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Make it six wins in a row for the New England Free Jacks. They defeated the Seattle Seawolves 24-22 at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday. While the scoreboard slightly flatters the visitors, they showed resilience to secure a vital losing bonus point on the final play.
It took some time for New England to find a way through Seattle’s defense. A set move from a scrum saw Beaudein Waaka attacking the short side. He drew in two defenders and the cover got crossed up as Paula Balekana weaved his way to the line for the first try.
The second came from a loose kick from Kieran Joyce that fell into Balekana’s lap. He offloaded to a flying Dougie Fife. The Scotsman rounded the corner and fired an inside pass to a trailing Slade McDowall for a runaway score. Waaka’s second conversion made it 14-nil to the home side.
Fife was soon off the pitch along with Zach Bastres, both players injured and replaced by Harrison Boyle and Jack Reeves respectively. Seattle won a scrum penalty and kicked to the corner. THe lineout drive resulted in a try to James Malcolm. Joyce couldn’t add the extras though he landed a penalty just before halftime to make it 14-8 with 40 minutes played.
It took another 20 minutes until another score came. John Poland spotted an overlap on the short side and deftly fired a spin pass straight to Balekana standing on the touchline. He showed his class with a class winger’s finish in the corner, with Waaka’s sideline effort making it a full seven.
JP Smith broke from a ruck and offloaded to AJ Alatimu to put the Free Jacks on the back foot. Ben Landry was held up over the line but with advantage, the Seawolves opted for a scrum. A couple phases later Tavite Lopeti ripped through on a short line off Alatimu’s shoulder.
Waaka landed a penalty goal to effectively end Seattle’s hopes of a comeback, but there was still time to secure the bonus point. Despite losing Riekert Hattingh to a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, they would have the final say as Mat Turner sliced through from their own attacking move off a scrum.
The Free Jacks enjoy a week off but the Seawolves are back in action next weekend. They return home to take on Western Conference rivals San Diego on Saturday.
SCORING
NEW ENGLAND 24
Tries – P. Balekana 2 (16′, 60′), S. McDowall (20′)
Cons – B. Waaka 3/3 (17′, 21′, 61′)
Pens – B. Waaka 1/1 (75′)
SEATTLE 22
Tries – J. Malcolm (34′), T. Lopeti (71′), M. Turner (80′)
Cons – K. Joyce 0/1, A. Alatimu 1/1 (72′), No kick (80′)
Pens – K. Joyce 1/1 (40′)
YC – R. Hattingh (77′)
TEAMS
NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Kyle Ciquera (17 Alex Johnston 66′), 2 Foster DeWitt (16 Mills Sanerivi 47′), 3 Erich de Jager (18 Spencer Krueger 66′), 4 Josh Larsen (capt.), 5 Stan van den Hoven, 6 Cam Davidowicz (19 Wian Conradie 47′), 7 Slade McDowall, 8 Jesse Parete (20 Joe Johnston 56′), 9 John Poland (21 Holden Yungert 66′), 10 Beaudein Waaka, 11 Paula Balekana, 12 Le Roux Malan, 13 Wayne van der Bank, 14 Zach Bastres (23 Jack Reeves 28′), 15 Dougie Fife (22 Harrison Boyle 28′)
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Mzamo Majola, 2 James Malcolm, 3 Tim Metcher (18 Sam Matenga 50′), 4 Samu Manoa (19 Victor Comptat 53′), 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Ben Landry (20 Tommy Clark 72′), 7 Travis Larsen, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith (21 Reid Watkins 77′), 10 Kieran Joyce (22 AJ Alatimu 50′), 11 Lauina Futi, 12 Tavite Lopeti, 13 Dan Kriel (23 Cole Zarcone 61′), 14 Ross Neal, 15 Mat Turner
Not used: 16 Mike Brown, 17 Kellen Gordon
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistants: Amelia Luciano (USA) & Jarrod Ford (USA)
TMO: Davey Ardrey (USA)
