Legion recover from poor start to beat Arrows for win record

The Legion recovered from a poor start in Toronto to brush aside the Arrows by a final score of 50-17 on Sunday. San Diego remarkably trailed 17-7 at the intermission, but put in a try-scoring clinic in the second half to both clinch the Western Conference title and set a new Major League Rugby record for most regular season wins with 14 eclipsing the mark set by New England last year.

Toronto were dealt a blow just a minute in when tighthead prop Tyler Rowland was helped from the field with what appeared to be a knee injury. It was all San Diego in the opening quarter but determined defense from the home side held out until Shilo Klein crossed from a lineout drive just before the hydration break.

Some possession finally came to the Arrows and they enjoyed a 10-minute stretch of dominance against their jet-lagged guests. Lucas Rumball crossed from close range, with Shane O’Leary converting before adding a penalty goal. Mitch Richardson then beat Marcel Brache on the outside, with Peter Nelson toeing ahead for Will Grant to score on the stroke of halftime.

Whatever was said during the break did the trick as the Legion came out breathing fire to start the second half. Nate Augspurger went over in the corner after just a minute to close the gap, then came two tries in quick succession from Tomas Aoake and Tupou Afungia.

The final quarter would yield four more tries for the Legion. Richard Judd finished off a long breakout before Tiaan Loots blasted over on first phase from a lineout. A pair of Mikey Te’o breaks were finished off by Aoake, with his second, and Luke Burton. Toronto had one opportunity in the half but Mason Flesch was held up over the line to the dismay of the partisan crowd.

Rugby ATL will travel to Toronto next Saturday for the final game of the season for both teams. San Diego return home to host the Seattle Seawolves on Sunday in what could well be a preview of the Western Conference Final in two weeks’ time.

 

SCORING

TORONTO 17
Tries (2) – L. Rumball (32’), W. Grant (40’+2’)
Cons (2) – S. O’Leary 2/2 (33’, 40’+3’)
Pens (1) – S. O’Leary 1/1 (38’)
YC (1) – I. Salmon (68’)

SAN DIEGO 50
Tries (8) – S. Klein (17’), N. Augspurger (41’), T. Aoake 2 (50’, 73’), T. Afungia (54’), R. Judd (64’), T. Loots (69’), L. Burton (76’)
Cons (5) – W. Hooley 2/4 (18’, 51’), L. Burton 3/4 (65’, 70’, 74’)
YC (1) – N. Sylvia (80’)

 

TEAMS

TORONTO ARROWS
1 Connor Grindal (17 Conan O’Donnell 78′), 2 Tyler Wong (16 Jack McRogers 31′), 3 Tyler Rowland (18 Isaac Salmon 1′), 4 Mason Flesch, 5 Mike Sheppard (19 Hank Stevenson 47′), 6 Lucas Rumball (capt.) (20 James O’Neill 68′), 7 Owain Ruttan (17 Conan O’Donnell 68′-78′), 8 Travis Larsen, 9 Will Grant (21 Ross Braude 51′), 10 Peter Nelson, 11 Dawson Fatoric, 12 Liam Bowman, 13 Mitch Richardson, 14 D’Shawn Bowen (22 Tautalatasi Tasi 45′), 15 Shane O’Leary (23 Sam Malcolm 51′)

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Djustice Sears-Duru HT), 2 Shilo Klein (16 Sama Malolo 70′), 3 Luke Green (18 Nathan Sylvia 60′), 4 Ben Grant, 5 Tom Franklin (19 Chris Turori 59′), 6 Christian Poidevin, 7 Dan Pryor (21 Michael Smith 65′), 8 Tevita Tameilau (20 Tupou Afungia 47′), 9 Richard Judd (23 Ryan Matyas 65′), 10 Will Hooley (22 Luke Burton 55′), 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Tiaan Loots, 13 Marcel Brache (capt.), 14 Tomas Aoake, 15 Mikey Te’o

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Kat Roche (USA)
Assistants: Peter Pender (Canada) & Clint Lemkus (Canada)
TMO: Andrew Hosie (Canada)