Raptors roll over Warriors at Rio Tinto

The Glendale Raptors showed their class with a convincing 42-15 win over the Utah Warriors at Rio Tinto Stadium on Friday evening. While the home side were no doubt disappointed with the result, the impressive crowd of nearly 9,200 in attendance will ease their concerns after their first ever match under the Major League Rugby banner.

It was the Warriors who got on the board first as the Whippy brothers – Josh and Jared – combined to open up the Glendale defense with Ben Nicholls on hand to take the scoring pass from his halfback partner for the night. The kicking did not go as well for Jared, who somehow pulled the routine conversion to the right of the posts. He would end the night 0-for-4 from the tee.

A reply came slower than expected. Angus MacLellan was binned for killing the ball in a scoring position and with Utah down their Eagles prop the scrum fell under immense pressure. Despite several dominant Raptors drives somehow Utah won a penalty and were able to clear their lines.

At last the score came for Glendale. A wide pass from Max de Achaval on a counter-attack put Mika Kruse into space and the 19-year-old beat Tonata Lauti on the outside to race away for a 40 meter finish.

John Ryberg was next to find the line after Kory Olsen saw yellow for a dangerous tackle. Harley Davidson nearly broke through and popped off the deck to a supporting de Achaval. The fullback fed a lovely one-handed shovel pass out of the tackle to put Ryberg in under the sticks. The Warriors got more bad news when flanker Jackson Kaka was forced off with a dislocated shoulder.

With Glendale now in full stride Kruse nearly got a double, stepping and striding to within a couple meters of the line. Utah’s defense were caught napping as John Quill burst onto a short ball from Shaun Davies to make it three tries before the break. Will Magie’s conversion, his third on a perfect day at the office, made it 21-5 and the hopes of the new Warriors faithful were fading.

Utah managed to claw one back just on the stroke of halftime. Some indiscipline from Glendale put the Warriors in scoring position. After a couple pick-and-drives inched them closer Lance Williams, on for Kaka, blasted through the fringe defense to score a hard-earned try.

The Raptors came out firing in the second half. Soft hands from Quill put de Achaval into the corner untouched. Possession and territory both heavily favored the visitors but handling errors let them down until the match crept into the final quarter. It was de Achaval over again after a bit of magic from Davies and Magie open a gap on the blindside.

Josh Anderson finished well after an out-the-backdoor flip pass from Josh Whippy put the winger into space for a consolation score. It was Magie who would have the final say, with a dummy pass and a step inside the cover to end a professional performance from the men in yellow.

Glendale will head east during the week to wrap up their preseason plans against New York Athletic Club at Travers Island. For the Warriors it’s another Friday night at Rio Tinto as they welcome Canada’s newest high performance side – the Ontario Arrows – to the Salt Lake State.

 

SCORING

UTAH 15
Tries – B. Nicholls (2’), L. Williams (40’), J. Anderson (67’)
Cons – Ja. Whippy 0/3
Pens – Ja. Whippy 0/1
Yellow cards – A. MacLellan (7’), K. Olsen (20’)

GLENDALE 42
Tries – M. Kruse (17’), J. Ryberg (22’), J. Quill (34’), M. de Achaval 2 (45’, 62’), W. Magie (74’)
Cons – W. Magie 6/6 (18’, 23’, 35’, 46’, 63’, 75’)
Yellow cards – P. Dahl (69’)

 

TEAMS

UTAH WARRIORS
1 Alex Tucci, 2 Lote Tu’ipulotu, 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Matt Jensen, 5 Kory Olsen, 6 Jackson Kaka, 7 Ara Elkington, 8 Saia Uhila (co-capt.), 9 Ben Nicholls, 10 Jared Whippy, 11 Tonata Lauti, 12 Paul Lasike (co-capt.), 13 Tana Afeaki, 14 Josh Anderson, 15 Josh Whippy

Replacements: 16 Ray Forrester, 17 Maika Hafoka, 18 Wineera Elkington, 19 Lance Williams, 20 Kendrick Scott, 21 Don Pati, 22 AJ Tu’ineau, 23 Iniki Fa’amausili

GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Blake Rogers, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Kelepi Fifita, 4 Casey Rock, 5 Ben Landry, 6 Connor Cook, 7 John Quill, 8 Peter Dahl, 9 Shaun Davies (capt.), 10 Will Magie, 11 John Ryberg, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Mika Kruse, 14 Harley Davidson, 15 Maximo de Achaval

Replacements: 16 James Del Bozque, 17 Luke White, 18 Nick Kwasniewski, 19 Grigor Kerdikoshvili, 20 Brian Wanless, 21 Jake Christmann, 22 Ata Malifa, 23 Nick Johnson

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Chris Assmus (RC)

 

Attendance: 9,186