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Punishing defense from Old Glory on their home turf earned an impressive 28-14 win over the Free Jacks on Saturday. DC won the collision battle on the gainline and were the better side in the scrum. It leaves the defending champions with a losing record five weeks into the campaign.
It was the home side who had the first scoring opportunities, but New England twice won turnovers to repel Old Glory’s effort. The line was finally broken on a searing counter-attack from Damien Hoyland after a skew clearance attempt off the boot of Le Roux Malan. Hoyland sliced clean through the middle and after the ball was recycled, reappeared to set Steff Hughes free on the right side. Jason Roberton’s kick from the sideline made it a full seven.
Malan would make up for his error with his own counter after Connor Buckley missed touch. The Namibian international broke four tackles before finally being brought down 5 meters from the line. New England piled on the pressure until Andrew Quattrin punched over from close range, with John Poland converting via drop kick after the wind blew the ball of his tee.
Old Glory pulled away with a dominant stretch leading into halftime. Robertson slotted a three pointer, and then the scrum won a penalty to set up an attacking lineout. After a couple phases the ball came wide to an open Axel Muller for the finish. Robertson was again on target from out wide, and added another three with the boot to make it 20-7 for DC at the intermission.
After a period of stalemate, a New England knock-on in their own end gave Robertson a chance to snap over a drop goal and stretch the lead. It grew even further as the Free Jacks discipline faltered, and KoiKoi Nelligan was driven over on the back of a driving maul to make it 28-7 with 15 minutes to play.
New England were forced to play the final minutes of the game down a man after Josh Larsen limped off with injury just seconds after coming on. Despite the disadvantage they would conjure a try when Faletoi Peni crashed over on a hard line, converting himself to leave the door open for a losing bonus point. It wasn’t to be as Peni missed touch on a penalty clearance and Old Glory kicked the ball dead.
Both teams are on the road next weekend. New England will look to right the ship against the Warriors at Zions Bank Stadium, while DC head all the way to the West Coast to face RFC Los Angeles.
| SCORING |
DC 28
Tries (3) – S. Hughes (12′), A. Muller (34′), K. Nelligan (64′)
Cons (2) – J. Robertson 2/3 (13′, 35′)
Pens (2) – J. Robertson 2/2 (32′, 39′)
DG (1) – J. Robertson 1/1 (56′)
NEW ENGLAND 14
Tries (2) – A. Quattrin (20′), F. Peni (71′)
Cons (2) – J. Poland 1/1 (21′), F. Peni 1/1 (72′)
| LINEUPS |
OLD GLORY DC
1 Jack Iscaro (17 Sam Davies 35′-HT) (3 Cali Martinez 68′), 2 Facundo Gattas (16 KoiKoi Nelligan 46′), 3 Cali Martinez (17 Sam Davies 5′-17′, 56′ {18 Isikeli Kava 77′}), 4 Rob Harley (capt.), 5 Tevita Naqali (19 Bill Whiteside 65′), 6 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz (20 Collin Grosse 23′), 7 Cory Daniel, 8 Lautaro Bavaro, 9 Connor Buckley (21 Ethan McVeigh 65′), 10 Jason Robertson, 11 Axel Müller, 12 Jason Emery (22 John Powers 65′), 13 Steff Hughes, 14 Perry Humphreys, 15 Damien Hoyland (23 Owen Sheehy 68′)
NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Malakai Hala-Ngatai (18 Kyle Steeves 65′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Kaleb Geiger 65′), 3 Cole Keith (17 Jone Koroiduadua 46′), 4 Conor Keys (20 Piers von Dadelszen 48′), 5 Sam Caird (*19 Josh Larsen 65′), 6 Jed Melvin, 7 Joe Johnston (capt.), 8 Wian Conradie, 9 John Poland (21 Oscar Lennon 46′), 10 Harrison Boyle, 11 Paula Balekana, 12 Le Roux Malan, 13 Wayne van der Bank, 14 Isaac Olson (22 Faletoi Peni 46′), 15 Simon-Peter Toleafoa (23 Killian Coghlan 65′)
*19 Josh Larsen was forced off with injury at 66 minutes and could not be replaced
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, March 22
Venue: Maryland SoccerPlex, Germantown
Kickoff: 17:00 local
Weather: partly cloudy, 61°F (16°C), wind W 17-25mph (27-40km/h)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Assistants: Eanna O’Dowd (Ireland) & Matt Lake (USA)
TMO: Greg Gilliam (USA)
| HIGHLIGHTS |
