North American Rugby Database

Report

The Utah Warriors travel to Snapdragon Stadium to face the San Diego Legion in a Western Conference Clash during Round 8 of the 2024 MLR season!

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.