NOLA Gold played their first pre-season match and won handily.









In preparation for the inaugural Major League Rugby Season, NOLA Gold Rugby played their first pre-season match against the Capital Selects. This was a great showing from the Gold as they scored 10 tries on their way to victory.John Sullivan got the Gold on the scoreboard with a quick try in the second minute. NOLA kicked off and forced a knock on from Capital. After taking the scrum, Sullivan was able to punch it in for NOLA after about 12 phases. Sebastian Kalm was next up for the Gold. After earning a scrum on the Selects 5 meter line, NOLA was able to push the scrum forward and Kalm was able to get the try. JP Eloff was on the conversions for NOLA.Sullivan was able to dot down once again for NOLA, as he took it in from a good couple of phases from NOLA. The Capital Selects got a couple good runs in, but couldn't hold onto the ball. Taylor Howden was next on the scoreboard for NOLA, as he was able to convert a nice up & under.Sebastian Kalm was able to add his second try of the day, as he took it in from a couple of NOLA phases. The Capital Selects were able to get on the board right at the stroke of halftime. The Selects had a nice run deep into NOLA territory. They earned a scrum penalty and eventually CJ Burnes scored in the corner on a nice wide pass. At the half NOLA led 35-5.JP Eloff got the scoring started in the second half as the Gold got the ball wide and Eloff was able to run it in. Eloff missed his only conversion of the day here. Next up on the score board was Jake Humphrey for the Capital Selects. Humphrey was able to dot down the try after a nice run from eight-man Josh Brown.NOLA Gold fly half Taylor Howden was sent off with a yellow card, but the Selects couldn't capitalize. Next up on the scoreboard was Vince Jobo. NOLA had a lineout from about 20-25 meters out and they mauled all the way to the try line where Jobo was able to dot down.After some back and forth play, Joey Sok was able to dot down two quick tries for NOLA. The first came from some wide play and the second came when he broke through the Selects line and ran about 60 meters for the try.Eric Howard scored the last try of the day for NOLA. Howard scored from a Gold maul. Derreck Van Klein received a yellow card for a high tackle and Brian Mulloy scored for the Selects. As the Selects were able to take advantage of the yellow card and score wide.Jake HumphreySebastian KalmThis was a good first game for NOLA. There were a lot of good things and some bad things that they will need to work on. Penalties were adding up in the first half and they had two yellow cards in the second half. NOLA has a little over a month before their next pre-season fixture against the Houston SaberCats.CJ Burnes (40), Jake Humphrey (53), Brian Mulloy (79)Humphrey 0/2, Nick Kuhl 0/1Humphrey 0/1John Sullivan 2 (2, 21), Sebastian Kalm 2 (12, 35), Joey Sok 2 (68, 70), Taylor Howden (26), JP Eloff (47), Vince Jobo (62), Eric Howard (77)Eloff 9/10Howden, Derrek Van Klein~Josh Fredlund