April 15, 2017
Glendale Raptors Ride Second Half to Win Over Austin Huns Rugby
Photo: FloRugby
Doug Coil
The Austin Huns hosted the Glendale Raptors at Austin Huns Field at 4107 Nixon Lane in Austin, Texas on Saturday, April 15. The Huns sought to redeem an earlier 41-10 loss February 25 in Glendale, Colorado. The match was streamed by FloRugby.com
Both Grant Cole and Dallen Stanford provided excellent commentary as the Glendale Raptors came back late in the first half to take a 10-8 lead over the Austin Huns at the break. The Raptors added five tries in the second half to exit with a 45-15 Major League Championship win.
During the first half, the Austin Huns forwards were clicking in the set pieces and maintained a majority of the possession. With the teams attacking back and forth, a Peter Dahl penalty at the 19th minute had the Huns take a 3-0 lead. That lead would not change until the 30th minute when Will Magee slotted a penalty to knot the score at 3 all.
Three minutes later Chad London found a gap and an Ata Malifa offload to Peter Dahl capped off the attack with a try. Magee calmly slotted the conversion and the Glendale Raptors took a 10-3 lead.
The Austin Huns struck right back as Martin Knoetz executed a linebreak and grubbed the ball ahead, retrieving for a try. The conversion went wide, but narrowed the score to 10-8 in favor of the Raptors. That result stood at the break.
In the second half, the Glendale Raptors exploded for five tries, while the Austin Huns added a late try in the closing minute.
Peter Dahl found a gap to begin the second half. A lineout by the Raptors turned into a maul, and a Chad London pass to Seth Halliman was dropped. The Austin Huns cleared, but the Raptors attacked again with excellent back play before Zach Fenoglio executed a no look pass to Will Magee for a try. Magee then converted to extend the Raptors lead to 17-8.
The Raptors next try came at the 60th minute after a penalty for a side entry and a late tackle by the Huns. Will Magee kicked for touch and the Raptors won the lineout and Zach Fenoglio scored a try off a maul. Magee then converted and the lead was 24-8.
The Raptors then attacked again with runs by Chad London, John Ryberg, before London offloaded to Shaun Davies for a try and a Magee conversion extending the lead to 31-8. Ata Malifa then executed a dummy on Hanco Germishuys for the Raptors fifth try and Magee continued his accuracy with another conversion.
The Raptors final try came late in the match as Ben Landry, went in for a try. After Magee’s conversion the lead was 45-8.
The Huns maintained their resolve and after a penalty by the Raptors. Aaron Boan took a quick tap and Lomani Tongatonga bulled his way through defenders before an offload to Timothee Guillman had him ground the ball and then convert to narrow the final result to 45-15 in favor of the Glendale Raptors.
