Arrows blow through Old Glory at Segra Field

The Toronto Arrows came away from Segra Field with a dominant 29-5 over Old Glory DC on Saturday afternoon. It restores Toronto’s record to an even 2-2 while DC slip to a winless 0-4.

An early intercept saw Ueta Tufuga breaking away but the support went off their feet and the Arrows squandered a scoring opportunity. Old Glory would own possession for the next 15 minutes, and when Toronto’s defense lost their discipline the DC forwards drove over from a lineout with Rob Irimescu getting credit for the try.

The Arrows fired straight back. They won the restart and Old Glory’s defense was too slow to react. Gastón Mieres entered the line and freed Matthew Hood down the right side, who in turn popped off the deck to Lucas Rumball for five points. The wind pushed Sam Malcolm’s conversion attempt wide of the posts, just as it had earlier for Rohan Saifoloi.

It wasn’t long before the Arrows were knocking on the door again. After the forwards pushed Old Glory back to their goal line, scrumhalf Ross Braude found a gap beside a ruck to squeeze over. During the act Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz was shown on camera with a swinging arm to the head of Rumball, which forced the Arrows flanker from the pitch. The officials only warned him for a push, and one suspects there may be a word from the citing officer after the game.

Before halftime would come the visitors would score again. In fact it came with five minutes after time had expired. Toronto opted for a scrum instead of points and their ambition paid off. Again it was the forwards to did the hard work, and this time it was skipper Mike Sheppard who reached over the line to ground the ball from close range. Malcolm’s extras made it 19-5.

Fa’anana-Schultz was in hot water again early in the second half with a shove on Tomás de la Vega off the ball, and this time the referee had seen enough and the eightman was sent to the bin to cool off. With a man short Old Glory’s defense left a gaping hole beside a ruck and Cole Keith needed no second invitation, the prop running in untouched from 20 meters.

James O’Neill looked to have scored a near-identical try soon after but the TMO mysteriously determined that he was standing in front of the ball. The bemused Arrows shrugged it off and switched to cruise control for the final quarter, with a Malcolm’s penalty goal bringing the game to a sluggish conclusion.

Old Glory will travel from coast-to-coast to take on the San Diego Legion next Sunday. Toronto has a week off before returning on March 12 to play the New England Free Jacks in Boston.

 

SCORING

DC 5
Tries – R. Irimescu (16′)
Cons – R. Saifoloi 0/1
YC – J. Fa’anana-Schultz (42′)

TORONTO 29
Tries – L. Rumball (18′), R. Braude (25′), M. Sheppard (40’+5′), C. Keith (48′)
Cons – S. Malcolm 3/4 (26′, 40’+5′, 49′)
Pens – S. Malcolm 1/1 (80′)

 

TEAMS

OLD GLORY DC
1 Jack Iscaro (18 Jack Carroll 63′), 2 Rob Irimescu (16 Mo Katz 63′), 3 Kyle Stewart (17 Jake Ilnicki 63′), 4 Api Naikatini (19 Fintan Coleman 55′), 5 Stan South, 6 Luke Campbell (20 Dom Bailey 53′), 7 Cory Daniel, 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 9 Danny Tusitala (capt.), 10 Rohan Saifoloi, 11 Doug Fraser (23 LJ Koi-Larbi 75′), 12 William Talataina, 13 Renata Roberts-Te Nana, 14 Peni Lasaqa, 15 Owen Sheehy (22 Junior Sa’u 55′)

Not used: 21 Danny Thomas

TORONTO ARROWS
1 Cole Keith (17 Lolani Faleiva 66′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Jack McRogers 67′), 3 Isaac Salmon (18 Marc-Antoine Ouellet 67′), 4 Mike Sheppard (capt.), 5 Paul Ciulini, 6 Kyle Baillie (19 Adrian Wadden 67′), 7 Lucas Rumball (20 James O’Neill 26′), 8 Tomás de la Vega (22 Ronan Foley 55′), 9 Ross Braude (21 Chris Bell 69′), 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Brock Webster, 12 Spencer Jones, 13 Ueta Tufuga (23 Mitch Richardson 66′), 14 Matthew Hood, 15 Gastón Mieres

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)
Assistants: Gavin McCandless (USA) & Aaron Davis (USA)
TMO: Amelia Luciano (USA)