Toronto Arrows Beat Austin Elite Rugby After Blocked Kick

Austin Elite Rugby hosted the Toronto Arrows on Friday, February 8 at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas. Toronto left with a 23-19 victory and moved to 1-1, while Austin Elite claimed a losing bonus point and fell to 0-3.

Match Recap

Austin Elite Rugby had the first opportunity to put points on the board in the 4th minute, however Timothée Guillimin’s kick from 45-meters was wide right.

Toronto then advanced the ball close to in-goal, but after several infractions, Soheyl Jaoudat was sent to the bin. The Arrows lost there chance at scoring with players leaving their feet in the breakdown. Soon after Austin Elite was penalized for a high tackle on Avery Oitomen. From the lineout and the ensuing maul, Spencer Jones found a seam and offloaded to Oitomen for a try and a 5-0 lead.

Austin Elite elected to kick for points after a peanlty on Josh Van Horne for not rolling away. Guillimin then slotted the kick to cut the lead to 5-3. Three minutes later, another Guillimin kick just missed curling inside the posts.

Austin Elite attacked to within meters of in-goal, but Rob Brouwer was sent to the bin for a neck roll on Mason Pedersen. Tom Doelzel came on at the scrum and Marcelo Wainwright went off. Marcelo Torrealba attempted to slice in from the 9 channel, but was held up and lost the ball forward, thwarting an Austin Elite scoring chance.

With a minute remaining Torrealba found a gap from a breakdown for a try and after Guillimin’s conversion, Austin Elite tokk a 10-5 lead at the break.

During the first half, Toronto established an advantage in the scrums, while Austin Elite had a slight advantage in the lineouts.

Second Half

Toronto cut the leearly in the second half as Sam Malcolm slotted a kick. A few minutes later Guillimin slotted a kick to move the lead to 13-8. Guillimin then had another opportunity, but couldn’t convert.

Then it was the Arrows turn to attack as Marcelo Wainwright was held up in-goal. The Arrows drove in from a scrum and Kiolby Francis touched down leveling the match at 13 all, before a Malcolm conversion for a 15-13 lead. Malcolm then extended the lead to 18-13 after a penalty.

The night saw Austin Elite with many kicking opportunities and Guillimin cut the lead to 18-16. Austin Elite then took advantage of a steal by Ben Mitchell from an Arrows lineout near their 22-meters and were penalized allowing Austin Elite to reclaim a 19-18 lead after a Michael Romero kick. The Arrows then threatened to recalim the lead, but the kick by Malcolm was wide right.

Luck was not on Austin Elite’s side as an attempted clearance kick by Soheyl Jaoudat was blocked by Dan Moor and he finished with what would be the winning try, reclaiming the lead 23-19.

Austin Elite had more more push to score from a lineout 10-meters out of in-goal. After several picks by the forwards, the team was penalized for not releasing allowing the Arrows to gain the 23-19 win.

With the win, the Toronto Arrows move to 1-1 with Austin Elite falling to 0-3 and picking up a bonus point. Morgan Mitchell was named Man of the Match for the Arrows.