North American Rugby Database

Report

The NOLA Gold (#2) host the Chicago Hounds (#3) at the Gold Mine in the first MLR playoff game for both clubs, and a spot in the Eastern Conference Final on the line. These two teams split the regular season series 1-1, with both road teams taking the win, and the Hounds edge the aggregate score 51-46.

The hosts would take an early lead, possibly better adjusted to the Louisiana humidity. A Rodney Iona penalty was built on by a scything run by Jordan Jackson-Hope to finish in the corner gave the Gold a 8-0 lead after a missed conversion, before the Chicago Hounds took their turn. A Luke Carty penalty followed by a trademark Dylan Fawsitt off the back of a maul, his 13th of the season and first of the 2024 playoffs. Carty added the extras for a narrow lead at the first water break. Carty’s boot extended the visitors lead before 2023 draft pick Julian Roberts hit back for the Gold, levelling the scores at 13-13 following another missed conversion. Iona was true from the boot with a penalty not long after however, to swing the lead back towards the hosts and give them a 3pt lead just after the half hour mark. Unfortunately for the Gold, this is where things got messy. Jordan Jackson-Hope received a yellow card that really hindered the NOLA defence, and Julian Dominguez was able to barrel through 3 would-be tacklers to shift the lead back to the hosts before the HT break.

Still with 14 men when play resumed, the Gold would concede again off the restart thanks to a lucky bounce and opportunistic score for Nate Augspurger, and the Chicago Hounds now held a commanding 16-23 lead which was extended around 10 minutes later by the boot of Luke Carty once again. NOLA would hit back through Jonah Mau’u on a phenomenal line from a line-out, and some poor Chicago tackling saw him go all the way to close the gap to 5pts, but this would be the final score from the hosts. 5 minutes later and seemingly from nowhere, Hounds Captain Billy Meakes burst through the NOLA line to score his first try of the season, which visibly thumped the wind out of the Gold’s sails. Alex Lopeti would receive NOLA’s 2nd yellow card shortly afterwards and a dejected Gold side would concede a 5th and 6th try (James Scott and Jason Higgins respectively) in the final 15 to really blow out the score. A 21-45 road victory for the Chicago Hounds will see them advance to face the New England Free Jacks in the Eastern Conference Final in Quincy.

The NOLA Gold end their first playoff campaign early, and will turn their focus to the off-season.