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Rugby New York got the result they wanted in New Orleans, taking a 30-19 bonus-point win at The Gold Mine on Saturday. A dominant first half set the stage with a late NOLA surge softening the scoreline somewhat. New York enjoyed a heavy territorial advantage for the first hour of the match.
The visitors got off to a flying start. There wasn’t two minutes elapsed when Andrew Coe touched down in the right corner. It started from a scrum with Ed Fidow breaching the gainline, then a short run by Fa’asiu Fuatai. Troy Lockyear’s outside break sucked in a defender and one-handed offload to Coe freed the Canadian for the finish. Jason Emery’s conversion attempt curled across the face of the uprights.
NOLA were caught trying to run out of their own end and it was none other than Coe who picked off a telegraphed pass from Carl Meyer. The ball went wide left and Will Tucker forced his way over in the corner, but the big lock was held up and the Gold escaped with a drop-out.
By the 15-minute mark the Gold hadn’t left their half, and the pressure of the New York attack was too much. Kaleb Geiger bashed his way to within a meter of the line, and Kalolo Tuiloma needed only to stretch out and fall forward for the try. This time is was a routine kick for Emery.
The momentum reversed in an instant. JP du Plessis took out Tucker in the air at the restart, but the penalty was reversed when New York overreacted. The Gold opted for a lineout and when Nate Brakeley collapsed the drive, the referee had no hesitation to award a penalty try and dispatch the New York skipper to the sin bin.
With New York’s pack now shorthanded the Gold pressed forward. Malcolm May was held up in-goal, but NOLA were on advantage and they would have another crack through the scrum. The ball came out wide only for Devin Short to find the same result as May.
After Brakeley returned the visitors caught a break. Lockyear’s kick from inside his own 22-meter line was charged down, but it went straight into the hands of Fidow. The winger raced out to halfway and offloaded to Brendon O’Connor, who in turn found Emery in support for the try. It was the simplest of conversions to make it 19-7 to the visitors.
Tempers flared after a high shot on JP Eloff, but as he did earlier the referee reversed the penalty when NOLA retaliated. Soon after Emery landed a penalty goal from straight in front and the Gold headed into the sheds with a 15-point deficit.
Emery took another three after the first sequence of the second half. Again the Gold were pinned in their half, and eventually the bonus-point try came for New York when Tucker crashed over. Sam Windsor missed the conversion but the game was now out of sight. Windsor was making his 50th appearance in Major League Rugby, with Dylan Fawsitt also celebrating the same milestone.
Replacements streamed into the match and NOLA would get a burst of energy to close the game. Meyer sent Nick Feakes into the corner for a try. Soon after Robbie Coleman’s cross-kick sat up for Feakes to run onto. He connected with Cam Dolan, who in turn popped from the deck to Short for the finish. The kick from Meyer was the last scoring act of the game.
It’s a road game for NOLA next week as they take on Old Glory DC in Leesburg. New York head back home to play the Toronto Arrows on Sunday.
SCORING
NOLA 19
Tries – Penalty try (18′), N. Feakes (66′), D. Short (72′)
Cons – No kick (18′), C. Meyer 1/2 (73′)
NEW YORK 30
Tries – A. Coe (2′), K. Tuiloma (15′), J. Emery (34′), W. Tucker (56′)
Cons – J. Emery 2/3 (16′, 35′), S. Windsor 0/1
Pens – J. Emery 2/2 (40′, 42′)
YC – N. Brakeley (18′)
TEAMS
NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon (17 Kevin Sullivan 58′), 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Brian Nault (18 Dino Waldren 54′), 4 Malcolm May (20 Maciu Koroi 58′), 5 Ignacio Dotti (19 William Waguespack 70′), 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Devin Short, 8 Cam Dolan (capt.), 9 Devereaux Ferris (21 Damian Stevens 62′), 10 Robbie Coleman, 11 Ross Depperschmidt (22 Nick Feakes 58′), 12 Carl Meyer, 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 JP du Plessis, 15 JP Eloff (23 Harley Wheeler 62′)
Not used: 16 George Sharpe
RUGBY NEW YORK
1 Chance Wenglewski (17 Nic Mayhew 62′), 2 Kaleb Geiger (16 Dylan Fawsitt 54′), 3 Kalolo Tuiloma (18 Wilton Rebolo 49′), 4 Nate Brakeley (capt.), 5 Will Tucker, 6 Benjamín Bonasso, 7 Brendon O’Connor (19 Charlie Hewitt 58′), 8 Kara Pryor (20 Joe Basser 62′), 9 Conor McManus (21 Connor Buckley 62′), 10 Andy Ellis (22 Sam Windsor 46′), 11 Ed Fidow, 12 Jason Emery (23 Quinn Ngawati 58′), 13 Fa’asiu Fuatai, 14 Andrew Coe, 15 Troy Lockyear
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Marcus Playle (New Zealand)
Assistants: Rob Halcomb (USA) & Saade Bou-Mikael (USA)
TMO: Nick Hannon (USA)
