Legion smother Gold’s playoff ambitions

The San Diego Legion dealt a potentially fatal blow to the New Orleans Gold‘s playoff ambitions on Saturday, outscoring their hosts by six tries to three en route to a dominant 39-22 victory at Archbishop Shaw Field. Despite missing numerous first choice players the makeshift Legion were surprisingly cohesive and only rarely looked threatened.

New Orleans struck first with Holden Yungert making the initial break and Tim Maupin finishing it off. The celebrations would be quickly cooled, however, as San Diego struck back immediately through their forwards with Pat Blair the man to get the touchdown.

Next it was the backs who got in on the action. Tadgh Leader landed a penalty and just moments later Ryan Matyas – keen to impress after being left out of the Eagles side – ripped through to score. JP Eloff countered with a penalty but another San Diego try scored by Anthony Salaber on the stroke of halftime put New Orleans in a hole they could not dig themselves out of.

Nick Evans touched down just moments into the second half to seemingly kill of the Gold but there was some life in them yet. Cameron Troxler got one back but it was quickly erased by a Taku Ngwenya try. Eloff broke through to score, alas the Legion again had the answer through their forwards with Nathan Sylvia grabbing his first professional try.

While mathematically still in it, New Orleans will need a lot of help to make the playoffs now. To start they’ll have to beat the Utah Warriors in Salt Lake City next weekend. San Diego are now in fourth place and a win over Austin Elite at Torero Stadium might just be enough to see them into the Semi Finals.

 

SCORING

NEW ORLEANS 22
Tries – T. Maupin (5’), C. Troxler (49’), J. Eloff (61’)
Cons – J. Eloff 2/3 (6’, 50’)
Pens – J. Eloff 1/1 (33’)
Yellow cards – A. Parry (73’)

SAN DIEGO 39
Tries – P. Blair (9’), R. Matyas (23’), A. Salaber (40’), N. Evans (42’), T. Ngwenya (54’), N. Sylvia (67’)
Cons – T. Leader 3/6 (24’, 40’, 55’)
Pens – T. Leader 1/1 (21’)

 

TEAMS

NEW ORLEANS GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens (17 Derrek van Klein 48’ {16 Amro Gouda 58’}), 2 Cam Falcon, 3 Ben Tarr (18 Anthony Parry 55’), 4 Nikola Bursic, 5 John Sullivan, 6 Brennan Falcon, 7 Matt Hughston, 8 Chad Joseph (20 Todd Dupre 62’), 9 Holden Yungert (21 Vita Makasini 55’), 10 JP Eloff (19 Myles McQuone 73’), 11 Joeli Tikoisuva, 12 Taylor Howden (capt.) (22 Peceli Rinakama 69’), 13 Moni Tonga’uiha, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 Cameron Troxler (23 Bobby Johns 59’)

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Sione Tu’ihalamaka 55’), 2 Pat Blair (16 Pat O’Toole 62’), 3 Nathan Sylvia (18 Aaron Mitchell 69’), 4 Nick Grass (20 Sam Peri 16’-21’, 31’), 5 Chris Turori, 6 Devin Short (21 Alec Barton 47’), 7 Derrick Broussard (19 Gil Covey 71’), 8 Drew Gaffney, 9 Nick Boyer (23 Kyle Rogers 78’), 10 Tadhg Leader (capt.), 11 Nick Evans (22 Nick Lupian 71’), 12 Anthony Salaber, 13 Ryan Matyas, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 15 Conor Kearns

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Paul-Henri Courbier (USAR)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (ARU) & Haylee Slaughter (USAR)