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Austin Elite celebrated their first official Major League Rugby home game on Thursday evening with their first win, not just in the regular season but as a franchise. A confident New Orleans side were left grasping for air as the home side pulled away in the final quarter to seal the victory.
There was no question that the Elite were up for this one. Having lost each of the preseason meetings against the Gold in decisive fashion, they came flying out of the gate with Timothée Guillimin sending over two penalty goals in the opening minutes. A try for Ned Hodson came from the relentless pressure and New Orleans were in danger of letting the game slip before it had even begun.
Things got worse before they got better for the Gold. Their talisman Sebastián Kalm was sent reeling on a ferocious Hanco Germishuys charge, and the NOLA No8 was forced off the field clearly feeling the after-effects. Moni Tonga’uiha was summoned to fill the gap, but despite having only seven specialist forwards the Gold somehow found another gear.
JP Eloff hit a well-struck penalty goal to erase the zero and suddenly the momentum shifted dramatically. Back on their heels, Austin’s scrum were driven clean off their own ball and John Sullivan had only to pick and fall over the line for a vital score on the stroke of halftime.
Another blow struck New Orleans at the break as Bobby Johns did not return for the second half after his shoulder took the worst of a hard collision early. Austin seemed to sense an opening and went on the attack. Germishuys opted for the quick tap at a penalty and bowled straight over the defense to stretch the lead to six.
New Orleans couldn’t muster much offensively but their scrum remained a point of dominance. Consecutive no-arms tackles landed Siaosi Finau in the sin bin and with fresh destroyers on the pitch in Hubert Buydens and Ben Tarr, the Gold opted for another set piece. This time Sullivan detached earlier but the result was the same, with Eloff’s extras gave New Orleans an unlikely lead.
That’s where the good news ended for the visitors. Finau returned and back at full strength Austin went on the rampage. Germishuys blasted through the line and showed complete contempt for the would-be tacklers who fell to the side as he touched down under the posts. Moments later it was Hodson’s turn to grab a double, the fullback showing the outside defense a clean pair of heels on a long-range effort. Both were converted by Guillimin.
A futile attempt to come away with a bonus point was repelled by the Austin defense. Despite having played just five days earlier they looked the stronger of the two in the final quarter, with NOLA struggling to find any advantage in the Texas heat.
Austin will have an extra day’s rest this time before heading to Salt Lake to play the Utah Warriors next Friday. New Orleans will also be thankful to have a couple extra days to figure out what went wrong before their own home opener against Seattle on May 12.
SCORING
AUSTIN 30
Tries – N. Hodson 2 (16’, 69’), H. Germishuys 2 (44’, 65’)
Cons – T. Guillimin 2/4 (66’, 70’)
Pens – T. Guillimin 2/3 (2’, 5’)
Yellow cards – S. Finau (51’)
NEW ORLEANS 17
Tries – J. Sullivan 2 (39’, 52’)
Cons – J. Eloff 2/2 (40’, 53’)
Pens – J. Eloff 1/1 (28’)
TEAMS
AUSTIN ELITE
1 Chris Schade, 2 Mike Brown (17 Siaosi Finau HT), 3 Mason Pedersen, 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Victor Comptat (19 Todd Clever 60’), 6 Ross Deacon, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Kyle Breytenbach, 9 Marcus Walsh, 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Sani Taylor, 12 Andrew Suniula (capt.), 13 Roland Suniula, 14 Sione Fangaiuiha, 15 Ned Hodson (18 Robert Drummond 51’-61’)
Not used: 16 David LeMasters, 20 Pat Sullivan, 21 Knute O’Donnell, 22 Alex Faison-Donahoe, 23 Junior Naruma
NEW ORLEANS GOLD
1 Derrek van Klein (17 Hubert Buydens 45’), 2 Eric Howard (18 Ben Tarr 45’), 3 Cam Falcon, 4 Nikola Bursic (16 Amro Gouda 75’), 5 Matt Wirken (19 Myles McQuone 60’), 6 John Sullivan, 7 Matt Hughston, 8 Sebastián Kalm (22 Moni Tonga’uiha 18’), 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Taylor Howden (capt.), 11 Peceli Rinakama, 12 JP Eloff, 13 Zack Stryffeler, 14 Bobby Johns (21 Joeli Tikoisuva HT), 15 Michael Baska
Not used: 20 Vita Makasini, 23 Melvin DeSouza
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Scott Green (USAR)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (ARU) & Butch Neuenschwander (USAR)
Attendance: 698
