Warriors Tie Austin Gilgronis at Full Time at Bold Stadium

Austin, TX–The Utah Warriors rallied late to rip a would-be victory from the clutches of the Austin Gilgronis and leave with a 20-20 draw.

With the Warriors trailing 20-13 in 79th minute a lineout ten meters from the Gilgronis tryline was successfully won and mauled by Utah with prop Kalolo Tuiloma dotting down for the last-gasp try. Flyhalf Hagen Schulte would convert the kick and level the game in injury time.

Utah head coach Chris Latham pulled no punches on how he saw his team perform despite the late comeback draw at the death.

“Very disappointed with that result,” Latham said, “I felt like we had done enough in that first half to kick on in the second half. But again our individual mindset let us down. We let them back in the game with individual errors and missed tackles. We need to be better”

The scoring started in the 7th minute with Austin scrumhalf Marcelo Torrealba slotting a goal after an early Utah penalty.

After a 14th-minute yellow card to Austin prop Jamie McKintosh, the Warriors would capitalize and pressurize the Austin scrum. An ensuing scrum penalty would go the way of the Warriors and captain Dwayne Polataivao would sneak his way into the endzone in the 17th minute.

The converted try by flyhalf Hagen Schulte would push the Warriors ahead 7-3.

A steady dose of defensive pressure from the Warriors would negate the Gilgronis’ advantage in territory and possession for the rest of the first half and would keep Austin scoreless going into the break.

But a late penalty kick from Schulte just before halftime would inch the Warriors further ahead 10-3 for the halftime lead.

Coming out of the locker room an energized Austin side would see hooker Tiaan Erasmus surge from short distance for the try in the 44th minute and pull the teams even.

Following more pressure and errors from Utah Austin substitute center Frank Halai would power through the Utah defense for a 59th minute try and edge the Gilgronis ahead 17-10.

Another Schulte penalty in the 65th minute would bring the Warriors back to within striking distance, but Torrealba wasn’t to be outdone and notched his own penalty in the 69th minute to keep a seven-point game in favor of Austin.

With time winding down the Warriors would fight back with the Tuiloma try in injury time to tie the game staving off the loss on the road.

“The boys showed heart to dig that one out in the end,” said Utah captain Dwayne Polataivao said echoing his coach’s sentiments, “But we are our own worst enemy at the moment. Again we felt we had the game but we just needed to start better in the second half. We showed a bit of want in the last ten minutes and we needed that for the whole eighty minutes.”

The 1-1-1 Utah Warriors will be on the road again next weekend in Denver as they face the Colorado Raptors who currently sit 0-3 having lost today at home against the NOLA Gold 27-20.

For more information on the Utah Warriors and to purchase your tickets for the season home-opener please visit www.WarriorsRugby.com.

SCORING SUMMARY

0-3: 3’ Austin (Torrealba, Penalty)

7-3: 14’ Utah (Polataivao, Try; Schulte, Conversion)

10-3: 40’ Utah (Schulte, Penalty)

HALFTIME: Utah 10 Austin 3

10-10: 44’ Austin (Erasmus, Try; Torrealba, Conversion)

10-17: 59’ Austin (Halai Try; Torrealba, Conversion)

13-17: 65’ Utah (Schulte, Penalty)

13-20: 69’ Austin (Torrealba, Penalty)

20-20: 80’ Utah (Tuiloma, Try; Schulte, Conversion)

FINAL SCORE: Utah 20 Austin 20

Utah Warriors vs. Austin Warriors

1. Franco Van Den Berg
2. Tu Vere Vugakoto
3. Angus MacClellan (Kalolo Tuiloma @ 59’)
4. Matt Jensen (Vili Vuli @ 65’)
5. John Cullen
6. Bailey Wilson
7. Thomas Tuavao (Saia Uhila @ 42’)
8. Jurie Van Vuuren
9. Dwayne Polataivao © (Michael Baska @ 59’)
10. Hagen Schulte
11. James Vaifale
12. Calvin Whiting
13. Tyler Fisher (Dom Toluono @ 65’)
14. Gannon Moore
15. Robbie Povey