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The Utah Warriors started their 2019 Major League Rugby campaign on a winning note, defeating Austin Elite 17-9 at Dell Diamond on Friday evening. It was a scrappy match with both teams struggling to find continuity and penalties scattered throughout.
A half-break by Tim O’Malley put the Warriors in behind the Austin defense and multiple phases pushed them close to the line. James Semple found Fetu’u Vainikolo circling in off his wing and the Tongan international fired a huge cutout pass to a wide open Ara Elkington. The flanker had enough strength to carry Zinzan Elan-Puttick over the line for a try with less than five minutes on the clock. O’Malley added the extras to make it a perfect seven.
Tim Guillimin would respond in short order for Austin. Utah were caught offside for the first penalty, and a second followed almost immediately when John Cullen was pinged for kicking the all out of a ruck. That seemed to breathe life into the home side but Utah would have the next say.
The forwards went to work from a lineout with Matt Jensen setting the target for a driving maul. Austin had no defense as the Warriors pack drove 20 meters up the pitch before Lance Williams peeled off and in over the line. Another O’Malley conversion put them eight points up.
It looked as though they might carry that lead to the half but Austin got three points back in added time. A huge penalty clearance from Guillimin put them well into Utah territory and then Franco van den Berg was caught ripping the ball away on the deck. Guillimin made no mistake with the kick to make the score 14-9 at the break.
Both teams made replacements at the half. Simon Courcoul come on at loosehead prop for Austin with Chris Schade sliding over to hooker. Utah lost Semple and Saia Uhila to pre-existing injuries with Josh Anderson coming on the wing and new signing Maikeli Naromaitoga coming into the second row.
The giant Fijian made an immediate impact. For 20 minutes Naromaitoga smashed into the Austin line but to their credit the Elite held firm. Eventually his fitness waned and with it his discipline, and Naromaitoga trudged off to the sin bin with 15 minutes to play.
Despite the man advantage it was the Warriors who scored next. O’Malley made good on a penalty kick to make it a two-score game. With time winding down Austin repeatedly opted for the posts instead of the corner. Guillimin missed one kick and then appeared to connect on the second, but the flags mysteriously stayed down. His third attempt to save a bonus point on full time drifted wide of the left upright.
Utah will have a week off until their next regular season fixture in San Diego, but instead of resting they will play an exhibition match against the New England Free Jacks at Salt Lake. Austin must gather their composure and prepare for another home match against the expansion Toronto Arrows next Friday night.
SCORING
AUSTIN 9
Pens – T. Guillimin 3/6 (8’, 11’, 40’)
UTAH 17
Tries – A. Elkington (4’), L. Williams (24’)
Cons – T. O’Malley 2/2 (5’, 25’)
Pens – T. O’Malley 1/1 (73’)
Yellow cards – M. Naromaitoga (65’), L. Williams (79’)
TEAMS
AUSTIN ELITE
1 Chris Schade (16 Brendan Rams 54’), 2 Tiaan Erasmus (23 Simon Courcoul HT), 3 Mason Pedersen, 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Rikus Zwart, 6 Kyle Breytenbach, 7 Dom Bailey (18 Dylan Pieterse 57’), 8 Travis Larsen (18 Dylan Pieterse 12’-14’, 35′-38′), 9 Marcelo Torrealba (20 Mickaël Romera 60’), 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Alex Faison-Donahoe, 12 Sione Fangaiuiha, 13 Zinzan Elan-Puttick, 14 Peni Tagive (21 Reece Czarnecki 21’), 15 Soheyl Jaoudat
Not used: 17 LaRome White, 19 Craig Welborn, 22 Andrew Suniula
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg (18 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa 76’), 2 Logan Daniels (16 Alex Vorster 68’), 3 Angus MacLellan (17 Alex Tucci 72’), 4 Saia Uhila (19 Maikeli Naromaitoga HT), 5 Matt Jensen, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Ara Elkington, 8 John Cullen, 9 Ian Luciano (23 Joseph Nicholls 58’), 10 James Semple (22 Josh Anderson HT), 11 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 12 Tim O’Malley (capt.), 13 Jeremy Misailegalu, 14 Tonata Lauti, 15 Sione Ika (21 Iniki Fa’amausili 63’)
Not used: 20 Kenny Scott
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Pali Deluca (UAR)
Assistants: Derek Summers (USAR) & Lex Weiner (USAR)
