April 21, 2024 – NA Rugby Database

The Utah Warriors travel to Snapdragon Stadium to face the San Diego Legion in a Western Conference Clash!

The home side got on the board early through the boot of Lincoln McClutchie, before Utah’s Saia Uhila was given a yellow card in the 16th minute. With a man advantage, Legion scrumhalf Connor Tupai found a gap in the Warriors’ line and darted through for a 7-pointer to give the hosts a 10-0 lead at the first water break. The Warriors would fight back, with a try from the talismanic Caleb Makene just before the half hour mark and a Joel Hodgson penalty before HT evened things up at 10-10, before Michael Manson scored a textbook Manson try to give the Warriors a 10-17 lead at the break.

The Legion came out flying in the 2nd half, evening the score at 17-17 through a Tevita Tameilau try before the Warriors repeated their success from late in the first half, with a penalty kick from Joel Hodgson then a Michael Manson try, his 2nd of the game. Another Hodgson pen took the score to 17-30 to the Warriors, before the Legion could find their footing and hit back. 56 minutes in, Mikey Te’o jumped on a loose ball in the Warriors try zone for a (somewhat fortuitous) try, before Cyrille Cama burst through the Utah line a few minutes later. A successful conversion took the score to 29-30, before a 65th minute pen from McClutchie gave the Legion the lead. The Warriors wouldn’t stay quiet however, and another Hodgson penalty restored Utah’s 1pt lead with minutes to play, and the Legion just could not find a way through. The Utah Warriors take a surprise 32-33 victory to get their season back on track and really shake things up in the Western Conference!

The San Diego Legion salvage 2pts but suffer their first defeat at Snapdragon Stadium, and their first defeat at home since 2022.

Rugby FC LA travel to Illinois to face the Chicago Hounds at Seatgeek Stadium in a cross-conference clash.

The Hounds started quick as they have done many times this season, scoring through Nate Augspurger just 2 minutes in, before Ben Lendry rumbled over for a 7-pointer in the 11th minute, and Dylan Fawsitt picked up his 6th try in his last 3 games in the 16th minute before RFCLA had even woken up. Once they found their footing, LA hit back with two tries of their own through Rory van Vugt & Dan Hollinshead, but Ben Landry secured his 2nd of the game a few minutes before HT to give the Hounds a 26-12 lead at the break.

The 2nd half started pretty calm, with both sides evaluating their opponents defence and launching some probing attacks, before Niall Saunders darted through a gap at the breakdown for another 7-pointer for LA to reduce their deficit to 7pts. A few minutes later, Chicago hit back with a 1-2 punch from wingers Nate Augspurger and Noah Brown within a minute of each other, and a hard hitting try from Mason Flesch 10 minutes later put the game beyond reach for LA, now trailing 47-19. While the game may have been over, LA did not admit defeat. A Semi Kunatani run found paydirt for another 7-pointer, and Jack Shaw dotted down late to make the score a more respectable 47-31, before Nate Augspurger found his hattrick try at the death to take the Hounds over 50pts for the 2nd week in a row.

The Hounds take this one 54-31, and record back-to-back home victories and 3 wins in a row. They now sit at 4 wins on the season, setting a club record and passing the 3 wins they achieved in the whole of the 2023 season.