and Pietersen slotted a three-pointer. Before they could be restored to full compliment, however, the Giltinis struck again with a try from close range to Marco Fepulea’i putting the finishing touches on the win.
The Giltinis head north next Saturday to take on the Seattle Seawolves at Starfire Stadium. It’s a bye week for the Legion, who will return for a Friday-night clash against the Utah Warriors at Salt Lake on April 1.
SCORING
LA 26
Tries – W. Chambers (15′), O’ Ai’i (38′), H. Germishuys (48′), M. Fepulea’i (72′)
Cons – L. Burton 3/4 (39′, 49′, 73′)
SAN DIEGO 13
Tries – K. Lloyd (60′)
Cons – J. Pietersen 1/1 (61′)
Pens – J. Pietersen 2/2 (19′, 66′)
YC – T. Loots (62′)
TEAMS
LA GILTINIS
1 Luke White (17 Djustice Sears-Duru 63′), 2 Joe Taufete’e (16 Lindsey Stevens 76′), 3 Charlie Abel (18 Marco Fepulea’i 50′), 4 Dave Dennis (capt.) (20 Cyrille Cama 76′), 5 Nathan Den Hoedt, 6 Christian Poidevin, 7 Hanco Germishuys (22 Angus Cottrell 61′), 8 Corey Thomas (19 Zach Bonte 30′), 9 Harrison Goddard, 10 Orene Ai’i (21 Tas Smith 55′), 11 Ryan James (23 Cristian Rodriguez 66′), 12 Luke Burton, 13 Billy Meakes, 14 Will Chambers, 15 Jordan Trainor
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Hencus van Wyk (18 Chris Baumann 50′), 2 Matt Moulds (16 Peter Malcolm 50′), 3 Paddy Ryan (17 Nathan Sylvia HT), 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Ben Grant (20 Chris Turori 73′), 6 Rohan O’Regan, 7 Dan Pryor, 8 Tevita Tameilau (19 Chris Robshaw 53′), 9 Nate Augspurger (capt.) (21 Jason Higgins 73′), 10 Will Hooley, 11 Matías Freyre (23 Ryan Matyas HT), 12 Tiaan Loots, 13 Thomas Morani (22 Josh Thiel 61′), 14 Kainoa Lloyd, 15 Joe Pietersen
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Austin Reed (USA) & Tim Lew (USA)
TMO: Jack Gohl (Australia)
