Warriors Take #1 Spot in MLR with Win over San Diego Legion at Home

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Warriors Take #1 Spot in MLR with Win over San Diego Legion at Home

May 2, 2025 - Major League Rugby (MLR)
Utah Warriors News Release


The Utah Warriors secured a league-leading eighth win of the season on Wednesday with a thrilling 38-31 win over the San Diego Legion.

With just four minutes remaining, and the score tied at 31-31, Cole Semu made an impressive run into scoring position and off-loaded a well-placed pass to Tomasi Tonga. Tonga, in turn, broke a tackle with an impressive inside run before off-loading to a streaking Logan Crowley for the game-winning try.

The score came after the teams battled back and forth for the final 20 minutes despite the Legion playing with a man-down due to being issued a red card in the 48th minute. The Warriors' execution was lacking at times, and a few gaffes along with some inspired play from the Legion led to a tightly contested match down the stretch.

But Utah regathered, adjusted effectively, and as it has so often this season, saved its best for last.

"The important thing for us was how we finished," said Warriors Coach Greg Cooper. "It wasn't exactly how we wanted it to be...But (San Diego) came with a lot of energy. They came with desperation and we knew it was going to be like that."

True to form, the Warriors again jumped out to an early lead on Wednesday. Tries scored by Nic Benn in the seventh minute and then another from D'Angelo Leuila in the 12th helped Utah set the pace with a 14-0 early lead.

It was somewhat surprisingly Leuila's first try scored of the season, as the New Zealander took a strong position up the middle of the field, broke a tackle and then dotted the ball down. Leuila was quick to honor his deceased mother after with his arms stretched upwards toward the sky on what was her birthday.

The Legion came storming back, however, scoring tries in the 34th and then in the 42nd minute to go into the half tied at 14-14.

Utah began the second half on form, with Liam Coltman scoring a try in the 43rd minute to increase the lead to 19-14 after a failed conversion kick before San Diego was issued a red card five minutes later. Dylan Nel then scored a try off of a maul in the 54th to extend the lead to 26-14 with Utah's man advantage and appeared to have the game well in hand.

San Diego had other plans, however.

The Legion intercepted an attempted off-load deep in their own territory, which they turned into a try in the 60th minute, and then added another just four minutes later to tie things up at 26-26.

‚¬Â "We lacked a bit of patience in our attack, at times and defensively we weren't exactly at the point where we normally are," Cooper said. "So we weren't at our best, but we showed enough character to win it."

‚¬Â Leading the final surge for the Warriors was Tuvere Vugakoto scoring a try in the 69th minute off of another maul situation before the Legion responded to tie things at 31-31 just three minutes later.

‚¬Â But Crowley's aforementioned try stunted any hopes of San Diego pulling off the upset with Utah walking away with its eighth win of the year in dramatic fashion.

‚¬Â "One of the things I've spoken to the boys about this week is to individually own the moment," Cooper said. "What happened before doesn't necessarily impact what happens now. What we do now impacts the future, so what I liked about that last one...was those players owned their moment when it mattered."

‚¬Â With the win Utah secured 41 points in the standings while pushing their record to an impressive 8-2 on the season. Both marks put it at the top of the Major League Rugby standings with the playoffs set to begin in Mid June.

‚¬Â "What I'm enjoying is the connection with the guys," Cooper said. "There's a camaraderie there. There's a good feeling there and we're not perfect. We're still trying to grow. We're still trying to build...And it's been challenging, but we live by the Utah Built motto."

‚¬Â Utah will finish off its toughest stretch of the season with a game at Old Glory DC on Sunday.

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