The San Diego Legion defeated the Glendale Raptors 46-15 on April 20 at Torero Stadium. With the win, the Legion moved into second place, while the Raptors fell to fifth.
The Legion will travel to Houston to face the SaberCats on Sunday, April 28, while the Raptors host Rugby United New York on Friday, April 26.
Match Recap
San Diego was able to capitalize on numerous Glendale turnovers and penalties to beat the Raptors 46-15 at Torero Stadium on April 20.
The Legion struck first with a penalty goal by Joe Pietersen, which was answered back by Will Magie to level the match at 3 all. Pietersen then added another, 6-3.
A Glendale lineout throw went long with Nate Augspurger executing a pop pass to Jasa Veremalua for a try and a 13-3 lead after Pietersen’s conversion. The lead was extended to 20-3 following a Legion lineout, with Mike Te’o running an inside line and taking a flat pass from Ryan Matyas for a try. A third try was scored by Nick Boyer, who gathered a loose ball from a Robbie Petzer pass and raced 50-meters for a try to extend the lead to 27-3.
Glendale’s Marco Fepulea’i then scored from a scrum at close range with Will Magie adding the conversion to cut the lead at the break to 27-10. Just prior to the half, Mike Te’o was sent to the bin for a no wrap tackle.
Second Half
The Legion’s early attempt to add points was not successful as Pietersen’s drop goal was wide. This resulted in a 22-meter drop.
Another Legion attack advanced to within 2-meters of the try line, but a knock on had the Raptors trying to run instead of clearing. That decision did not turn out well as Mike Te’o intercepted a Magie pass and offloaded to Pat Blair for a try under the posts. Psalm Wooching added another and Mike Te’o then scored int he right corner to lead 46-10.
Glendale added a late try by John Ryberg in the left corner. That was his MLR leading 10th of the season. The final result, however, was the Legion winning 46-15.
Squads with Player Article Links & Match Preview
San Diego Legion: 1 Faka’osi Pifeleti 2 Deon Muir 3 Aaron Mitchell 4 Lou Stanfill (VC) 5 Jasa Veremalua 6 Psalm Wooching 7 Devin Short 8 Jordan Manihera 9 Nate Augspurger 10 Joe Pietersen (C) 11 Nick Boyer 12 Dylan Audsley 13 Ryan Matyas 14 Conor Kearns 15 Mike Te’o16 Kapeli Pifeleti 17 Nathan Sylvia 18 Paddy Ryan19 Pat Blair 20 Drew Gaffney 21 Tai Enosa 22 Nick Lupian 23 Kyle Rogers + Head Coach Rob Hoadley
Glendale Raptors: 1 Noah Barker 2 Zach Fenoglio 3 Marco Fepulea’i 4 Luke White 5 William Munro 6 Brendan Daly 7 Peter Dahl 8 Murphy Taramai 9 Shaun Davies (C) 10 Will Magie 11 Harley Davidson 12 Robbie Petzer 13 Chad London14 John Ryberg 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson 16 Chad Gough 17 Kelepi Fifita 18 Max Lum 19 Kody O’Neil 20 Connor Cook 21 Malon Al-Jiboori 22 Carlo De Nysschen 23 Mika Kruse
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