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Old Glory DC ended their season on a winning note with a 50-35 win over the Toronto Arrows in front of a strong crowd at York Lions Stadium on Sunday afternoon. An eight-try offensive explosion gave the visitors just their third win of the season, and their first ever win over the Arrows.
It was a picture-perfect opening for the Arrows. Gastón Mieres rocketed through the line on a short pass from Sam Malcolm. Dennon Robinson-Bartlett was there in support, swerving around the last man to score under the posts with barely a minute on the clock.
A reply from the visitors came from the forwards. Cory Daniel went over on the back of a lineout drive, but Rohan Saifoloi couldn’t connect with the conversion. At the restart, however, Daniel lost the ball in the sun and Ronan Foley was there for the simplest of tries to make it 14-5 to the home side.
The two sides again exchanged tries in short order. Robinson-Bartlett threw a loose pass straight to Peni Lasaqa, who raced in untouched against the run of play. Toronto replied almost instantly through their driving maul, with Paul Ciulini getting credit for the score.
DC fired straight back with two tries before halftime. Daniel came close and when the ball was recycled William Talataina’s wide pass put Junior Sa’u into the corner. Then it was a line break from Kyle Stewart that sparked the second. Danny Tusitala was there to take the offload, who in turn dished to Tevita Naqali for the finish.
Early in the second half Malcolm tore clear up the middle. The scramble defense caught up but DC conceded a penalty behind the play. A shot at goal was turned down in favor of the lineout, and when the maul was slowed Ciulini broke from the back and blasted over for his double.
Not long after Felix Kalapu was freed and the powerful flanker went through the desperate last-gasp tackle attempt of Malcolm to score, and to make matters worse the Arrows flyhalf was injured in the process. Another DC try came when Lasaqa came roaring into the midfield off his wing with Tusitala in support to finish the job.
The decisive try came from Renata Roberts-Te Nana, who deftly chipped and regathered to give the visitors a 15-point lead. A loose pass gave possession back to DC and after Tusitala broke down the right side, the ball was flung wide left to Talataina for try number eight. Saifoloi’s conversion brought up the half-century. A consolation try went to Marcello Wainwright on the stroke of full-time to bring down the curtains on the season for both teams.
SCORING
TORONTO 35
Tries – D. Robinson-Bartlett (1′), R. Foley (11′), P. Ciulini 2 (19′, 44′), M. Wainwright (80′)
Cons – No kick (1′), S. Malcolm 3/3 (12′, 20′, 45′), W. Kelly 1/1 (80’+1′)
DC 50
Tries – C. Daniel (9′), P. Lasaqa (16′), J. Sa’u (23′), T. Naqali (28′), F. Kalapu (51′), D. Tusitala (56′), R. Roberts-Te Nana (68′), W. Talataina (72′)
Cons – R. Saifoloi 3/6 (17′, 29′, 73′), No kick 2 (51′, 56′)
TEAMS
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Lolani Faleiva (17 Cole Keith 51′), 2 Jack McRogers (16 Andrew Quattrin 47′), 3 Tyler Rowland (18 Isaac Salmon 51′), 4 Adrian Wadden, 5 Paul Ciulini (19 Kyle Baillie 47′-70′), 6 Tomás de la Vega (20 Marcello Wainwright 57′), 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 8 Ronan Foley, 9 Jamie Mackenzie (21 Sam Reimer 48′), 10 Sam Malcolm (22 Will Kelly 51′), 11 Dennon Robinson-Bartlett, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Ueta Tufuga (23 Conor McCann 32′-HT, 58′), 14 Kobe Faust, 15 Gastón Mieres
OLD GLORY DC
1 Jack Iscaro (18 Will Vakalahi 61′), 2 Rob Irimescu (16 Mo Katz 45′-53′), 3 Kyle Stewart (17 Jake Ilnicki 61′), 4 Stan South (23 Brady Daniel 73′), 5 Tevita Naqali, 6 Felix Kalapu, 7 Cory Daniel (19 Dom Bailey 73′), 8 Fintan Coleman (20 Dacoda Worth 48′), 9 Danny Tusitala (capt.) (22 John LeFevre 73′), 10 Rohan Saifoloi, 11 Junior Sa’u, 12 Doug Fraser (21 John Rizzo 70′), 13 William Talataina, 14 Peni Lasaqa, 15 Renata Roberts-Te Nana
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Mike Lash (New Zealand)
Assistants: Michael Jones (Canada) & Peter Pender (Canada)
TMO: Andrew Hosie (Canada)
