Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Rugby ATL spoiled Toronto’s homecoming party with a 20-14 road win at York Lions Stadium on Saturday. The visitors proved too strong up front with the Arrows pack struggling to withstand the pressure at the scrum and maul, and the injury-depleted backline was unable to make an impact.
It was an evenly-matched opening quarter. The two sides looked to play territory with penalties handing opportunities for points. Sam Malcolm was first to land, and Kurt Coleman responded just ahead of the hydration break.
ATL inched ahead with Coleman’s second penalty, and the Will Leonard broke through a gap and chipped ahead. The support was there in numbers but the ball went loose and instead Ronan Foley broke up the right side of the pitch. His offloaded to Chris Bell, but the scrumhalf put boot to ball and the visitors grabbed it before getting pushed into touch.
As the players stood up Bell stayed down holding his ankle. He was unable to continue, and with no specialist replacement available Sam Malcolm moved to scrumhalf with Will Kelly coming on at flyhalf.
Toronto’s scrum conceded a penalty on their own put-in with time up in the half. Instead of points, however, ATL opted for another scrum. Coleman attempted a cross-kick to Lui Sitama but the winger was offside and the attack came to nothing.
A line break from Kelly early in the second half put the Ratlers on the back foot, and an offside penalty gave Malcolm a shot at the sticks. He had no trouble from 30 meters and the scores were now level.
The Arrows won a scrum penalty at halfway and Malcolm’s touch-finder set a 5-meter throw-in to the home side. In came the backs to help with the lineout drive and to their relief Andrew Quattrin was driven over to score. Malcolm’s conversion attempt drifted just to the right of the posts.
A turning point came near the hour mark. ATL drove into Toronto territory and repeat team infringements saw James O’Neill sent to the bin. The scrum was unstoppable with Jason Damm popping off the back to finish the job.
Before O’Neill could return the Ratlers were in for a second try. Again it was through the forwards, and this time a lineout drive did the job with Marko Janse van Rensburg getting the credit. Coleman converted both to make it 20-11 to the visitors.
Momentum swung to the Arrows and a bizarre scene saw them nearly score a try. Austin White attempted to run from his own goal-line and was caught in possession. He let go of the ball and it appeared to be grounded by Toronto, but the TMO ruled it had been brought into touch by an Arrows player and instead awarded a drop-out to ATL.
The Arrows quickly earned a penalty which Malcolm turned into three points. They moved back into ATL territory and got to within 10 meters of the line only for the referee to penalise them for sealing off at the breakdown. The Ratlers cleared their lines and held on for the win.
Both teams are back in action next Saturday. Toronto stays at home with Old Glory DC their guests. ATL has another road game, this time against Southern rivals NOLA Gold.
SCORING
TORONTO 14
Tries – A. Quattrin (47′)
Cons – S. Malcolm 0/1
Pens – S. Malcolm 3/3 (10′, 44′, 71′)
YC – J. O’Neill (56′)
ATL 20
Tries – J. Damm (57′), M. Janse van Rensburg (64′)
Cons – K. Coleman 2/2 (58′, 65′)
Pens – K. Coleman 2/2 (19′, 25′)
TEAMS
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Cole Keith (17 Lolani Faleiva 67′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Jack McRogers 71′), 3 Isaac Salmon (18 Tyler Rowland 66′), 4 Mike Sheppard (capt.) (19 Kyle Baillie 60′), 5 Paul Ciulini, 6 Lucas Rumball, 7 James O’Neill, 8 Ronan Foley, 9 Chris Bell (23 Will Kelly 29′), 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Mitch Richardson, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Ueta Tufuga (21 Mitch Voralek 60′), 14 Johnny Sheridan, 15 Conor McCann
Not used: 20 Ollie Nott, 22 Marcello Wainwright
RUGBY ATL
1 John Sullivan (16 Marko Janse van Rensburg HT), 2 Alex Maughan (17 Will Burke 64′), 3 John-Roy Jenkinson (18 Lincoln Sii 77′), 4 Evan Mintern (19 Johan Momsen 56′), 5 Conor Keys, 6 Vili Helu (20 Ross Deacon 71′), 7 Connor Cook, 8 Jason Damm, 9 Ryan Rees (21 Rowan Gouws HT), 10 Kurt Coleman, 11 Te Rangatira Waitokia, 12 Will Leonard, 13 Ryan Nell (capt.) (23 George Barton 71′), 14 Lui Sitama (22 Duncan van Schalkwyk 53′), 15 Austin White
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Marcus Playle (New Zealand)
Assistants: Michael Jones (Canada) & Peter Pender (Canada)
TMO: Andrew Hosie (Canada)
Attendance: 2,000
