Austin defeat Utah in MLR slugfest

Recap

Austin Elite gave their Major League Rugby Semi Finals chances a significant boost by earning a bonus point win over the visiting Utah Warriors on Friday evening. The 41-33 result saw 10 tries in all scored, five from each side, with a frantic final quarter seeing 30 of the game’s 74 points scored.

Alex Faison-Donahoe got Austin off to an ideal start as he picked off an errant Saia Uhila pass and ran the length of the field for a try against the run of play. Timothée Guillimin couldn’t land the conversion from a tough angle but slotted a penalty soon after to give the Elite a two-score lead.

The Warriors responded almost immediately. Lance Williams broke clear to put them in scoring position and then the ball was shifted wide to set up Tonata Lauti in a one-on-one with Zinzan Elan-Puttick. The winger showed off his best tap-dancing moves as he froze the Austin fullback just enough to reach over for the try.

Elan-Puttick made amends just five minutes later. Sani Taylor ripped through the line and after a quick recycle a huge cut-out ball from Guillimin found his fullback’s hands for the try.

The back-and-forth continued with AJ Tu’ineau bashed his way over for a seven-pointer, and Austin replied through Pedrie Wannenburg, the former Springbok piling over off the back of a dominant scrum. Austin took the 20-12 lead into the break and it wouldn’t be long before they were on the board again.

It was Elan-Puttick again with his name in the headlights with a try just seconds after the intermission, and Marcus Walsh slipped through in double-quick time to suddenly stretch the gap to 20 points. It was as if the spirit of Utah was five minutes late coming out from the changing room.

To their credit, the Warriors would not let the game slip away without a fight. After 20 minutes of a grueling stalemate in the heat, David Tameilau took the offload from brother Maka in for a score. Guillimin sent over two penalty goals to ensure the win.

The Warriors still have time to earn the bonus point, however, and replacement hooker Ray Forrester was the man to cross the chalk for the vital fourth try. Another penalty from Guillimin and a try from Iniki Fa’amausili wrapped up the scoring.

SCORING

AUSTIN 41
Tries – A. Faison-Donahoe (5’), Z. Elan-Puttick 2 (17’, 41’), P. Wannenburg (34’), M. Walsh (43’)
Cons – T. Guillimin 2/5 (35’, 42’)
Pens – T. Guillimin 4/5 (11’, 67’, 70’, 75’)

UTAH 33
Tries – T. Lauti (12’), A. Tu’ineau (29’), D. Tameilau (64’), R. Forrester (71’), I. Fa’amausili (76’)
Cons – J. Linehan 2/3 (30’, 65’), B. Nicholls 1/1 (72’, 76’)
Pens – J. Linehan 0/1

TEAMS

AUSTIN ELITE
1 Chris Schade, 2 Mike Brown (17 Siaosi Finau 66’), 3 Paddy Ryan (18 Robert Drummond 71’), 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Victor Comptat, 6 Kyle Breytenbach, 7 Hanco Germishuys (23 Ross Deacon 48’), 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 9 Marcus Walsh (21 Knute O’Donnell 73’), 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Sani Taylor, 12 Andrew Suniula (capt.), 13 Roland Suniula (20 Ned Hodson 38’), 14 Alex Faison-Donahoe (22 Zac Mizell 66’), 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick

Not used: 16 David LeMasters, 19 Junior Naruma

UTAH WARRIORS
1 Lote Tu’ipulotu (20 Ray Forrester 59’), 2 Tino Mafi (16 Alex Tucci HT), 3 Angus MacLellan (17 Maka Tameilau 62’), 4 Matt Jensen, 5 John Cullen (19 David Tameilau 49’), 6 Lance Williams (18 Kenny Scott 62’), 7 Ara Elkington, 8 Saia Uhila, 9 Joseph Nicholls, 10 Jonny Linehan (23 Ben Nicholls 68’), 11 Fetu’u Vainikolo (21 Josh Anderson HT), 12 Paul Lasike (capt.), 13 AJ Tu’ineau, 14 Tonata Lauti, 15 Kisa Kalougata (22 Iniki Fa’amausili 45’)