NOLA score messy win over Utah

It sure wasn’t pretty, but the NOLA Gold got the job done. The home side scored outscored the Utah Warriors four tries to three to secure a 28-19 win at home and take away an important five points from a match that could easily have gone sour.

Jeremy Leber stepped in at halfback with Johnny Ika caught in the ruck, but instead of finding Saia Uhila his pass landed in the open arms of Tristan Blewett, and the speedster had nothing but grass between him and the tryline. JP Eloff’s routine conversion gave the Gold an ideal start.

The league’s best team was well short of its best, however. Sloppy play at the lineout and a lack of urgency handed several opportunities to the Warriors and NOLA were lucky the visitors failed to take full advantage. Just after the hydration break it was Cam Dolan who crossed from short range after the maul had come up short.

NOLA’s mistakes continued and James Semple breached the line with the help of two tight forwards. Holden Yungert was there to stop Tonata Lauti from scoring but Hubert Buydens cynically took Semple off the ball at the ruck and earned a 10-minute spell on the sideline. The Warriors scrum got the shove on and Ika showed his strength to dive in under Nick Feakes for the try.

The scrum set the platform for Utah’s second try which came just after the Gold returned to a full complement. A flat pass from Josh Reeves found Josh Whippy and the stand-in outside center, who had replaced Gannon Moore before kickoff, stepped out of Tim Maupin’s tackle and hit the accelerator to score a seven-pointer.

Instead of building on the momentum, however, Utah late the game slip by conceding a soft try immediately after. Blewett swerved into a half-gap and his offload found Eloff, and with Semple caught in no-man’s land it was an easy finish for NOLA’s fullback.

The Warriors didn’t give up and Lance Williams crashed over from in close to make things interesting. Again it was the defense that let them down. This time it came directly from first phase as Scott Gale slipped through and offloaded to Michael Baska, who in turn popped to Taylor Howden for a clear run-in under the sticks.

It’s off to Seattle next Sunday for the Gold, whose lead at the top of the table is now 10 points though there are still three games to come this weekend. Utah will swing north to Coney Island for a match against Rugby United New York on Saturday.

 

SCORING

NEW ORLEANS 28
Tries – T. Blewett (3’), C. Dolan (23’), J. Eloff (53’), T. Howden (70’)
Cons – J. Eloff 4/4 (4’, 24’, 54’, 71’)
Yellow cards – H. Buydens (37’)

UTAH 19
Tries – J. Ika (39’), J. Whippy (50’), L. Williams (64’)
Cons – T. O’Malley 2/3 (51’, 65’)

 

TEAMS

NOLA GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens (18 Kevin Sullivan 47’), 2 Eric Howard (capt.), 3 Cam Falcon (16 Matt Harmon 53’), 4 Kane Thompson (19 Billy Stewart 62’), 5 Ignacio Dotti (20 Moni Tonga’uiha 61’), 6 Nikola Bursic, 7 Zack Stryffeler (18 Kevin Sullivan 37’-47’) (21 John Sullivan 65’), 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Holden Yungert (22 Michael Baska 61’), 10 Scott Gale, 11 Nick Feakes (23 Taylor Howden 65’), 12 Con Foley, 13 Tristan Blewett, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 JP Eloff

Not used: 17 Kavika Peniata

UTAH WARRIORS
1 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa (17 Franco van den Berg HT), 2 Jeremy Leber, 3 Angus MacLellan (20 Alex Tucci 20’-24’, 62’), 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Matt Jensen, 6 Lance Williams (18 Tom Kacor 69’), 7 Ara Elkington, 8 Les Soloai (19 Kenny Scott 62’), 9 Johnny Ika, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Josh Anderson (21 Nolan Tuamoheloa 55’), 12 Tim O’Malley (capt.), 13 Josh Whippy, 14 Tonata Lauti (22 Jeremy Misailegalu 78’), 15 James Semple

Not used: 16 Metai Tu’imoala, 23 Joseph Nicholls

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Paul-Henri Courbier (USAR)
Assistants: Scott Green (USAR) & Allen Alongi (USAR)