Photo Cred - Josh Fredlund

RUNY Takes Down The SaberCats 35-8

Rugby United New York recovered from their loss to Seattle last week to take down the Houston SaberCats. And it wasn't even close. RUNY got their bonus point try before the SaberCats were able to get a try on the board. Dylan Fawsitt and James Denise were able to to get over for trys in the first half, with Denise scoring twice.





Derek Lipscomb and England international Ben Foden would score RUNY's other trys on the day. RUNY had the advantage in the forward pack, as they ran over the Houston scrum on numerous occasions. The one thing that kept RUNY's day from being perfect was allowing a 12 man rolling maul try from Houston.





The Houston SaberCats are just having a tough go at it this season. The only thing that has kept them from a winless season so far is a one point victory over last place Austin. There isn't much good that Houston can take away from this match. Maybe their one try, where a 12-man effort finally pushed them over the try line.





Houston's discipline didn't help them during this match. The SaberCats committed too many penalties and left the match with only two yellow cards given. Connor Murphy took a scary spill with about 20 minutes left in the match. Fortunately, Murphy was able to walk off the field under his own power. Houston needs to pick it up or they could wind up last on the table.



RUNY heads west to take on the Utah Warriors at Zions Bank Stadium on Friday. While, Houston heads to the Pacific Northwest to face the Seattle Seawolves on Sunday.

Glendale Shut Out Toronto 22-0 In The Snow

The Glendale Raptors were able to shutout the powerhouse Toronto Arrows in a snowstorm that was just short of blizzard. Even though he didn't score a try on the day, winger John Ryberg was a nuisance for the Arrows. He made multiple runs through Toronto's defense on the day. Chad Gough got the scoring started, this time from about 10 meters out.





Dylan Taikato-Simpson scored the next try. The DTS-Harley Davidson connection provided the opportunity here, as Davidson was waiting on the wing and the defense opened up enough to let DTS through to score. Harley eventually got a try of his own and Zach Fenoglio got the bonus point try for the Raptors. Conversions were at a premium as Carlo de Nysschen provided the only one of the day after Fenoglio's try.





Toronto couldn't get their offense going on the day as Glendale's defense held strong. The weather obviously didn't help as the Arrows couldn't really get any momentum due to the snow on the field. The bright spot on the day for Toronto was their scrum. They bullied the Raptors all day and forced Glendale to switch to quick scrums.





Nobody could really kick on the day. Sam Malcolm had the first opportunity for points on the day and pushed his penalty kick wide. The weather conditions forced the Arrows to go for the try instead of settling for penalty kicks when they were given the opportunities to. Johnny Sheridan went down for Toronto in the first half and had to be carried off the field. Toronto will surely be looking forward to the rematch between these two at the end of the season.





Glendale hosts the Austin Elite next Saturday and good news (knock on wood), there's no snow in the forecast. Toronto gets to warm up a little, as they head to SoCal to face the Legion.

NOLA Breaks The Warriors Hearts 21-19

The NOLA Gold were able to pull this win out at the last second thanks to Nick Feakes scoring his third try on the day. Scott Gale though a miss-pass to Feakes who was able to beat Josh Whippy to corner. Even though JP Eloff missed all of his conversions, his two penalty kick makes allowed the Gold to leave Utah with the win.





Feakes scored all of his trys in the corner. The teams were pretty evenly matched up front. But the Gold were able to take advantage of their forward pack and this allowed Feakes to score a hat trick on the day. Eloff will be disappointed with his kicking again, but the weather did certainly play a part in that. NOLA continues to surprise and will be the team to watch for the rest of the season.





You certainly can't blame this loss on fitness. The Warriors were in this match until the end. What did Utah in, this match, was their discipline. Lance Williams was sent to the bin in the 78th minute after repeated team infringements and this allowed NOLA to have a man advantage and they used it to score in the corner for the win.





Utah's forward pack is one of top packs in Major League Rugby. They've shown they can compete with the top teams in the league. All of the Warriors trys came from the forwards, with Lance Williams, Franco van den Berg, and Logan Daniels all going over for trys. Utah has what it takes to compete with the top teams in this league, now they just need to finish.





NOLA gets a week off, before they head west on I-10 to take on the Houston SaberCats. While the Warriors host Rugby United New York on Friday.

Standings









~Josh Fredlund (Photos by Josh Fredlund)

Week 6 brought out tough conditions in Colorado & Utah, while Texas was held dry. Glendale & NOLA were able to plow through the snow to wins, while RUNY ran away from the SaberCats to earn the victory.