Arrows earn bonus point win over Warriors

Recap

The Toronto Arrows made it five wins in a row as they took a 28-21 bonus point victory over the Utah Warriors at Lamport Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Wind and rain made for poor handling the conditions with only brief moments of respite over the 80 minutes.

Utah controlled the early stages of the match. From an attacking lineout they inched ahead until Arthur Bergo spun out of a tackle to fall on the line just two minutes in. Tim O’Malley converted to make it a full seven.

The two sides jostled for territory until a scrum penalty gave the Arrows a platform for points. After turning down a shot at the posts, they went through the phases until Morgan Mitchell powered through with Sam Malcolm’s extras evening the score.

A handling miscue cost Toronto five points before the break. Jeremy Misailegalu picked up a loose pass and sped away for a try. O’Malley send over a penalty and the Warriors pushed ahead by 15-7.

The momentum shifted just before halftime. Saia Uhila’s lazy return line disrupted Malcolm with the Arrows on the front foot and earned the Utah lock 10 minutes in the bin. A huge push at the scrum nearly earned a penalty try itself but Andrew Ferguson, on early for an injured Jamie Mackenzie, broke to the short side and put Johnny Sheridan in for a much-needed seven points.

Despite being shorthanded the Warriors got the first score in the second half. Huluholo Mo’ungaloa was first over the ball and survived the clearout to win the penalty. O’Malley duly obliged with the three.

The Arrows scrum was doing a number on the Warriors. After a lineout drive was stopped short Lance Williams won a turnover but the call came loose and a 5-meter put-in was awarded to Toronto. One reset later, the referee went under the posts to award the penalty try and give the Arrows their first lead.

Utah had a try on their mind but settled for a third penalty from Tim O’Malley to draw it even. They came back for more immediately afterwards but the Arrows defense held and Guiseppe du Toit’s long clearance bought some breathing room.

Josh Reeves sent his own kick long but Dan Moor was there to catch it. He lobbed it back over the line and the bounce was kind, pinning Utah back on their own goal-line. Moor then sparked the counter-attack from the clearance kick, and as the Arrows cycled through the phases Spencer Jones broke clear on the left side and dove over for the bonus point try.

With Utah in control in the dying minutes the Arrows defense stood tall. They drove the Warriors back onto their heels and eventually pushed them back through their own in-goal. The referee blew full-time and Toronto celebrated the end of a difficult week that saw them play three games in eight days.

SCORING

TORONTO 28
Tries – M. Mitchell (21’), J. Sheridan (38’), Penalty try (56’), S. Jones (76’)
Cons – S. Malcolm 3/3 (22’, 39’, 77’)

UTAH 21
Tries – A. Bergo (2’), J. Misailegalu (29’)
Cons – T. O’Malley 1/2 (3’)
Pens – T. O’Malley 3/3 (33’, 44’, 68’)
Yellow cards – S. Uhila (36’)

TEAMS

TORONTO ARROWS
1 Pat Lynott (17 Rob Brouwer 50’), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Steven Ng 71’), 3 Morgan Mitchell (18 Cole Keith 58’), 4 Mike Sheppard, 5 Tom van Horne (19 Paul Ciulini 50’), 6 John Moonlight, 7 Peter Milazzo, 8 Luke Campbell (20 Kolby Francis 77’), 9 Jamie Mackenzie (21 Andrew Ferguson 36’), 10 Sam Malcolm (capt.), 11 Kainoa Lloyd, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Spencer Jones, 14 Johnny Sheridan (22 Dan Moor 50’), 15 Gastón Mieres (23 Patrick Parfrey 68’)

UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg (19 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa 22’), 2 Jeremy Leber, 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Matt Jensen, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Ara Elkington, 8 Arthur Bergo (20 John Cullen 65’), 9 Johnny Ika, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 12 Tim O’Malley, 13 Gannon Moore, 14 Jeremy Misailegalu, 15 Don Pati

Not used: 16 Alex Tucci, 17 Blake Burdette, 18 Kenny Scott, 21 Josh Anderson, 22 Josh Whippy, 23 Joseph Nicholls