2021 – Championship Final: LA Giltinis v Rugby ATL

31 v 17

Recap

In their Inaugural Season, the LA Giltinis host a home MLR Final against Rugby ATL. This is arguably the best match up in the league, with LA & ATL finishing 1st & 2nd in the regular season overall standings.

LA did NOT score first for a change, with ATL fly-half slotting a penalty in the 15th minute to give them a short lived 0-3 lead before Wallabies legend Matt Giteau levelled things up in the 19th minute. A few minutes later, the dam burst with John Ryberg scoring 2 tries in quick succession, one of which was converted to give LA a 15-3 lead before Marko Janse van Rensburg swung the momentum back with a converted try just before half time. Half-time score now 15-10.

Giteau landed another penalty early int he second half to bring the momentum back to the home camp, before a DTH van der Merwe try from a disrupted ATL lineout took the score further from the visitors grasp, before late penalties from Giteau and Luke Burton put the game to bed despite a late consolation try from Ross Deacon.

Final score: LA Giltinis 31, Rugby ATL 17. The LA Giltinis become MLR Champions in their inaugural season in the competition!

Details

Date	Time	League	Season
August 1, 2021	1:00 pm	Major League Rugby	MLR 2021

Results

Team	Penalty Kick	Tries	Conversions	TB	LB	Points
Giltinis	4/4	3	2/3	0	0	31
Atlanta	1/1	2	2/2	0	0	17

Giltinis

#	Player	Position	T	C	P	MG	Tackles	KS/KA	Pts
1	Charlie Abel 17	Prop	0	0	0	21	11	0	0
2	Mahe Vailanu 16	Hooker	0	0	0	41	10	0	0
3	Marco Fepulea’i	Prop	0	0	0	52	17	0	0
4	Dave Dennis	Lock	0	0	0	17	9	0	0
5	Nathan Den Hoedt	Lock	0	0	0	30	7	0	0
6	Angus Cottrell 20	Flanker	0	0	0	38	5	0	0
7	Christian Poidevin 19	Flanker	0	0	0	26	6	0	0
8	Corey Thomas 18	Lock	0	0	0	34	7	0	0
9	Harrison Goddard	Scrum-half	0	0	0	5	7	0	0
10	Matt Giteau 22	Fly-half	0	2	3	41	0	5/6	13
11	DTH van der Merwe	Wing	1	0	0	58	3	0	5
12	Billy Meakes	Centre	0	0	0	69	7	0	0
13	Adam Ashley-Cooper	Centre	0	0	0	58	5	0	0
14	John Ryberg 23	Wing	2	0	0	130	5	0	10
15	Luke Burton 21	Fly-half	0	0	1	25	9	1/1	3
16	Sean McNulty 2	Hooker	0	0	0	5	1	0	0
17	Blake Rogers 1	Prop	0	0	0	7	0	0	0
18	Luke White 8	Lock	0	0	0	8	1	0	0
19	Sean O’Brien 7	Flanker	0	0	0	8	2	0	0
20	Pago Haini 6	Number 8	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
21	Serupepeli Vularika 15	Centre	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	Luke Carty 10	Fly-half	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Ryan James 14	Wing	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
	Total		3	2	4	673	115	6/7	31

Atlanta

#	Player	Position	T	C	P	MG	Tackles	KS/KA	Pts
1	Alex Maughan 18	Hooker	0	0	0	10	6	0	0
2	Marko Janse van Rensburg 16	Hooker	1	0	0	55	6	0	5
3	Wikus Groenewald 17	Prop	0	0	0	17	9	0	0
4	Marno Redelinghuys	Flanker	0	0	0	12	11	0	0
5	Conor Keys 20	Lock	0	0	0	30	4	0	0
6	Vili Helu 19	Flanker	0	0	0	18	3	0	0
7	Matt Heaton	Flanker	0	0	0	21	15	0	0
8	Johan Momsen	Lock	0	0	0	28	12	0	0
9	Rowan Gouws	Scrum-half	0	0	0	22	11	0	0
10	Kurt Coleman	Fly-half	0	2	1	5	8	3/3	7
11	Rory van Vugt 21	Fullback	0	0	0	43	3	0	0
12	Bautista Ezcurra	Centre	0	0	0	64	12	0	0
13	Ryan Nell 23	Centre	0	0	0	2	2	0	0
14	Jeremy Misailegalu	Centre	0	0	0	42	3	0	0
15	Austin White 22	Fullback	0	0	0	66	2	0	0
16	Neethling Gericke 2	Hooker	0	0	0	12	0	0	0
17	Chance Wenglewski 3	Prop	0	0	0	6	5	0	0
18	Will Burke 1	Prop	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
19	Connor Cook 6	Flanker	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
20	Ross Deacon 5	Number 8	1	0	0	14	7	0	5
21	Ryan Rees 11	Scrum-half	0	0	0	27	2	0	0
22	Robbie Petzer 15	Centre	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
23	Mark O’Keeffe 13	Centre	0	0	0	17	3	0	0
	Total		2	2	1	511	130	3/3	17