Free Jacks leave Gold in the dust at Fort Quincy

The New England Free Jacks made it six wins on the trot as they left the NOLD Gold in the dust with a one-sided 50-3 victory on Sunday. A sold-out crowd at Veterans Memorial Stadium watched as the home side piled on eight tries with none conceded to stretch their lead atop the Eastern Conference table.

An early assault by the Free Jacks was repelled, but it was only the start for what was a long day for the NOLA defense. The pressure stayed on until Mitch Wilson found Paula Balekana with a wide pass and the winger tip-toed down the sideline, taking to the air to ground the ball before being driven into touch.

Sam Fischli put a thumping tackle on Rodney Iona that sent the ball spinning into the grass. Wilson was there to snatch it up and he sped free to score untouched from 60 meters. Jayson Potroz added the extras and it was 12-nil to the home side with as many minutes played.

The told had an opportunity as they waded into New England territory, earning a penalty in front of the posts. Damian Stevens opted to have a shot at goal but he skewed it badly and the flags stayed down. Harley Wheeler then through a reckless pass that ended up in the hands of Le Roux Malan. He found Balekana in support, who chipped ahead for John Poland to regather. As the scrumhalf was being herded over the line he fired a behind-the-back return pass to Balekana to finish a sensational score.

More misfortunate fell on the Gold when Sean Paranihi was binned for a dangerous clearout at a rock. They would win the next penalty, however, giving Stevens another shot at the posts from just over 40 meters. This time he had the accuracy as well as the distance and NOLA had three points on the board.

Malan came within a whisker of scoring on a line break, coming up just short after being tripped up and the Gold cleared to halfway. It wouldn’t be long however before Kyle Ciquera punched over from short range on the end of a multi-phased attack that began at the lineout to clinch the bonus point. The kick from Potroz rang off the left upright and the Free Jacks took a 24-3 lead to the intermission.

It was all New England in the second half. Slade McDowall went clean through the line on first phase from a lineout, with Wayne van der Bank stepping past the last defender to finish off the set move. A scrum set up the next try as Poland broke to the blindside, finding a streaking Reece MacDonald. The fullback skipped past the outstretched arms of Rodney Iona and sent Wilson in for a double.

Another well-rehearsed move saw Wian Conradie attacking the front of a lineout, then executing a give-and-go with Kieran McClea to finish the long-range run-in himself. The final say would go to local hero Cam Davidowicz on a strong run from in close under the sticks to bring up the half-century.

New England can clinch top spot in the East with a bonus-point win at home over the Toronto Arrows next Saturday. NOLA will have a bye week to ruminate over their situation, knowing that they need to win each of their last three games to have any chance of making the postseason.

SCORING

NEW ENGLAND 50
Tries (8) – P. Balekana 2 (9′, 19′), M. Wilson 2 (12′, 52′), K. Ciquera (28′), W. van der Bank (48′), W. Conradie (69′), C. Davidowicz (77′)
Cons (5) – J. Potroz 4/7 (13′, 20′, 49′, 53′), No kick (77′)

NOLA 3
Pens (1) – D. Stevens 1/2 (25′)
YC (1) – S. Paranihi (22′)

TEAMS

NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Kyle Ciquera (17 Foster DeWitt 49′), 2 Mills Sanerivi (16 James Hilterbrand 58′), 3 Joel Hintz (18 Cole Keith 49′), 4 Conor Keys, 5 Reegan O’Gorman, 6 Sam Fischli (19 Cam Davidowicz 49′), 7 Slade McDowall (20 Joe Johnston 70′), 8 Wian Conradie, 9 John Poland (21 Kieran McClea 55′), 10 Jayson Potroz, 11 Paula Balekana, 12 Le Roux Malan (22 Spencer Jones 55′), 13 Wayne van der Bank*, 14 Mitch Wilson (capt.) (23 Zach Bastres 55′), 15 Reece MacDonald

*13 Wayne van der Bank left the field at the 74 minute mark and was not replaced

NOLA GOLD
1 Kevin Sullivan (17 Matt Harmon 49′), 2 Pat O’Toole (16 Eric Howard 58′), 3 Sean Paranihi (18 Jarred Adams HT), 4 William Waguespack (19 Giovanni Lapp 58′), 5 Liam Hallam-Eames, 6 Malcolm May (18 Jarred Adams 31′-32′), 7 Moni Tonga’uiha (capt.), 8 Tom Florence (20 Alex Lopeti 56′), 9 Damian Stevens (21 Sebastiano Villani 56′), 10 Rodney Iona (22 Reece Botha 70′), 11 Aaron Matthews, 12 JP du Plessis, 13 Ross Depperschmidt, 14 Harley Wheeler (23 Jack Webster 67′), 15 Dougie Fife

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Joe James (England)
Assistants: Amelia Luciano (USA) & Mike Rudzinsky (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)

Attendance: 3,442