Glendale Raptors & New Orleans Gold MLR Pre-season

The Glendale Raptors began their exhibition season with a 38-14 win against the New Orleans Gold Rugby Club on March 10 at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado. Preceding the match, was a high school match between Regis Jesuit and Jesuit NOLA High Schools. Regis Jesuit High School claimed a 53-17 win.

The Glendale Raptors will travel to play the Utah Warriors on March 30, while New Orleans Gold will host the Houston SaberCats on March 24.

Glendale Raptors & New Orleans Gold Rugby Recap

The Glendale Raptors and the New Orleans Gold Rugby Club went toe to toe for the beginning of the match before a yellow card by Casey Rock led to the first scoring opportunity for NOLA Gold. John Stapleton’s penalty kick was wide and resulted in a 22-meter drop by the Raptors.

The Glendale Raptors took advantage of a scrum 15-meters out and a Will Magie offload to Bryce Campbell resulted in a try, which was then converted by Magie for a 7-0 lead.The Raptors extended their lead to 12-0 after taking a lineout 5-meters out and Zach Fenoglio mauled his way over the line.

Soon after, NOLA Gold had a chance to get their first points, but the penalty kick by John Stapleton sailed wide.

The Glendale Raptors used long passes from Shaun Davies to Will Magie to John Quill to Harley Davidson, who then scored under the posts, for an easy Magie conversion to lead 19-0.

In the final minute before the break, John Quill was sent to the bin for repeat infringements. Sebastian Kalm claimed a 5-meter lineout and from a maul, Matt Hughston scored a try. Stapleton then converted to narrow the score to 19-7.

Second Half

Two minutes into the half, the Raptors executed a line break with Blake Rogers off-loading to Harley Davidson for his second try. The conversion by Maximo de Achaval was good and the lead was 26-7.

The Raptors added another try as Ata Malifa passed to Blake Rogers and back to Malifa for a try. The conversion bounced off the posts, but the Raptors controlled the match 31-7.

New Orleans Gold’s Bobby Johns found a gap and offloaded inside to Matt Hughston. Taylor Howden then found a seam and Michael Baska finished with a try, which was then converted by Howden narrowing the lead to 31-14.

Discipline proved to be an issue for the Raptors, as they received their third yellow card, as Luke White went to the bin in the 77th minute.

In the final minute, Mika Kruse stepped his way in for a final try and after De Achaval’s conversion, the Glendale Raptors claimed a 38-14 win.

Based on his two try performance and his defense, Harley Davidson was name Raptor of the Match.

Glendale Raptors Exhibition Season

March 10 vs. New Orleans Gold (W 38-14) Preview
March 30 at Utah Warriors 7 pm MST
April 7 at New York Athletic Club 1 pm MST, 3 pm EST

Glendale Raptors 2018 Major League Rugby Season

April 21 vs. Austin Elite 3 pm MST
April 28 at Seattle Seawolves 8:30 pm MST, 7:30 pm PST
May 5/6 at Utah Warriors
May 13 vs. San Diego Legion 6 pm MST
May 26 at San Diego Legion 7 pm MST, 6 pm PST
June 2/3 at New Orleans Gold
June 8 vs. Houston SaberCats 7 pm MST
June 16 vs. Seattle Seawolves 7 pm MST

New Orleans Gold Pre-Season

Jan. 3 Open Training Camp
Jan. 20 vs. Capital Rugby Union Selects (W 68-15) Preview
Feb. 24 at Houston SaberCats (L 30-12) Preview
March 10 at Glendale Raptors (L 38-14) Preview
March 24 vs Houston SaberCats
March 31 vs Austin Elite
April 7 at Austin Elite

New Orleans Gold 2018 Major League Rugby Season

April 21 At Houston Sabercats 7 pm CT
May 5/6 At Austin Elite
May 12/13 Home vs. Seattle Seawolves
May 19 Home vs. Houston SaberCats 6 pm CT
May 25 At Seattle Seawolves
June 2/3 Home vs. Glendale Raptors
June 9/10 Home vs. San Diego Legion
June 16 At Utah Warriors 8 pm MT

Glendale Raptors & New Orleans Gold Squads

Glendale Raptors: 1 Luke White 2 Zach Fenoglio 3 Kelepi Fifita 4 Casey Rock 5 Ben Landry 6 Connor Cook 7 John Quill 8 Grigor Kerdikoshvili 9 Shaun Davies 10 Will Magie 11 John Ryberg 12 Bryce Campbell 13 Chad London 14 Harley Davidson 15 Maximo de Achaval 16 James Del Bozque 17 Blake Rogers 18 Nick Kwasniewski 19 Peter Dahl 20 Brain Wanless 21 Max Dacey 22 Jake Christmann 23 Mika Kruse 24 Seth Halliman 25 Ata Malifa + Head Coach David Williams

New Orleans Gold: 1 Hubert Buydens 2 Eric Howard (VC) 3 Ben Tarr 4 Nikola Bursic 5 John Sullivan 6 Vince Jobo 7 Matt Hughston 8 Sebastian Kalm 9 Holden Yungert 10 Taylor Howden (C) 11 Joeli Tikoisuva 12 Zack Stryffler 13 Tesimoni Tongauiha 14 Ratu Rinakama 15 John Stapleton16 Derrek Van Klein 17 Cameron Falcon 18 Matt Wirken 19 Myles McQuone 20 Bobby Johns 21 Michael Baska 22 Melvin Desouza 23 Alec Janotka + Head Coach Nate Osborne