San Diego holds on for road win over NOLA

Recap

The San Diego Legion held off a desperate NOLA Gold in the final minutes to secure an important 26-19 victory at Gold Stadium on Saturday. A 70th-minute try from Tai Enosa proved the winner as the Legion took the first meeting between the top two sides to slip into first overall.

First blood went to the visitors. From an attacking scrum on the left side, JP du Plessis charged ahead and then Jordan Manihera was stopped just inches short. Joe Pietersen’s pass missed its target but Save Totovosau was there to scoop it up, standing up Scott Gale with a shimmy to cross for the try.

NOLA returned fire, a trend that would continue until the last moments of the match. Gale nearly slipped through himself as the Gold attacked off a lineout. Cam Dolan spotted the post defense cheating and didn’t need a second invitation, picking through the opening and sliding over to draw the scores level.

Next it was San Diego’s turn, with Mike Te’o holding the outside defense long enough to put Nick Boyer into the corner. Like clockwork New Orleans responded. A huge counter from JP Eloff set the stage, and Eric Howard connected with Dolan. The big eightman drew in two cover defenders and offloaded to Tristan Blewett to leave it dead even at the intermission.

A no-look pass from Nate Augspurger put du Plessis over just two minutes into the second half. Blewett erased the score with a terrific finish on a long kick-ahead from Nick Feakes. A wicked bounce eluded Will Holder and Blewett turned Boyer inside-out to dive in under the sticks.

Enosa’s moment came with the defense tiring. The veteran playmaker had replaced an injured Pietersen and filled the role to perfection. As Ignacio Dotti drifted across, nobody filled the inside gap and a hard step off the left was all it took for Enosa to beat the second row and speed through for the game winner.

SCORING

NEW ORLEANS 19
Tries – C. Dolan (17’), T. Blewett 2 (35’, 54’)
Cons – J. Eloff 0/1, S. Gale 2/2 (36’, 55’)

SAN DIEGO 26
Tries – S. Totovosau (7’), N. Boyer (27’), J. du Plessis (42’), T. Enosa (70’)
Cons – J. Pietersen 2/3 (28’, 43’), W. Holder 1/1 (71’)

TEAMS

NOLA GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens (18 Kevin Sullivan 44’), 2 Eric Howard (capt.) (16 Kavika Peniata 66’), 3 Matt Harmon (17 Cam Falcon 55’), 4 Kane Thompson (19 Billy Stewart 55’), 5 Nikola Bursic (20 Moni Tonga’uiha 49’), 6 Ignacio Dotti, 7 Zack Stryffeler (21 Kevin O’Connor 72’), 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Scott Gale, 11 Nick Feakes, 12 Con Foley, 13 Tristan Blewett (22 Michael Baska 58’), 14 Tim Maupin, 15 JP Eloff (23 Joeli Tikoisuva 36’)

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Nathan Sylvia HT), 2 Kapeli Pifeleti (16 Pat Blair 60’), 3 Paddy Ryan (18 Dino Waldren 61’), 4 Louis Stanfill (20 Drew Gaffney HT), 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Psalm Wooching, 7 Jasa Veremalua, 8 Jordan Manihera (19 Siaosi Mahoni 68’), 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.) (21 Tai Enosa 46’), 11 Save Totovosau (22 Will Holder HT), 12 Conor Kearns, 13 JP du Plessis, 14 Nick Boyer, 15 Mike Te’o

Not used: 23 Nick Lupian