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Sam Malcolm produced one of the great individual performances in Major League Rugby history on Saturday to lead Toronto to a 27-26 win over Chicago at SeatGeek Stadium. Amidst rain mixed with snow at times, the Arrows flyhalf scored every single point for his team including a match-winning drop goal in the 77th minute.
There were some shaky moments for Malcolm in the early goings. The Arrows won back-to-back scrum penalties but Malcolm’s kick directed at the corner drifted into touch-and-goal. Lindsey Stevens won a turnover to give the Hounds possession and soon after Luke Carty landed a penalty goal from near halfway to put the home side on the board first.
A slick attacking move from Toronto’s backline saw Avery Oitomen coming in from his left wing to free Mitch Richardson down the right side. Richardson chipped ahead inside Chicago’s 22 and got a fortunate bounce, offloading to Malcolm in support for a cracking try.
The Hounds fired back soon enough. Duke Krishnan’s offload on the gainline put Michael de Waal through a gap. He in turn fed Carty, with only a desperation tackle from Richardson stopping him from scoring. Carty’s pop off the deck was intended for Maclean Jones but he was wrapped up by Lucas Rumball just as the ball arrived. The referee deferred to the TMO, and the decision went against Rumball. He trudged off to the sin bin as the penalty try was awarded.
A mistake at the restart gave an immediate penalty to the Arrows. Malcolm’s attempt at the posts was well wide, but he would make up for it in no time. Noel Reid’s offload freed Tautalatasi Tasi, who in turn offloaded from his back to an oncoming Malcolm for the try. He turned away in disgust after slicing the conversion attempt, but Malcolm’s radar would soon recalibrate.
Chicago grabbed the momentum on a huge touch-finder from Carty that set up a lineout drive. It worked a charm, with Jones getting the credit. Another de Waal line break followed and Reid was ruled to have killed the ball in a scoring position. As Rumball returned from the bin, Reid took his seat while Carty took three points.
Toronto were dominating possession and field position but were now trailing by 8 points. They again pushed into Chicago territory and Mason Flesch spun over from close range, but the lock was held up. There would be no escape this time, however, as the pressure stayed on and eventually Malcolm landed his first penalty to make it 20-15 at the break.
The conditions deteriorated in the second half and the match turned into an arm-wrestle. Jones saw yellow for a high tackle on Ross Braude. The Arrows scrum won another penalty, and Malcolm obliged with a three-pointer. Four minutes later his boot nudged the Arrows into the lead.
James O’Neill was barely on the pitch when another TMO intervention sent the Arrows flanker to the sin bin for a dangerous clearout on Jones. Carty handed the kicking duties to Chris Mattina and his strike was true, putting the Hounds back in front.
The pendulum continued to swing as Chicago gave away another penalty from the restart, and another three points to Malcolm. Five minutes later it was Mattina doing the same to the the home side a precarious two-point lead.
With O’Neill back on the pitch and the clock ticking down, Malcolm took matter into his own hands and stepped back into the pocket to deliver the coup-de-grace. Three minutes of mayhem followed until at last the Arrows grabbed possession and kicked the ball dead to secure their first win of the season.
Both teams return to action next Saturday. Toronto are on the road against Old Glory DC, while Chicago stay at home in search of their first franchise win against the Dallas Jackals.
SCORING
CHICAGO 26
Tries (2) – Penalty try (18′), M. Jones (26′)
Cons (2) – No kick (18′), L. Carty 1/1 (27′)
Pens (4) – L. Carty 2/2 (10′, 29′), C. Mattina 2/2 (67′, 74′)
YC (1) – M. Jones (49′)
TORONTO 27
Tries (2) – S. Malcolm 2 (13′, 21′)
Cons (1) – S. Malcolm 1/2 (14′)
Pens (4) – S. Malcolm 4/5 (38′, 57′, 61′, 69′)
DG (1) – S. Malcolm 1/1 (77′)
YC (3) – L. Rumball (18′), N. Reid (28′), J. O’Neill (65′)
TEAMS
CHICAGO HOUNDS
1 George Thornton (17 LaRome White 53′), 2 Lindsey Stevens (16 Mason Koch 75′), 3 Charlie Abel (18 Paddy Ryan 53′), 4 Mike Matarazzo, 5 Duke Krishnan (19 Sam Peri 77′), 6 Luke Beauchamp (20 Dacoda Worth 75′), 7 Maclean Jones, 8 Michael de Waal, 9 Michael Baska (21 Sean Yacoubian 75′), 10 Luke Carty, 11 JP Eloff, 12 Billy Meakes, 13 Bryce Campbell (capt.), 14 Mark O’Keeffe (22 Caleb Strum 65′), 15 Chris Mattina
Not used: 23 Kevin Morgan
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Lolani Faleiva (18 Conan O’Donnell 52′), 2 Ramón Ayarza (16 Gene Syminton 75′), 3 Tyler Rowland (17 Nik Hildebrand 75′), 4 Mason Flesch, 5 Adrian Wadden (19 Mike Sheppard 58′), 6 Travis Larsen (23 James O’Neill 62′), 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 8 Mitch Eadie, 9 Ross Braude (21 Will Grant 65′), 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Mitch Richardson, 12 Noel Reid, 13 Tautalatasi Tasi, 14 Avery Oitomen (22 Kobe Faust 65′), 15 Ciaran Breen
Not used: 20 Owain Ruttan
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Marquise Goodwin (USA)
Assistants: Andrew Futerman (USA) & Shawn Bastic (USA)
TMO: Nick Hannon (USA)
