Austin Elite Rugby vs. New Orleans Gold Rugby
The Austin Elite Rugby Club will meet the New Orleans Gold Rugby Club in the concluding Major League Rugby pre-season match. The teams will meet on Saturday, April 7 at 8 pm CDT at the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex. The Major League Rugby regular season begins on April 21.
Tickets are available with General Admission costing $15 and children under 14 free. The match is not being streamed, but follow the clubs on Twitter.
Austin Elite Rugby
Head Coach Alain Hyardet has made three changes and three positional changes from last week’s 48-17 loss to NOLA Gold Rugby Club. Forwards Coach and former Springbok and Denver Stampede No. 8 Pedrie Wannenburg return as a player since his last match in 2016 in winning the PRO Rugby title. Michael Reid and Zac Mizell will also start at scrumhalf and wing, respectively.
Positional changes have Deon Minnaar moving to flanker, Sani Taylor moving from wing to outside center, and Reece Czarnecki switches sides at wing.
Andrew Suniula will captain the team with Ben Mitchell continuing as vice-captain. There are no new additions to the reserves.
New Orleans Gold Rugby
Head Coach Nate Osborne has rested both Sebastian Kalm and Eric Howard with Hubert Buydens assuming the later’s vice-captain role. Three changes were made in the starting forwards with Canadian international Hubert Buydens returning at loosehead prop, Eagle Ben Tarr returning as tighthead prop, with Cam Falcon moving to hooker from tighthead. Chile international lock Nikola Bursic also returns as a starter with John Sullivan moving to a more familiar No. 8 position.
In the reserves, Alec Janotka will be the reserve hooker, while other reserves played last week.
New Orleans Gold vs. Austin Elite Rugby March 31, 2018 Recap
The New Orleans Gold Rugby Club maintained their undefeated Major League Rugby home pre-season record with a 48-17 win over Austin Elite Rugby.
NOLA Gold the first of four consecutive tries to open the match in the 6th minute as Vince Jobo powered over for a try under the posts and after Taylor Howden’s conversion the team led 7-0. Six minutes later Sebastian Kalm grounded the ball after multiple phases and Howden again converted.
In the 19th minute, Cam Flacon added the third try with Holden Yungert converting. Eric Howard added the fourth from a maul and Howden converted to lead 28-0.
In the 31st minute, Austin Elite Rugby scored their first try of the match when Chris Schade grounded the ball and Timothée Guillimin added the conversion to close the gap to 28-7.
A penalty kick by Taylor Howden with two minutes remaining before the half increased NOLA Gold’s lead to 31-7. Austin Elite struck back with a try by Timothée Guillimin to cut the score to 31-12 and the team hoped the momentum would carry into the second half.
NOLA Gold struck first in the half with a Bobby Johns try in the corner and then added another after finding a gap. JP Eloff converted the later try for a 43-12 lead.
Austin Elite Rugby continued to play hard and the team was rewarded with a try by Ben Mitchell to end the match 48-17.
New Orleans Gold & Austin Elite Rugby Squads
Austin Elite: 1 Tim Fitzgerald 2 Chris Scade 3 Mason Pedersen (C) 4 Ben Mitchell (VC) 5 Kyle Breytenbach 6 7 Hanco Germishuys 8 Deon Minnaar 9 Michael Reid 10 Timothée Guillimin 11 Reece Czarnecki 12 Andrew Suniula 13 Sani Taylor14 Zac Mizell 15 Zinzan Elan-Puttick 16 David LeMasters 17 Siaosi Finau 18 Robert Drummond 19 Dylan Goulding 20 Alex Faison-Donahoe 21 Knute O’Donnell 22 Vetekina Malafu 23 Pat Sullivan 24 Sione Fangaiuha 25 Pita Naruma + Head Coach Alain Hyardet (Reserve # not specified in release)
New Orleans Gold: 1 Hubert Buydens (VC) 2 Cameron Falcon 3 Ben Tarr 4 Matt Wirken 5 Nikola Bursic 6 Vince Jobo 7 Matt Hughston 8 John Sullivan 9 Holden Yungert 10 Taylor Howden (C) 11 Ratu Rinakama 12 JP Eloff 13 Tim Maupin 14 Bobby Johns 15 Michael Baska 16 Derrek Van Klein 17 Amro Gouda 18 Alec Janotka 19 Myles McQuone 20 John Stapleton 21 Zack Stryffeler 22 Tesimoni Tongauiha 23 Joeli Tikoisuva + Head Coach Nate Osborne
Austin Elite Rugby Pre-season Schedule
- March 25 vs. San Diego Legion (L 32-24) Preview
- March 31 at New Orleans Gold (L 48-17) Preview
- April 7 vs. New Orleans Gold Preview with March 31 recap
Austin Elite Rugby 2018 Major League Rugby Schedule
- April 21 at Glendale Raptors
- April 28 at Houston SaberCats
- May 5 vs. New Orleans Gold
- May 11 at Utah Warriors
- May 26 v. San Diego Legion
- June 2 vs. Utah Warriors
- June 9 vs. Seattle Seawolves
- June 17 at San Diego Legion
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 (D 32-32) Preview
- March 31 vs Austin Elite (W 48-17) Preview
- April 7 at Austin Elite Preview with March 31 recap
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
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