The Toronto Arrows lost their 2021 home opener against the LA Giltinis 43-16 at the Gold Mine on Airline on Saturday, April 10. The match was the first part of a Major League Rugby double-header with NOLA Gold facing Austin Gilronis at 3:30 pm local (4:30 pm ET).
The match was broadcast on Bally Sports West in Los Angeles, TSN, and on The Rugby Network.
Match Recap
Early penalties had Tayler Adams getting the Arrows on board in the 2nd minute with Matt Giteau knotting the match at 3 all in the 5th minute.
Following a penalty advantage, Corey Thomas bulled over in-goal for the first try of the try with Matt Giteau adding the extras to lead 10-3.
Toronto punished a side entry at the breakdown with a Tayler Adams kick and he added another from an offsides call to cut the lead to 10-9.
In the 37th minute, Gaston Cortes was sent to the bin for a professional foul of getting in the way of an LA outlet pass as he was retreating to get onsides. LA quick tap resulted in a knock-on.
Following an Arrows offsides penalty and a Giltinis scrum, Adam Ashe scored his first try of the season as the Giltinis drove into in-goal. Matt Giteau added a conversion to take a 17-9 lead into the break.
First half highlights for #TORvLA 🔥
Tune in to @therugbynetwork to see how the second half plays out!#TORvLA | 9-17 @ half | #MLR2021 pic.twitter.com/GdBWWYd8b5
— Major League Rugby (@usmlr) April 10, 2021
Second Half
The Gitinis opened the second half with DTH Van der Merwe tapping back and getting the ball wide to John Ryberg for a try with Giteau adding the extras, 9-24.
Luke Burton added a bonus point try in the 45th minute with Giteau again connecting, 9-31.
In the 53rd minute, Mike Sheppard was injured with Adriaan Wadden coming back into the match. Some back and forth occurred before a penalty had LA attacking from consecutive 5-meter lineouts before Harrison Goddard scored in the left corner, 9-36.
Quickly, the Arrows answered back with Manuel Montero taking an offload from Jason Higgins for a try, which was converted by Adams, 16-36.
The Giltinis would strike again with Harry McNulty diving in the left corner and Luke Burton slotting the extras, 16-43.
With less than a minute in the match, it was halted due to lightning. The Man of the Match was Corey Thomas of LA.
With the win, the Giltinis move to 3-0 with a bonus-point win for 15 points to lead the Western Conference, with Utah Warriors still to play later tonight. The Toronto Arrows fall to 1-3 with 6 points in the Eastern Conference.
Next Saturday, the Giltinis travel to Houston to play the SabeCats, while Toronto is home in Georgia against the Seattle Seawolves.
Squads with Player Article Links & Match Preview
Toronto Arrows: 1 Cole Keith 2 Andrew Quattrin 3 Gastón Cortes 4 Adrian Wadden 5 Paul Ciulini 6 Tomás de la Vega 7 Lucas Rumball (cc) 8 Manuel Diana 9 Ross Braude10 Tayler Adams 11 Gastón MIeres 12 Guiseppe du Toit 13 Ben LeSage (cc) 14 Manuel Montero 15 Joaquin Tuclet 16 Jack McRogers 17 Pat Lynott 18 Tyler Rowland 19 Mike Sheppard 20 Kolby Francis 21 Jason Higgins 22 Will Kelly 23 Patrick Parfrey
LA Giltinis: 1 Blake Rogers 2 Mahe Vailanu 3 Charlie Abel 4 Dave Dennis (c) 5 Corey Thomas 6 Angus Cottrell 7 Harry McNulty 8 Adam Ashe 9 Harrison Goddard 10 Matt Giteau 11DTH Van Der Merwe 12 Luke Barton 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper 14 John Ryberg 15 Glenn Bryce 16 Sean McNulty 17 Frikkie de Beer 18 Luke White 19 Nathan Den Hoedt 20 Pago Haini 21 Cristian Rodriguez 22 Ryan James 23 Langilangi Haupeakui
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