Round 1: First XV
February 11, 2020 - Major League Rugby (MLR) News Release
1. Loosehead Prop, Matt Harmon - NOLA Gold
Harmon led the way up front in the scrum for the Gold forcing Gordon Fullerton to concede five scrum penalties throughout their match up. Around the breakdown he got to work with 22 ruck arrivals on attack and three in defense.
2. Hooker, Andrew Quattrin - Toronto Arrows
Quattrin led the Arrows dominating scrum against Austin. This gave the Arrows an excellent platform to impose their will after each restart. With five carries he sought to punish the Austin defense. He had 11 attacking ruck arrivals at the breakdown to propel the Arrows attack forward.
3. Tighthead Prop, Kensuke Hatakeyama - New England Free Jacks
After a great performance in the World Cup, Hatakeyama gave the Free Jacks an excellent buttress to build their scrum platform off of at the tighthead position. In breakdown he had an astonishing 25 ruck arrivals going to work on attack and defense.
4. Left Lock, Johan Momsen - Rugby ATL
Momson worked hard and moved without the ball, inserting into the attack being extremely effective with six carries for 59 meters and a highlight reel offload. He had 12 tackles defense, four lineout takes in the aerial game and 21 breakdown involvements.
5. Right Lock, Victor Comptat - Houston SaberCats
Comptat brought a formidable contribution to the SaberCats attacking platform that bent the Raptors scrum to their will. He made nine tackes on defense but tore it apart at the breakdown with 28 involvements.
6. Blindside Flanker, Tesimoni Tongauiha - NOLA Gold
The swiss-army knife put his skills on display running great lines on his 6 carries for 36 meters with two linebreaks that yielded two tries. Around the break down he went to work with 16 arrivals on a attack and 4 in defense.
7. Openside Flanker, Matt Heaton - Rugby ATL
Heaton scored the try that settled down the Atlanta attack, without it his side would have remained on poor footing. With 17 tackles, one was key in stopping Utah from forcing a draw in the final minutes of the match.
8. No 8, Cam Dolan - NOLA Gold
Dolan was everywhere for the Gold with 3 tries from 22 carries with 136 meters gained, a line break, and a two tacklebreaks. In the aerial game he had five lineout takes and one lineout steal. At the breakdown he worked in with 12 ruck arrivals on attack and 3 in defense.
9. Scrum-half, Nate Augspurger - San Diego Legion
The captain led as he always does, with athletic carries around the ruck this time taking the ball 46 meters from nine carries with two tackle breaks and an offload. In defense he contributed seven tackles. To put the pressure on the seawolves he kicked the ball in play six times for 187 meters.
10. Fly-half, Hagen Schulte - Utah Warriors
Schulte led a new look Warriors attack on the road against Atlanta. With critical passing and 14 timely kicks for 597 meters he created a tempo that worked for most of the day. With the ball in had he carried seven times for 31 meters, he scored 14 points from the tee for Utah.
11. Left Wing, John Ryberg - Colorado Raptors
The more things change in Colorado, the more consistent Ryberg is as he relishes every opportunity. Ryberg had nine carries for 118 meters cutting through the SaberCats defense with a line break, 2 tackle breaks, and scoring a try.
12. Inside Center, Ma'a Nonu - San Diego Legion
It's the little things with Nonu, every pass was timed right on key hitting the open receiver. When he did take the ball he made a positive impact with four carries for 33 meters, Nonu attacked the breakdown on eight occasions and put the ball in play with three kicks for 63 meters.
13. Outside Center, Matias Freyre - Houston SaberCats
A great addition for the Houston mid-field, Freyre put in 80 minutes contributing all over the pitch with seven carries for 72 meters, a line break, and two offloads. On defense he contributed eight tackles, 6 ruck arrivals at the break down.
14. Right Wing, Dan Moor - Toronto Arrows
Moor was all over the place. He gashed through the Austin defense with 13 carries for 112 meters and one line break. Moor found himself on a looping skip pass from Tayler Adams and scored the Arrows third try effectively cementing the tempo of the match for the rest of the night.
15. Fullback, Beaudien Waaka - New England Free Jacks
Waaka put on a man of the match performance being all-everything for the Free Jacks in the attack running hard lines on nine carries for 72 meters which yielded two tries. He even showed off his boot by converting the Free Jacks final try.
By Aaron Castro, MLR Staff Writer
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Major League Rugby Stories from February 11, 2020
- Round 1: Match Summaries - MLR
- Round 1: First XV - MLR
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