Late try saves NOLA in sold out Toronto debut

Recap

A last-minute try from Ignacio Dotti stole a 35-31 victory for the NOLA Gold over the Toronto Arrows on Sunday afternoon. More than 3,000 fans attended the first ever Major League Rugby match on Canadian soil and they were treated to an absorbing contest at York University’s Alumni Field.

New Orleans were rocked by a try in the opening minute as Arrows captain Dan Moor burst through a gap and sped into the corner. Sam Malcolm landed the conversion into a tricky breeze for an early seven point lead much to the delight of the partisan crowd.

The celebrations would be short-lived, however, as NOLA responded with a try of their own. A mistake on the restart handed possession to the Gold, and after securing the lineout they went through several phases of attack before Tim Maupin went over in the corner. He couldn’t ground the ball, but the cover tackle from Spencer Jones was high and a penalty try was awarded. Avery Oitomen was incorrectly singled out as the culprit and would serve the 10 minutes instead of Jones.

Toronto would concede two tries while shorthanded. The first saw JP Eloff unmarked on the left side, the fullback stepping past the cover. A second came just two minutes later as Malcolm’s telegraphed cut-out pass was picked off by Tristan Blewett for an easy run-in under the posts.

The Arrows scrum was on the ascendancy and penalties earned an attacking lineout. It wasn’t pretty but Toronto managed to hold on to the ball, and another speculative pass from Malcolm this time found its intended target in Gastón Mieres, narrowly eluding the outstretched arm of Eloff. Mieres made the corner but this time Malcolm’s kick pushed past the uprights.

Eric Howard was a familiar face for many in attendance having previously played for the Ontario Blues, and he would bring some smiles with a try using strong leg drive and a little help from Ben Tarr. Shortly after the restart Oitomen was clobbered by Kyle Baillie and the Gold lock was sent to the bin.

It seemed as though Toronto had blown their chances of scoring first with a wild pass from Mieres that found the sidelines instead of a teammate, then a botched lineout throw within meters of the Gold line. Eloff couldn’t clear his lines, however, and at last the overlap was exploited with Mieres dancing his way into the left corner.

The home side came out fired up in the second half. Andrew Ferguson showed surprising strength to drive in under Canada teammates Baillie and Howard from close range. Next it was Morgan Mitchell who wrestled into the corner despite the attention of two NOLA backs.

From there it was a stalemate with the Arrows pressing but unable to convert territorial advantage into points. When NOLA finally got sustained possession they were forced to attack from their own end. They made slow advances until a soft penalty at halfway gave them an attacking lineout. Toronto held out as long as they could until at last Dotti’s pick-and-reach beat the post defense to the line.

SCORING

TORONTO 31
Tries – D. Moor (1’), G. Mieres 2 (25’, 39’), A. Ferguson (45’), M. Mitchell (53’)
Cons – S. Malcolm 3/5 (2’, 40’, 46’)
Yellow cards – A. Oitomen (7’)

NOLA 35
Tries – Penalty try (7’), J. Eloff (11’), T. Blewett (13’), E. Howard (31’), I. Dotti (79’)
Cons – J. Eloff 4/4 (12’, 14’, 32’, 80’)
Yellow cards – K. Baillie (34’)

TEAMS

TORONTO ARROWS
1 Rob Brouwer (17 Tom Dolezel 71’), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Steven Ng 75’), 3 Morgan Mitchell (18 Cole Keith 55’), 4 Mike Sheppard, 5 Paul Ciulini (19 Kolby Francis 71’), 6 John Moonlight (20 Marcello Wainwright 63’), 7 Peter Milazzo, 8 Lucas Rumball, 9 Andrew Ferguson (21 Jamie Mackenzie 50’), 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Dan Moor (capt.), 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Spencer Jones, 14 Avery Oitomen (22 Kainoa Lloyd 63’), 15 Gastón Mieres (23 Theo Sauder 50’)

NOLA GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens (18 Kevin Sullivan 60’), 2 Eric Howard (capt.), 3 Ben Tarr (17 Cam Falcon 48’), 4 Kane Thompson (19 Ignacio Dotti HT), 5 Kyle Baillie, 6 Nikola Bursic (20 Moni Tonga’uiha 54’), 7 Kevin O’Connor (21 Zack Stryffeler 54’), 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Holden Yungert (22 Michael Baska 60’), 10 Scott Gale, 11 Shawn Riley, 12 Con Foley, 13 Tristan Blewett, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 JP Eloff

Not used: 16 James Irey, 23 Cameron Troxler