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Make it four in a row for San Diego. The Legion romped to a 45-17 win over Austin Elite at Dell Diamond on Friday evening. In doing so they jump to first overall on the Major League Rugby table though New Orleans have a game at hand.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to make their mark as JP du Plessis ran through a half-gap just four minutes in after the scrum had won a penalty advantage. Austin fired back with a Mickaël Romera penalty goal but the game would have a very different feel by the time the Elite scored again.
Dean Muir took the short route from the side of a maul after the pack had done the hard yards for a second try. A third came from Devin Short, on hand to take the offload from du Plessis into the corner. The bonus point was wrapped up when Nate Augspurger picked off Romera’s flat pass on the goal line to fall over for an easy try.
Austin had one more attack left in them before halftime and to their credit it was a good one. They moved into striking position and then a hard line from Ben Mitchell put the captain straight through the middle and in for a seven pointer to breath a hint of optimism into Elite fans.
Faka’osi Pifeleti snuffed out the last remaining ideas of a comeback just seconds after coming on the pitch as a replacement early in the second half. He powered over from close range and there was little left to play for but pride for Austin.
A bit of magic from Josh Larsen saw the Canadian lock throw a luxurious miss-pass to his winger before following up the move to take the return pass in for a try. It came with Austin down a man as Dylan Pieterse had not yet returned to the pitch from a yellow card.
Dylan Audsley sent over a penalty goal and a minute later Save Totovosau was over after a huge break from Augspurger put the Legion on the doorstep. Audsley had one more crack off the tee from beyond halfway but fell short and the game would fizzle out with no further scoring.
Austin will relish the mercy of a bye week after dropping their fifth straight to start the season. They return for their first away match against the Glendale Raptors on March 9. San Diego also have next weekend off and will prepare for the arrival of the Toronto Arrows at Torero Stadium on March 10.
SCORING
AUSTIN 17
Tries – B. Mitchell (37’), J. Larsen (62’)
Cons – M. Romera 1/1 (38’), T. Guillimin 1/1 (63’)
Pens – M. Romera 1/1 (7’)
Yellow cards – D. Pieterse (52’)
SAN DIEGO 45
Tries – J. du Plessis (4’), D. Muir (23’), D. Short (27’), N. Augspurger (34’), F. Pifeleti (46’), S. Totovosau (70’)
Cons – J. Pietersen 5/5 (5’, 24’, 28’, 35’, 47’), D. Audsley 1/1 (71’)
Pens – D. Audsley 1/2 (69’)
TEAMS
AUSTIN ELITE
1 Simon Courcoul (18 Chris Schade HT), 2 Tiaan Erasmus (16 Peter Malcolm 32’), 3 Juan Echeverría (17 Brendan Rams 60’), 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Dom Bailey, 7 Rikus Zwart (19 Dylan Pieterse 48’), 8 Kyle Breytenbach, 9 Mickaël Romera (20 Marcelo Torrealba 60’), 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Soheyl Jaoudat (23 Reece Czarnecki 70’), 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Sione Fangaiuiha (22 Andrew Suniula 76’), 14 Peni Tagive (21 Alex Faison-Donahoe 48’), 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia (17 Faka’osi Pifeleti 45’), 2 Dean Muir, 3 Paddy Ryan (18 Aaron Mitchell 54’), 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Psalm Wooching (16 Sione Tu’ihalamaka 66’), 7 Devin Short (20 Alec Barton 70’), 8 Drew Gaffney (19 Siaosi Mahoni 60’), 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.) (21 Tai Enosa 60’), 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 JP du Plessis (23 Nick Lupian 66’), 13 Dylan Audsley, 14 Jasa Veremalua (22 Savenaca Totovosau 51’), 15 Kyle Rogers
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Moe Chaudhry (RC)
Assistants: Scott Green (USAR) & Kat Roche (USAR)
