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Rugby New York held off a frantic blitz from NOLA God to take a 36-28 result at JFK Stadium on Sunday. It was the proverbial game of two halves as the home side dominated the first half only to watch the visitors take charge in the second.
The home side suffered an early blow as Troy Lockyear went down with a hamstring injury. It was a double-hit to New York as Lockyear was clear in space and looked to be on his way to a certain try. Sam Windsor was summoned as a replacement.
When play resumed Benjamín Bonasso made space in traffic on the right side, and then Kalolo Tuiloma barreled to within a meter of the line. Andy Ellis picked and slipped over for the opening try, with Jack Heighton adding the conversion.
A simple first phase play saw Ellis draw in the defense and Jason Emery sliced through the line. Kara Pryor was in support to take the scoring pass on the two-on-one. Heighton again added the extras and New York were 14 points to the good at the hydration break.
The Gold got in the board on a set play of their own. After earning an attacking lineout, Devin Short popped off-the-top to Cam Dolan peeling around the back. Dolan was stopped just short but Kevin Sullivan was there to drive over the line. Damian Stevens was successful with the conversion.
It wasn’t long before a reply came from New York. Heighton was first receiver from a scrum and his outside line seemed to confuse the defense. At the ensuing ruck the short side was left to Robbie Coleman to guard and Dylan Fawsitt was too powerful for the NOLA flyhalf.
Just when it looked as though the Gold might get a second score, Brendon O’Connor won a clean turnover at the breakdown. The ball was heaved downfield by Ellis and there was nobody at home to stop Ed Fidow from regathering for the bonus point try. Heighton’s fourth conversion made it 28-7 at halftime.
Early in the second half NOLA lost Eric Howard to a leg injury, with Pat O’Toole coming in at hooker. A penalty goal from Heighton at 52 minutes stretched the lead, but the Gold suddenly exploded with two tries in two minutes.
Robbie Coleman dummied through the line and connected with Short, who offloaded from the deck to an onrushing Juan Cappiello. Next it was a quick tap from Stevens, who sped away and fired a wild pass back inside to Harley Wheeler. The return pass put Stevens into the corner.
With the clock ticking down NOLA threw caution to the wind and ran everything from their own end. The ball went back and forth across the pitch until it found Maciu Koroi loitering on the left wing. He broke a tackle and offloaded to JP Eloff in support for a runaway score, and the conversion from Stevens brought the Gold to within three.
A high tackle penalty went against New York with two minutes to play, but instead of kicking for a lineout Stevens opted to run it and the ball was turned over. New York in turn won a penalty, kicked to the corner, and Fawsitt broke around the short side of the maul to score his brace and put the game on ice.
It’s a week off for the Gold, who return to action on May 14 with a home game against Old Glory DC. New York are on the road next Sunday as they face the Toronto Arrows in a match that could well decide the third playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
SCORING
NEW YORK 36
Tries – A. Ellis (12′), K. Pryor (20′), D. Fawsitt 2 (32′, 80′), E. Fidow (40′)
Cons – J. Heighton 4/5 (13′, 21′, 33′, 40′)
Pens – J. Heighton 1/1 (52′)
NOLA 28
Tries – K. Sullivan (27′), J. Cappiello (54′), D. Stevens (56′), J. Eloff (75′)
Cons – D. Stevens 4/4 (28′, 55′, 57′, 76′)
TEAMS
RUGBY NEW YORK
1 Sakaria Taulafo (17 Chance Wenglewski 48′), 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Kalolo Tuiloma (18 Nic Mayhew 48′), 4 Nate Brakeley (capt.) (19 Charlie Hewitt HT), 5 Nick Civetta (16 Kaleb Geiger 66′), 6 Benjamín Bonasso (20 Joe Basser 55′), 7 Brendon O’Connor, 8 Kara Pryor, 9 Andy Ellis (21 Connor Buckley 58′), 10 Jack Heighton, 11 Ed Fidow, 12 Jason Emery (23 Quinn Ngawati 60′), 13 Fa’asiu Fuatai, 14 Ishmail Shabazz, 15 Troy Lockyear (22 Sam Windsor 10′)
NOLA GOLD
1 Kevin Sullivan (17 Kavika Peniata 64′), 2 Eric Howard (16 Pat O’Toole 46′), 3 Dino Waldren (18 Brian Nault 52′), 4 Ignacio Dotti (19 William Waguespack 64′), 5 Billy Stewart (20 Maciu Koroi 52′), 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Devin Short, 8 Cam Dolan (capt.), 9 Damian Stevens, 10 Robbie Coleman, 11 Nick Feakes (22 Ross Depperschmidt 71′), 12 JP du Plessis, 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 Harley Wheeler (23 Jack Webster 64′), 15 JP Eloff
Not used: 21 Devereaux Ferris
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Paulo Duarte (Portugal)
Assistants: Lex Weiner (USA) & Will Nelson (USA)
TMO: Miles McIvor (USA)
