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A 79th minute try gave Nick Feakes his hat trick and New Orleans the win as the Gold overcome the snows of Utah to beat the Warriors 21-19 on Saturday evening. Just as we saw in Glendale, Zions Bank Stadium was a winter wonderland with the players forced to front up in freezing conditions.
The Warriors went on the attack early and got their rewards as Lance Williams drove over from close range. JP Eloff replied with a pair of penalty goals to break up the momentum but Franco van van den Berg showed his strength to get over after Josh Whippy was stopped short on two attempts at the line.
Kane Thompson was binned for a swinging arm on Logan Daniels in the build-up, but instead it was NOLA who scored next despite being down a man. Feakes was left alone out wide and simple hands put him into the corner.
Utah would receive their own yellow when Jeremy Misailegalu took out Eloff in the air. The resulting space in the backline was all the Gold needed to put Feakes in for his second just before halftime.
The Warriors regained the lead on the hour mark. Their lineout drive pushed them close but the ball popped loose. Daniels was quickest to react, the Utah hooker getting help from Ara Elkington to make it over the line.
With the Gold now pressing and time winding down Williams was sent to the sidelines for team infringements. NOLA opted for a scrum and Scott Gale through a huge miss-pass straight to Feakes who had just enough room to make the corner before Whippy could arrive. The conversion was no good but time was up.
NOLA will get to defrost next weekend as they have another bye before their road game against the Houston SaberCats on March 16. Utah will be hoping the shovels aren’t required for their home game against Rugby United New York on Friday evening.
SCORING
UTAH 19
Tries – L. Williams (6’), F. van den Berg (24’), L. Daniels (59’)
Cons – T. O’Malley 2/3 (7’, 25’)
Yellow cards – J. Misailegalu (37’), L. Williams (78’)
NEW ORLEANS 21
Tries – N. Feakes 3 (27’, 39’, 79’)
Cons – J. Eloff 0/3
Pens – J. Eloff 2/2 (17’, 20’)
Yellow cards – K. Thompson (24’)
TEAMS
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Logan Daniels (16 Blake Burdette 63’), 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Matt Jensen, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Ara Elkington, 8 John Cullen, 9 Johnny Ika, 10 James Semple, 11 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 12 Tim O’Malley (capt.), 13 Jeremy Misailegalu, 14 Tonata Lauti, 15 Josh Whippy
Not used: 17 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa, 18 Jackson Kaka, 19 Kenny Scott, 20 Alex Tucci, 21 Nolan Tuamoheloa, 22 Josh Anderson, 23 Ian Luciano
NEW ORLEANS GOLD
1 Kevin Sullivan (17 Cam Falcon 53’), 2 Eric Howard (capt.), 3 Ben Tarr (16 Matt Harmon 68’), 4 William Waguespack (19 Moni Tonga’uiha 53’), 5 Billy Stewart, 6 John Sullivan, 7 Zack Stryffeler, 8 Kane Thompson, 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Scott Gale, 11 Nick Feakes, 12 Con Foley, 13 Taylor Howden (22 Bobby Johns 60’), 14 Tristan Blewett, 15 JP Eloff
Not used: 18 Mason Briant, 20 Kevin O’Connor, 21 Michael Baska, 23 Shawn Riley
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Scott Green (USAR)
Assistants: Lex Weiner (USAR) & Kage Green (USAR)
Attendance: 1,477
