The Austin Gilgronis defeated the Austin Blacks 69-0 in their final pre-season match ahead of next week’s start of the Major League Rugby regular season. The match took place on Friday, January 31 at Bold Stadium at the Circuit of the Americas.
In other news earlier in the week, the Loyals LLC announced the purchase of the Austin Herd and the change of the team name to the Austin Gilgronis. The name has caused a stir in the rugby community and has created a rise in social media traffic.
The Austin Gilgronis will open the regular season at home against the Toronto Arrows, a semifinalist in the 2019 MLR playoffs. Kickoff for the match is at 8 pm at Bold Stadium and tickets are available.
The Austin Blacks are a USA Club Rugby Division 1 club and are among the top clubs in the U.S. They field Division 1, 2 and 3 sides and the D3 team is the defending USA Club champion.
Match Recap & Preview
The scoring recap is from Austin Rugby Supporters Facebook page.
Halftime – Austin 21, Blacks 0
Tries: Akina, Saunitoga, White
Conversions: Torrealba 3/3
Austin 69, Blacks 0 – final
Tries – Akina, Saunitoga, White, Faison-Donahoe, Akina (2), Silva, Maikeli, Saunitoga (2), Zinzan, Farley, Jones
Conversions: 6/8 – Torrealba
0/2 – Zinzan
Squads
Austin Gilgronis: 1 LaRome White 2 Wilton Rebolo 3 Juan Echeverria 4 Rikus Zwart 5 Maikeli Naramaitonga 6 Potu Leavasa 7 Dominic Akina 8 Lino Saunitoga 9 Marcelo Torrealba 10 Zinzan Elan-Puttick (C) 11 Alex Faison-Donahoe 12 Sione Fangaiuiha 13 Peni Tagive 14 Rodrick Waters 15 Rodrigo Silva 16 Chris Schade 17 Philip Hanson 18 Mason Pedersen 19 JP Novak 20 Colby Stevens 21 Gabe Farley 22 Stewart Morris 23 Corey Jones
Austin Blacks: 1 Brendan Rams 2 Tiaan Erasmus 3 Chris Baumann 4 Sam Johnson 5 Derek Watson 6 Hayden Johnson 7 Ryan Rackley 8 Vince Jobo 9 Craig Hunt 10 Jock Merriman 11 Matt Radzavich 12 Levi Kereti 13 Chris Ingate 14 Antonio Winn 15 Jack Keegan 16 Skyler Adams 17 Gus Chavez 18 Alex Oldakowski 19 Claude Liney 20 Liam Firth 21 Onassis Gyimah 22 Knute O’Donnell 23 Preston Weigel 24 Reece Czarnecki
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