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The New England Free Jacks took their first steps towards defending their Major League Rugby crown with a hard-fought 24-17 bonus point win over RFC Los Angeles on Saturday. It was a highly physical encounter with both sides throwing everything at each other, but ultimately the scramble defense of the champions prevented the home side from taking the spoils.
Jed Melvin opened the scoring just three minutes in when the flanker hauled in a wild pass from Gonzalo Bertranou and sprinted 50 meters to score. Christian Leali’ifano got LA on the board almost 10 minutes later with a penalty goal, but what looked a certain try for a flying Tim Anstee down the right sideline was denied at the last moment by a brilliant cover tackle from Harrison Boyle.
Bertranou made up for his earlier mistake on the end of a slick attacking sequence from the home side that ended with an offload off the deck from Andrew Coe to his scrumhalf. Paula Balekana then matched Boyle’s effort when he chased down Matias Jensen. Cronan Gleeson saw yellow for collapsing a driving maul, giving the Free Jacks an automatic seven points for the penalty try and a 14-10 halftime lead.
Two tries in the opening minutes of the second half left the home side 14 points adrift. Le Roux Malan’s grubber off the left foot bounced up perfectly for Balekana to score in the left corner, and then Wayne van der Bank touched down on the right side on the end of a series of phases after John Poland turned down a routine shot at goal.
Leali’ifano got one back for LA when he broke on the edge of a ruck and reached out from a tackle to ground the ball on the line. His conversion secured the bonus point, but that would end his team’s scoring. A yellow card to Isaac Olson for a deliberate knock-on left the Free Jacks down a man for the final 10 minutes, and they were further reduced when Melvin was sent off for a late shoulder to the head of Anstee. The defense held, however, and the Free Jacks won a turnover that sealed LA’s fate.
It’s a week off for New England, who return to action with a road match against the Chicago Hounds on March 2nd. Los Angeles have another home game next Sunday against the Houston SaberCats.
| SCORING |
LOS ANGELES 17
Tries (2) – G. Bertranou (19′), C. Leali’ifano (56′)
Cons (2) – C. Leali’ifano 2/2 (20′, 57′)
Pens (1) – C. Leali’ifano 1/1 (12′)
YC (1) – C. Gleeson (37′)
NEW ENGLAND 24
Tries (4) – J. Melvin (3′), Penalty try (37′), P. Balekana (42′), W. van der Bank (48′)
Cons (2) – J. Poland 1/3 (4′), No kick (37′)
YC (1) – I. Olson (70′)
RC (1) – J. Melvin (78′)
| LINEUPS |
RFC LOS ANGELES
1 Alessandry Heaney (17 Declan Leaney 49′), 2 Ben Sugars (16 Mike Sosene-Feagai 49′), 3 Cronan Gleeson (18 Maliu Niuafe 47′), 4 Jason Damm (capt.), 5 Reegan O’Gorman (19 Matt Heaton 52′), 6 Tim Anstee (18 Maliu Niuafe 40′-47′), 7 Ed Timpson (20 Ben Strang 73′), 8 Ben Houston, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou (21 Tas Smith 78′), 10 Christian Leali’ifano (23 Seth Purdey 69′), 11 Andrew Coe, 12 Nick Chan, 13 Matias Jensen, 14 Christian Dyer (22 Billy Meakes HT), 15 Cam Gerlach
NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Malakai Hala-Ngatai (17 Foster DeWitt 69′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Connal McInerney 60′), 3 Kaleb Geiger (18 Cole Keith 70′), 4 Piers von Dadelszen, 5 Sam Caird, 6 Jed Melvin, 7 Joe Johnston (capt.), 8 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 9 John Poland (21 Oscar Lennon 58′), 10 Harrison Boyle (23 Josiah Morra 76′), 11 Paula Balekana, 12 Le Roux Malan, 13 Wayne van der Bank, 14 Isaac Olson, 15 Simon-Peter Toleafoa
Not used: 19 Matt Carrion, 20 Kaipono Kayoshi, 22 Noah Bain
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, February 15
Venue: Wallis Annenberg Stadium, Los Angeles
Kickoff: 18:00 local
Weather: partly cloudy, 59°F (15°C), wind NW 3-4mph (5-6km/h)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Derek Summers (USA)
Assistants: Mike Lawrenson (USA) & Austin Reed (USA)
TMO: Saro Turner (Canada)
| HIGHLIGHTS |
