Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
The Hounds scored a resounding 38-21 road win over the Gold on Saturday. While NOLA held the lead until early in the second half, two cards – one of them red – in a span of three minutes killed their momentum and allowed Chicago to dominate the final half-hour of the contest.
An early stalemate ended after penalties conceded by Chicago gave up field position. Rodney Iona found the corner to set up an attacking lineout. The maul broke up but Augusto Bohme emerged up the middle to crash over for the opening score. Iona’s conversion made it’s a full seven to the Gold.
NOLA had the early advantage in the scrum, but the Hounds were starting to find their shape with ball in hand. Billy Meakes hit James Scott with a flat pass on the gainline and the big lock rumbled through two tackles to score. The kick from Adriaan Carelse was pushed just left of the uprights.
Another long touch-finder from Iona put Chicago back on their heels, but they stopped the maul and managed to kick downfield. Luke Campbell returned fire with a 50-22, only to see Mason Flesch steal the throw-in to foil another attack. A third was thwarted by the referee’s whistle when he ruled that Matt Harmon had angled in to gain ascendancy at a 5-meter scrum.
Just before halftime Ed Fidow put the crowd on their feet with a stunning counterattack that started deep inside his own end. The big winger beat the challenge of Meakes and connected with Campbell. Dougie Fife was on hand to deliver a return pass to Fidow for the finish. Iona nailed the extras from out wide to make it 14-5 to the home side after 40 minutes.
An overcooked kickoff gave the Hounds an attacking lineout on halfway to start the second half. This time they worked up the field with their forwards until Ignacio Péculo went over from close range. A mistake at the restart, however, gave possession straight back to the Gold and seconds later Campbell spotted a gap on the post to race over for a third NOLA try.
Paddy Ryan subbed on for Péculo and had barely been on the pitch when the big prop won a turnover at the breakdown. Carelse found the corner and the forwards did the rest with Dylan Fawsitt getting credit at the end of the maul. The kick from Carelse brought the Hounds back to within two points.
Disaster then struck the Gold at the next restart. Sean Paranihi was shown red after the TMO spotted the prop’s knee making contact with the head of a prone Lucas Rumball. Three minutes later Fife saw yellow for a high tackle on Nate Augspurger, reducing NOLA to just 13 men. It wasn’t long before Fawsitt was over for his double on the end of another lineout drive.
Chicago kept the pressure on with a line break from Augspurger, and Luke White was held up over the line. A surging run from Brad Tucker down the sideline was stopped just short. Still down a man, NOLA could only hold out for so long and this time it was Janus Venter steering the maul to grab a try on debut.
Ryan was binned for backchat a few minutes later but the Hounds retained their dominance. At another attacking throw-in Scott landed to set the maul, but with no defense in sight he casually sauntered over for his second try. One final chance at a bonus point for the Gold fizzled out with a knock-on.
Both teams return to action next Sunday. The Gold will look for a better effort on a tough road trip to San Diego, while the Hounds will look to build on their success at home against Anthem Carolina.
| SCORING |
NOLA 21
Tries (3) – A. Böhme (13′), E. Fidow (40′), L. Campbell (44′)
Cons (3) – R. Iona 3/3 (14′, 40’+1′, 45′)
YC (1) – D. Fife (57′)
RC (1) – S. Paranihi (54′)
CHICAGO 38
Tries (6) – J. Scott 2 (22′, 78′), I. Péculo (42′), D. Fawsitt 2 (52′, 57′), J. Venter (69′)
Cons (4) – A. Carelse 4/6 (43′, 53′, 58′, 70′)
YC (1) – P. Ryan (72′)
| LINEUPS |
NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon (17 Bart Vermeulen 53′), 2 Augusto Böhme (16 Ale Lopeti 58′), 3 Sean Paranihi (18 James Irey 74′), 4 Callum Botchar, 5 William Waguespack, 6 Malcolm May (19 Fintan Coleman 46′ {18 James Irey 55′-74′} {20 Osaiasi Tonga’uiha 74′}), 7 Moni Tonga’uiha (capt.), 8 Jonah Mau’u (19 Fintan Coleman 19′-28′), 9 Luke Campbell, 10 Rodney Iona, 11 Ed Fidow, 12 JP du Plessis (22 Reece Botha 60′), 13 Ross Depperschmidt, 14 Taniela Filimone, 15 Dougie Fife
Not used: 21 Sebastiano Villani, 23 Jack Webster
CHICAGO HOUNDS
1 Charlie Abel, 2 Dylan Fawsitt (16 Janus Venter 64′), 3 Ignacio Péculo (18 Paddy Ryan 47′), 4 Mason Flesch (23 Brad Tucker 60′), 5 James Scott, 6 Ben Landry (20 Conall Boomer 53′), 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Maclean Jones (19 Luke White 58′), 9 Nick McCarthy (21 Michael Baska 63′), 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Billy Meakes (capt.), 13 Mark O’Keeffe (22 Caolan Dooley 66′), 14 Noah Brown (3 Ignacio Péculo 74′), 15 Dave Kearney
Not used: 17 Fred Apulu
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, April 6
Venue: The Gold Mine, Metairie
Kickoff: 15:00 local
Weather: sunny, 80°F (26°C), wind SE 11-17mph (18-27km/h)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: George Myers (Australia)
Assistants: Federico Anselmi (Argentina) & Ian Seaton (USA)
TMO: Greg Gilliam (USA)
| HIGHLIGHTS |
