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The LA Giltinis secured an emphatic 57-26 victory over the Seattle Seawolves at the Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. By halftime the visitors had already been steamrolled out of the game by the home side’s pack to the tune of 38-7, with the gap 43 points when LA rang the changes early in the second half.
Within five minutes of kickoff LA had already touched down twice. Charlie Abel scored on a rolling maul and then Luke White crashed over with Matt Giteau converting the second of the two.
Seattle pushed back but their hosts held out and were quickly back at the other end of the park with Harrison Goddard finding his way over the line. Giteau again was accurate to make it 19-nil.
A second opportunity for the Seawolves was taken after Mahe Vailanu was shown yellow for side entry at a maul. From the ensuing scrum George Barton bashed ahead and Riekert Hattingh caught the LA defense napping on the short side for a seven pointer.
The Giltinis would double their score before halftime. Adam Ashley-Cooper secured the bonus point with a charge-down of a JP Smith clearance attempt just short of the half-hour mark. Ryan James was next to cross talking an offload from Ashley-Cooper, and then Goddard followed up a rampaging White to grab his second try of the afternoon.
Goddard was gifted a hat trick early in the second half when the LA scrum pushed Seattle clean over the line, with No8 Adam Ashe leaving the ball for his scrumhalf to take the credit. A minute after Giteau’s conversion the half-century was up on the board as Angus Cottrell barged over for yet another try.
Signs of life appeared in Seattle’s ranks when James Malcolm entered the fray. The new hooker found Hattingh in the lineout and then fell on the ball when the maul crossed the line. A second for Malcolm came just five minutes later in near identical fashion.
Cottrell was binned for a cynical penalty deep in his own territory and Seattle made the most of the numerical advantage. Yet again it was Malcolm on the back of the maul, and for a third time in just 9 minutes the Scotsman was in over the line.
The Giltinis would have the final say. After a Blake Rogers burst through the line brought them inside the Seattle 22, the forwards kept the pressure on until Cottrell stretched out of a tackle to grab his second. Luke Carty converted to close out the scoring.
Both teams will enjoy bye weeks before returning to action on Saturday, April 10. LA will head to Atlanta to play the Toronto Arrows at their temporary home base. Seattle face another West Conference rival with another road match against the Utah Warriors.
SCORING
LA 57
Tries – C. Abel (2′), L. White (5′), H. Goddard 3 (12′, 39′, 47′), A. Ashley-Cooper (28′), R. James (34′), A. Cottrell 2 (49′, 73′)
Cons – M. Giteau 5/7 (6′, 13′, 29′, 40′, 48′), L. Carty 1/2 (74′)
Yellow cards – M. Vailanu (18′), A. Cottrell (62′)
SEATTLE 26
Tries – R. Hattingh (19′), J. Malcolm 3 (53′, 58′, 62′)
Cons – No kick (19′), B. Cima 2/3 (59′, 63′)
TEAMS
LA GILTINIS
1 Jean-Pierre Smith (17 Blake Rogers 51′), 2 Mahe Vailanu (16 Lindsey Stevens 59′), 3 Charlie Abel (18 Marco Fepulea’i 59′), 4 Dave Dennis (capt.) (19 Corey Thomas 51′), 5 Luke White, 6 Angus Cottrell, 7 Christian Poidevin, 8 Adam Ashe (16 Lindsey Stevens 18′-28′) (20 Langilangi Haupeakui 51′), 9 Harrison Goddard (21 Cristian Rodriguez 59′), 10 Matt Giteau (22 Luke Carty 48′), 11 John Ryberg, 12 Bill Meakes (23 Luke Burton 21′), 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Ryan James, 15 Glenn Bryce
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Djustice Sears-Duru, 2 Mike Shepherd (16 James Malcolm 53′), 3 Jake Ilnicki (17 Gavin Prentice 74′), 4 Les Soloai (19 Eric Duechle 51′), 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Brad Tucker (20 Nakai Penny 51′), 7 Andrew Durutalo, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 Ben Cima, 11 Sitiveni Tamaivena (23 Juan Pablo Aguirre 76′), 12 George Barton (22 Shalom Suniula HT), 13 Ross Neal, 14 Aaron Matthews (21 Devereaux Ferris 53′), 15 Mat Turner
Not used: 18 Freddy Tafuna
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Lex Weiner (USA)
Assistants: Marquise Goodwin (USA) & Andrew Stockton (USA)
