San Diego rolls over Austin in Round Rock

photo credit: Norma Salinas / Austin Elite Rugby

Recap

Make it four in a row for San Diego. The Legion romped to a 45-17 win over Austin Elite at Dell Diamond on Friday evening. In doing so they jump to first overall on the Major League Rugby table though New Orleans have a game at hand.

It didn’t take long for the visitors to make their mark as JP du Plessis ran through a half-gap just four minutes in after the scrum had won a penalty advantage. Austin fired back with a Mickaël Romera penalty goal but the game would have a very different feel by the time the Elite scored again.

Dean Muir took the short route from the side of a maul after the pack had done the hard yards for a second try. A third came from Devin Short, on hand to take the offload from du Plessis into the corner. The bonus point was wrapped up when Nate Augspurger picked off Romera’s flat pass on the goal line to fall over for an easy try.

Austin had one more attack left in them before halftime and to their credit it was a good one. They moved into striking position and then a hard line from Ben Mitchell put the captain straight through the middle and in for a seven pointer to breath a hint of optimism into Elite fans.

Oti Pifeleti snuffed out the last remaining ideas of a comeback just seconds after coming on the pitch as a replacement early in the second half. He powered over from close range and there was little left to play for but pride for Austin.

A bit of magic from Josh Larsen saw the Canadian lock throw a luxurious miss-pass to his winger before following up the move to take the return pass in for a try. It came with Austin down a man as Dylan Pieterse had not yet returned to the pitch from a yellow card.

Dylan Audsley sent over a penalty goal and a minute later Save Totovosau was over after a huge break from Augspurger put the Legion on the doorstep. Audsley had one more crack off the tee from beyond halfway but fell short and the game would fizzle out with no further scoring.

 

SCORING

AUSTIN 17
Tries – B. Mitchell (37’), J. Larsen (62’)
Cons – M. Romera 1/1 (38’), T. Guillimin 1/1 (63’)
Pens – M. Romera 1/1 (7’)
Yellow cards – D. Pieterse (52’)

SAN DIEGO 45
Tries – J. du Plessis (4’), D. Muir (23’), D. Short (27’), N. Augspurger (34’), O. Pifeleti (46’), S. Totovosau (70’)
Cons – J. Pietersen 5/5 (5’, 24’, 28’, 35’, 47’), D. Audsley 1/1 (71’)
Pens – D. Audsley 1/2 (69’)

 

TEAMS

AUSTIN ELITE
1 Simon Courcoul (18 Chris Schade HT), 2 Tiaan Erasmus (16 Peter Malcolm 32’), 3 Juan Echeverría (17 Brendan Rams 60’), 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Dom Bailey, 7 Rikus Zwart (19 Dylan Pieterse 48’), 8 Kyle Breytenbach, 9 Mickaël Romera (20 Marcelo Torrealba 60’), 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Soheyl Jaoudat (23 Reece Czarnecki 70’), 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Sione Fangaiuiha (22 Andrew Suniula 76’), 14 Peni Tagive (21 Alex Faison-Donahoe 48’), 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia (17 Faka’osi Pifeleti 45’), 2 Dean Muir, 3 Paddy Ryan (18 Aaron Mitchell 54’), 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Psalm Wooching (16 Sione Tu’ihalamaka 66’), 7 Devin Short (20 Alec Barton 70’), 8 Drew Gaffney (19 Siaosi Mahoni 60’), 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.) (21 Tai Enosa 60’), 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 JP du Plessis (23 Nick Lupian 66’), 13 Dylan Audsley, 14 Jasa Veremalua (22 Savenaca Totovosau 51’), 15 Kyle Rogers

 

Result

TeamTCPDBPPoints
Austin Elite221017
San Diego Legion6610145

Austin Elite

1Simon Courcoul 18 Loosehead Prop
2Tiaan Erasmus 16 Hooker
3Juan Echeverría 17 Tighthead Prop
4Ben Mitchell Left Lock
5Josh Larsen Right Lock
6Dom Bailey Openside Flanker
7Rikus Zwart 19 Blindside Flanker
8Kyle Breytenbach Number Eight
9Mickaël Romera 20 Scrumhalf
10Timothée Guillimin Flyhalf
11Soheyl Jaoudat 23 Left Wing
12Andrés Vilaseca Inside Center
13Sione Fangaiuiha 22 Outside Center
14Peni Tagive 21 Right Wing
15Zinzan Elan-Puttick Fullback
16Peter Malcolm 2 Hooker
17Brendan Rams 3 Tighthead Prop
18Chris Schade 1 Loosehead Prop
19Dylan Pieterse 7 Blindside Flanker
20Marcelo Torrealba 9 Scrumhalf
21Alex Faison-Donahoe 14 Right Wing
22Andrew Suniula 13 Outside Center
23Reece Czarnecki 11 Left Wing

San Diego Legion

1Nathan Sylvia 17 Loosehead Prop
2Dean Muir Hooker
3Paddy Ryan 18 Tighthead Prop
4Louis Stanfill Left Lock
5Keni Nasoqeqe Right Lock
6Psalm Wooching 16 Blindside Flanker
7Devin Short 20 Openside Flanker
8Drew Gaffney 19 Number Eight
9Nate Augspurger Scrumhalf
10Joe Pietersen 21 Flyhalf
11Ryan Matyas Left Wing
12JP du Plessis 23 Inside Center
13Dylan Audsley Outside Center
14Jasa Veremalua 22 Right Wing
15Kyle Rogers Fullback
16Sione Tu’ihalamaka 6 Blindside Flanker
17Faka’osi Pifeleti 1 Loosehead Prop
18Aaron Mitchell 3 Tighthead Prop
19Siaosi Mahoni 8 Right Lock
20Alec Barton 7 Openside Flanker
21Tai Enosa 10 Flyhalf
22Save Totovosau 14 Right Wing
23Nick Lupian 12 Inside Center

Officials

Referee
Moe Chaudhry (Canada)
Assistant Referee 1
Scott Green (USA)
Assistant Referee 2
Kat Roche (USA)

Details

Date Time League Season
February 22, 2019 8:00 pm Major League Rugby 2019

Venue

Dell Diamond
3400 E Palm Valley Blvd, Round Rock, TX 78665, USA

Video

Brazil Name Loaded Roster for Hong Kong Tour

Emiliano Caffera has named a 28-man roster to represent Brazil in November. As part of the annual November Internationals, Os Tupis will play two away test matches against Hong Kong. The roster contains 17 forwards and 11 backs. Hong Kong and Brazil are both chasing spots at Rugby World Cup …

Read More »

Powerful Spain roster to face Teros and Eagles

Pablo Bouza has named a 42-man extended Spain roster for their upcoming test series against Uruguay, Fiji, and the USA. The ex-Pumas forward will have a large contingent of his France-based professionals available as the Leones begin preparations for next year’s World Cup qualifiers. Giant Toulouse prop Joël Merkler returns …

Read More »

Chile Trim Roster for November Internationals

Chile has trimmed down the size of its roster from 32 to 25 players. Pablo Lemoine’s Cóndores will play test matches against Canada and the Netherlands and face Scotland ‘A’ in an uncapped fixture. As was the case at Rugby World Cup 2023, flanker Martín Sigren leads his country. He is …

Read More »

South American 7’s 2024 – Day One Results

South American Men’s and Women’s Rugby Champions will be crowed in Villa María del Triunfo, Peru on Sunday. Day two of the 2024 South American (SAR) Sevens sees Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Colombia in the Semi Finals of the Women’s tournament and Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Paraguay in the Men’s …

Read More »

MLR trio in Tonga squad for November tests

Tonga have named a 30-man squad to travel north next month for their tests series against Romania, the USA, and Georgia. Included are Miami Sharks prop Tau Koloamatangi, San Diego Legion flanker Tupou Afungia, and NOLA Gold winger Taniela Filimone. The Ikale Tahi will square off against the Eagles in …

Read More »