Week 14 Awards: Marauding Moor Keeps Arrows' Playoff Hopes Alive, While Warriors Find Another Gear in Bonus-Point Victory
April 30, 2019 - Major League Rugby (MLR) News Release
Salt Lake City, UT: There are five weeks remaining in the regular season and only four teams will qualify for the 2019 Major League Rugby Championship Series. What better time for Week 14 Player of the Week Dan Moor to seize the moment and lead sixth-placed Toronto Arrows to a crucial 29-7 victory over the Seattle Seawolves in third, scoring one try and carrying for 172 meters to lift his side within four points of the playoffs. The Utah Warriors secured the Week 14 Team of the Week award with their second win of the season over Austin Elite, winger Fetu'u Vainikolo reminding the world why he's on top of Tonga's all-time try scoring charts with a smart duo of tries.
In front of a season-high 3,104 fans at Zions Bank Stadium, Utah sprinted to a 7-0 lead three minutes in. Warriors captain Tim O'Malley slashed through the Elite defense with a bruising inside run, then flicked the ball to a supporting Vainikolo who ran 40 meters before carrying two defenders over the try-line. Austin Elite responded with two scores, but the hosts regained the lead in the 26th minute with a James Semple try. In the second half, the Warriors' defense suffocated the Austin attack. Vanikolo scored MLR's Try of the Week, and his second of the game, in the 78th minute, bucking five defenders in a galloping 30-meter try and drawing a "How on Earth did you do that?" from the television announcers. The Tongan wing was one of four different players to record a try in the Warriors' bonus-point victory.
Week 14 Player of the Week Dan Moor
Photo Credit: José Romelo Lagman
Moor, the 6-foot, 220-lb Canadian international made a scintillating break from inside his own half to effectively put the Arrows out of the Seawolves' reach with ten minutes to play. With Toronto up 15-7, a Cole Keith intercept led to a series of Arrow passes that ended in Moor's hands, before the winger burst through the Seawall for a glorious 65-meter try. The Arrows skipper finished the game with 19 carries, a 2019 MLR single game record. Moor is the second Toronto Arrows player to earn a Player of the Week Award, following Mike Sheppard from Week 10 this season.
MLR's First XV of Week 14:
Loosehead Prop (No. 1), Rob Brouwer, Toronto Arrows
Hooker (No. 2), Dylan Fawsitt, Rugby United New York
Tighthead Prop (No. 3), Marco Fepulea'i, Glendale Raptors
Lock (No. 4), Mike Sheppard, Toronto Arrows
Lock (No. 5), Keri Nasoqeque, San Diego Legion
Blindside Flanker (No. 6), Brad Tucker, Seattle Seawolves
Openside Flanker (No. 7), Arawa Elkington, Utah Warriors
No. 8, Marcello Wainwright, Toronto Arrows
Scrum-half (No. 9), Nate Augspurger, San Diego Legion
Fly-half (No. 10), Joe Pietersen, San Diego Legion
Wing (No. 11), Dan Moor, Toronto Arrows
Inside Center (No. 12), Chad London, Glendale Raptors
Outside Center (No. 13), Roland Suniula, Seattle Seawolves
Wing (No. 14), Deion Mikesell, Houston SaberCats
Fullback (No. 15), Mike Te'o, San Diego Legion
Major League Rugby Stories from April 30, 2019
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