Warriors Win Thrilling Match Over Old Glory DC

Herriman, Utah — The Utah Warriors came away with a thrilling, last-minute victory over Old Glory DC Saturday night to improve to 4-3 on the season.

Coming into the week in third-place in MLR’s Western Division, the Utah Warriors looked to build on their high-scoring victory over Houston in Week 6, while Old Glory was trying to rebound from a tough loss to the LA Giltinis last week.

From the opening kick, it was a tightly contested match. DC opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the eighth minute of action but the Warriors responded with a penalty kick of their own by MLR’s third-leading points scorer, Hagen Schulte, in the tenth minute.

From there on out the Warriors and Old Glory traded tries with DC holding onto a one-point lead at the end of the first half, 18-17.

Pick-6 but make it 𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒃𝒚 😉

UTAH – 10 // DC – 11#ForTheNation // #UTAHvDC // #MLR2021 // #MLRMentalFitness pic.twitter.com/XtxHCPpmPa

— Utah Warriors Rugby (@utwarriorsrugby) May 9, 2021

The second-half scoring got underway with a try by DC’s Renata Roberts-Tenana but the Warriors quickly answered with a penalty try, and an automatic seven points, in the 56th minute of action.

However, the scoring didn’t end there as the Warriors and Old Glory continued to trade scores, this time penalty goals in the 66th minute by Utah’s Schulte and in the 69th minute by DC’s Jason Robertson.

Old Glory then set the stage for a thrilling final 10 minutes of action as Callum Gibbins scored a try for DC, however, an unsuccessful conversion attempt kept it a one-score deficit for Utah.

Trailing 33-27, the Warriors advanced the ball deep into DC territory, setting up a thrilling finish as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

“Emotions were high,” said Warriors center Mika Kruse on the final 60 seconds of action. “The boys just held onto the ball really well so that’s what really put us over at the end.”

With time added in the game, the Warriors were knocking on the door when Kruse was able to break the line and score a try for Utah. Still needing the conversion to win, Schulte kicked the ball through the posts, giving Utah the victory.

MIKA KRUSE SCORES AND HAGEN'S KICK IS GOOD!!!!!

WARRIORS WIN!!!!

UTAH – 34 // DC – 33 – FINAL#ForTheNation // #UTAHvDC // #MLR2021 // #MLRMentalFitness

— Utah Warriors Rugby (@utwarriorsrugby) May 9, 2021

“See the gap and shoot it,” said Kruse on what was going through his mind when he ran in for the game-winning try. “That’s it.”

“Up in the coach’s office, I said to the coaches, ‘I guarantee you we will score again. The boys are playing well. We will score again,’” said Warriors Assistant Coach Shaun Davies after the emotional win. “Honestly, I think I’ll take that win over a 30-point win any day because that’s huge for us, huge for our confidence, huge for us going forward into the Giltinis next week.”

Who else won’t be able to sleep after this game?!#ForTheNation // #UTAHvsDC pic.twitter.com/gK3RsyYZDD

— Utah Warriors Rugby (@utwarriorsrugby) May 9, 2021

The win over DC sets up a match between the top-two teams in the Western Division next week as the Warriors travel to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles to take on the undefeated LA Giltinis.

“With this win, we now have the confidence to believe that we are a good team and we have the confidence to go to the Giltinis, in an awesome stadium, and let’s be honest we have nothing to lose. So, we can go there with our confidence from this game, move the pole around and see how it goes,” said Davies. “Do we have things to clean up? Massively. Our ball in hand wasn’t the best. We got a bit excited sometimes. Our kicking game can improve. But we got the win and we can 100% [build] on that.”

The Warriors are back in action next week as they travel to Los Angeles, California to take on the LA Giltinis at SoFi Stadium. That match will kick off at 8 PM MT and will be broadcast on FS2 along with the radio call on ESPN 700 and ESPN 960 AM.

SCORING SUMMARY:

08’ — Jason Robertson Penalty Kick — UTAH 0 / DC 3
10’ — Hagen Schulte Penalty Kick — UTAH 3 / DC 3
12’ — Josh Whippy Try, conversion is good — UTAH 10 / DC 3
16’ — Doug Fraser Try, conversion no good — UTAH 10 / DC 8
19’ — Jason Robertson Drop Goal — UTAH 10 / DC 11
29’ — Aston Fortuin Try, conversion is good — UTAH 17 / DC 11
32’ — Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, conversion is good — UTAH 17 / DC 18
– HALF-
49’ — Renata Roberts-Tenana Try — UTAH – 17 / DC – 25
56’ — Penalty Try — UTAH 24 / DC 25
66’ — Hagen Schulte Penalty Goal — UTAH 27 / DC 25
69’ — Jason Robertson Penalty Goal — UTAH 27 / DC 28
72’ — Callum Gibbins Try, conversion no good — UTAH 27 / DC 33
80’ – Mika Kruse Try, conversion is good — UTAH 34 / DC 33
-FINAL-

UTAH WARRIORS GAMEDAY ROSTER:

1- Ollie Kalifi
2- Ratu Vugakoto
3- Angus MacLellan
4- Jurie Van Vuuren
5- Aston Fortuin
6- Thomas Tu’avao
7- Bailey Wilson (C)
8- Lance Williams
9- Michael Baska
10- Hagen Schulte
11- Joe Mano
12- Calvin Whiting
13- Mika Kruse
14- Josh Whippy
15- Mikey Te’o (VC)
16- Chad Gough
17- Alex Tucci
18- Paul Mullen
19- Saia ‘Uhila
20- Mike Gieselman
21- Fraser Hurst
22- Derek Ellingson
23- James Vaifale