Gold celebrate road win over slow-starting Seawolves

NOLA Gold secured their first win of the season as they scraped by the Seattle Seawolves by a final score of 25-24 at Starfire Stadium on Friday night. The home side recovered from a poor start to the game but ultimately let a second-half lead slip away in the dying moments.

It was under three minutes when the Gold got on the clock. Seattle’s scrum crumbled at the first engagement and Carl Meyer took the three points earned by his forwards. A second scrum penalty soon after provided field position and then an offside saw Meyer add three more points.

Four minutes later it was Meyer’s boot again to the front with a long-range effort to make it 9-nil for the visitors. When Seattle finally got an attacking throw-in, Cam Dolan got up quickest to spoil the opportunity and the Gold cleared their lines.

JP Smith took it upon himself to raise the tempo and put his team on the front foot. Seattle turned down a chance at the posts for a kick to the corner, but when their initial attacks were repelled AJ Alatimu finally settled for three points off the tee.

The Seawolves set piece continued to struggle but they began to build momentum with ball in hand. Alatimu landed his second penalty to close the gap. It was erased almost instantly, however, as Meyer punished ill-discipline with his fourth successful kick of the half.

Alatimu had a chance to respond soon after but his kick sailed past the uprights. Meyer was more clinical, landing his fifth penalty after the NOLA scrum again got the better of their opposites. At halftime the score stood 15-6 in favor of the visitors.

Dolan was left baffled by a call from the officials early in the second half that resulted in Alatimu knocking over a penalty kick to make it a one-score game. The pendulum swung firmly towards the Seawolves near the hour mark when Riekert Hattingh broke down the short side from a wheeled scrum and sprinted 40 meters untouched to score. Alatimu’s conversion gave the home side their first lead of the game.

The Gold came roaring back and scored a try of their own soon after. Ignacio Dotti was the target at the lineout, and Seattle failed to read the maul shifting to the right with Moni Tonga’uiha crossing for the try. Meyer tacked on the extras to make it a three point game.

This time the lead would be short-lived. Martin Iosefo broke down the left sideline, and then Alatimu spotted space on the right. His cross-kick bounced up perfectly for Ross Neal and the big winger carried two defenders over the line with his arm reaching out to ground the ball.

With the clock ticking towards full-time the Seattle scrum was penalised for an early engage, which handed Meyer a chance to put NOLA back in the lead. His faultless performance off the kicking tee continued. The Seawolves pressed for a score but with time expired Jared Whippy was isolated and Devin Short was there to pounce for a turnover that clinched a golden victory.

Both teams are on the road in Texas next Saturday. NOLA head to Choctaw Stadium to take on the Dallas Jackals. The Seawolves will regroup before their match against the SaberCats in Houston.

 

SCORING

SEATTLE 24
Tries – R. Hattingh (58′), R. Neal (71′)
Cons – A. Alatimu 1/2 (59′)
Pens – A. Alatimu 4/5 (21′, 28′, 45′, 64′)

NOLA 25
Tries – M. Tonga’uiha (66′)
Cons – C. Meyer 1/1 (67′)
Pens – C. Meyer 6/6 (3′, 8′, 12′, 30′, 40′, 78′)

 

TEAMS

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Mzamo Majola (17 Dewald Donald 78′), 2 Augusto Böhme (16 Mike Brown 68′), 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Brad Tucker (18 Samu Manoa 68′), 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Ben Landry, 7 Nakai Penny (20 Travis Larsen 77′), 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 AJ Alatimu (22 Jared Whippy 76′), 11 Martin Iosefo, 12 Tavite Lopeti (23 Lauina Futi 78′), 13 Dan Kriel, 14 Ross Neal, 15 Duncan Matthews

Not used: 19 Taniela Tupou, 21 Reid Watkins

NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon (17 Kevin Sullivan 60′), 2 Pat O’Toole (16 Eric Howard 60′), 3 Brian Nault (18 Dino Waldren 51′), 4 Cam Dolan (capt.), 5 Billy Stewart (19 Ignacio Dotti 53′), 6 Maciu Koroi (20 Malcolm May 65′), 7 Devin Short, 8 Moni Tonga’uiha, 9 Damian Stevens (21 Devereaux Ferris 65′), 10 Robbie Coleman, 11 Nick Feakes, 12 JP du Plessis, 13 Juan Cappiello (22 Aaron Matthews 72′), 14 Harley Wheeler (23 Ross Depperschmidt 65′), 15 Carl Meyer

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Paulo Duarte (Portugal)
Assistants: Chris Assmus (Canada) & Brad Schwalger (Canada)
TMO: Shanda Assmus (Canada)