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RFC Los Angeles are winless no longer. The SoCal outfit earned their first victory of the campaign with a hard-fought 35-29 over Seattle on Saturday night. It was the visitors who held a slender lead at halftime, but LA hit their stride in the second half as the Seawolves salvaged two bonus points in defeat.
Dane Zander was binned just two minutes into the contest for a high tackle, but it would be another four minutes before Eddie Fouché landed a penalty goal. A try would soon from from Duncan Matthews, who raced into the corner on the end of a miss-out pass from Rodney Iona. LA looked for all money to have a try after Billy Meakes broke free, but Gonzalo Bertranou knocked on with the line at his mercy.
At last a score for the home side came when skipper Jason Damm reached out of a tackle to score, closing the gap to three points. His counterpart Riekert Hattingh went over on the short side of a ruck to restore Seattle’s lead, but moments after the restart Rory van Vugt broke to the outside and worked a give-and-go with Bertranou with the fullback touching down to leave it 17-14 to the Seawolves after 40 minutes.
Hattingh turned villain with a high shot on Christian Dyer resulting in a yellow card, but the disadvantage didn’t concern Seattle. Divan Rossouw’s wide pass put Malacchi Esdale in space, and the winger’s brilliant backhanded offload back to Rossouw resulted in a try for the Seawolves.
Two touches from Andrew Coe on an attack that started at halfway brought LA within three points, the Canadian winger both starting and finishing the move. The high rate of attack continued but it would take another dozen minutes until the pressure yielded a score to Declan Leaney from close range to five the home side their first lead.
Seattle looked set to fire straight back but a loose ball at a ruck deep in LA territory cost them dearly. The home side went from end-to-end with Ben Houston doing the finishing, all but putting a bow on the result. There was still time to take bonus points and Brock Gallagher’s break resulted in a try to Esdale with time up on the clock, the missed conversion from Iona academic.
Los Angeles travels to New Orleans next Saturday to face the Gold. Seattle returns home for another Western Conference clash against the Utah Warriors on the same day.
| SCORING |
LOS ANGELES 35
Tries (5) – J. Damm (25′), R. van Vugt (38′), A. Coe (56′), D. Leaney (68′), B. Houston (74′)
Cons (5) – C. Leali’ifano 5/5 (26′, 39′, 57′, 69′, 75′)
YC (2) – D. Zander (2′), F. van den Berg (80′)
SEATTLE 29
Tries (4) – D. Matthews (12′), R. Hattingh (36′), D. Rossouw (48′), M. Esdale (80′)
Cons (3) – E. Fouché 2/2 (13′, 37′), R. Iona 1/2 (49′)
Pens (1) – E. Fouché 1/1 (6′)
YC (1) – R. Hattingh (42′)
| LINEUPS |
RFC LOS ANGELES
1 Dane Zander (17 Declan Leaney 49′), 2 Mike Sosene-Feagai (16 Ben Sugars 51′), 3 Maliu Niuafe (18 Franco van den Berg 57′), 4 Jason Damm (capt.), 5 Jurie van Vuuren (20 Ben Strang 60′), 6 Tim Anstee, 7 Ed Timpson (17 Declan Leaney 2′-12′), 8 Ben Houston (19 Mikaea Wynyard 75′), 9 Gonzalo Bertranou (21 Tas Smith 69′), 10 Christian Leali’ifano, 11 Andrew Coe, 12 Billy Meakes, 13 Nick Chan (22 Sean Nolan 63′), 14 Christian Dyer (23 Seth Purdey 49′), 15 Rory van Vugt
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Cameron Orr (17 Dewald Donald 69′), 2 Kerron van Vuuren (16 Dewald Kotze 69′), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss (18 Mason Pedersen 45′), 4 Rhyno Herbst, 5 Malembe Mpofu (19 Isaia Lotawa 57′), 6 Huw Taylor, 7 Devin Short (20 Pago Haini 75′), 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith (21 Brock Gallagher 69′), 10 Eddie Fouché (22 David Busby 45′-57′, 69′), 11 Malacchi Esdale, 12 Rodney Iona, 13 Divan Rossouw, 14 Lauina Futi (23 Jade Stighling 30′), 15 Duncan Matthews
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, March 15
Venue: Wallis Annenberg Stadium, Los Angeles
Kickoff: 19:00 local
Weather: clear, 59°F (15°C), wind S 3-5mph (5-8km/h)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Peter Pender (Canada)
Assistants: Chris Assmus (Canada) & Austin Reed (USA)
TMO: Cam Russell (Canada)
| HIGHLIGHTS |
