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Utah opened their 2025 Major League Rugby campaign with a strong showing on the road, stopping the Hounds by a final score of 45-31. Two tries from Joe Mano and an impressive Warriors debut for D’Angelo Leuila contributed to the result, which ultimately wasn’t decided until the final minutes of the contest.
The Warriors came flying out of the gates. A penalty near midfield gave Leuila a chance to find the corner with his touch-finder. Liam Coltman broke from the maul and barged in for the first try just two minutes in. More penalties conceded by Chicago put the visitors back on the doorstep soon after, and this time Blake Makiri had just enough room down the sideline to finish in the corner. Leuila nailed the extras to make it 14-nil.
Chicago got back in the game when Nate Augspurger somehow emerged from a tackle with the ball and slipped through under the posts. Moments later, however, Leuila picked out a wide open Mano with a cross-kick and the Augspurger effort was erased. The Hounds forwards rolled up their sleeves and went to work, with Mason Flesch muscling over from in close before newly-minted centurion Dylan Fawsitt evened the scores on the end of a lineout drive.
On the other side of the half Chicago took the lead for the first time when Mitch Short broke to an unguarded short side of a ruck. A controversial moment came when the TMO ruled that a Charlie Abel tackle on Jordan Trainor was worthy of a red card, stepping above the referee’s initial assessment. Utah took an immediate benefit at the scrum, winning the ball against the head. On the next sequence Spencer Jones burst through a gap, with Matt Jensen following up to crash in for a try.
The lead went back to the Warriors when Jones snapped up a loose pass from Chicago’s midfield and sprinted 50 meters untouched to score. Adriaan Carelse and Leuila exchanged penalty goals, before a a skewed drop goal attempt from Leuila. Paul Lasike was summoned from the bench and made two strong carries, leading the way for Mano to come infield looking for work and speed through a gap to seal the win and deny the Hounds a second bonus point.
Next Saturday will see the Warriors celebrating their home opener against the NOLA Gold. Chicago stay put to take on the defending champion New England Free Jacks on Sunday.
| SCORING |
CHICAGO 31
Tries (4) – N. Augspurger (12′), M. Flesch (19′), D. Fawsitt (26′), M. Short (44′)
Cons (4) – No kick (12′), A. Carelse 3/3 (20′, 27′, 45′)
Pens (1) – A. Carelse 1/1 (63′)
RC (1) – C. Abel (46′)
UTAH 45
Tries (6) – L. Coltman (2′), B. Makiri (6′), J. Mano 2 (14′, 79′), M. Jensen (50′), S. Jones (58′)
Cons (6) – D. Leuila 6/6 (3′, 7′, 15′, 51′, 59′, 80′)
Pens (1) – D. Leuila 1/1 (66′)
DG (0) – D. Leuila 0/1
| LINEUPS |
CHICAGO HOUNDS
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (18 Ignacio Péculo 45′), 2 Dylan Fawsitt (16 Jackson Zabierek 69′), 3 Charlie Abel (17 Liam Fletcher 66′), 4 James Scott, 5 Hamish Bain (17 Liam Fletcher 48′-66′), 6 Mason Flesch (19 Conall Boomer 66′), 7 Maclean Jones (20 Luke White 59′), 8 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 9 Mitch Short (21 Michael Baska 59′), 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Ollie Devoto, 13 Bryce Campbell (23 Noah Flesch 69′), 14 Noah Brown, 15 Ben Pollack
Not used: 22 Sam Walsh
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Aki Seiuli (17 Fred Apulu 63′), 2 Liam Coltman (16 Phil Bradford 63′), 3 Tonga Kofe (18 Angus MacLellan 47′), 4 Matt Jensen (19 Bailey Wilson 59′), 5 Gavin Thornbury (capt.), 6 Frank Lochore, 7 Kalisi Moli (20 Tyler Wong 71′), 8 Dylan Nel, 9 Logan Crowley (21 Zion Going 63′), 10 D’Angelo Leuila, 11 Joe Mano, 12 Spencer Jones (22 Paul Lasike 66′), 13 Kyle Brown, 14 Blake Makiri (23 Nic Benn 59′), 15 Jordan Trainor
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Sunday, February 23
Venue: SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview
Kickoff: 13:00 local
Weather: partly cloudy, 40°F (4°C), wind SW 11-16mph (18-26km/h)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Lex Weiner (USA)
Assistants: Peter Pender (Canada) & Shanda Assmus (Canada)
TMO: Mike Kelly (USA)
| HIGHLIGHTS |
