1
Ma'a Nonu remains undefeated in United States as ex-All Blacks wing scores on MLR debut
One-cap All Blacks wing Frank Halai has kickstarted his new stint in North America with a try on debut for Major League Rugby outfit Austin Gilgronis.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 31-year-old is one of many high-profile offshore arrivals for the third season of MLR, joining the recently-rebranded Gilgronis from Top 14 club Pau in France.
Halai, who scored in his solitary All Blacks appearance against Japan in 2013, came off the bench to repeat the feat for Austin at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, finishing off a move in broken play to run in a 51st minute try against the Utah Warriors.
Welcome to Austin, Frank Halai! 💥
Austin leads 17-10! #frankhalai pic.twitter.com/bSkS1yAeWd
— Austin Gilgronis (@Gilgronis) February 23, 2020
Continue reading below…
The former Blues and Wasps speedster’s maiden five-pointer wasn’t enough to secure victory for his new side, however, as a converted try to ex-Highlanders prop Kalolo Tuiloma in injury time allowed Utah to steal a 20-all draw away from home.
Halai wasn’t the only former All Black in action in the United States over the weekend, as test centurion Ma’a Nonu maintained an undefeated start to his tenure with the San Diego Legion on Sunday.
After playing a key role in the Legion’s previous two victories over the back-to-back reigning champion Seattle Seawolves and the Colorado Raptors, the two-time World Cup-winner was comparatively quieter in San Diego’s 30-21 win over the New England Free Jacks.
The Legion end today with another victory at Torero Stadium against @nefreejacks.
Final Score 30 – 21, and with more than 4 tries, it gives us a bonus point win!
Next home game is March 8th against @rugbyunitedny pic.twitter.com/6XZotm4t6N— San Diego Legion Rugby (@SDLegion) February 24, 2020
However, that’s more of a credit to the Free Jacks’ defensive scheme rather than Nonu’s attacking abilities, which were on full show in the opening fortnight of the new MLR campaign.
ADVERTISEMENT
The victory leaves the Legion comfortably at the top of the Western Conference standings with three wins from as many outings, eight points clear of the second-placed Warriors.
In the east, it’s the Toronto Arrows who sit atop the Eastern Conference table – a reward which comes as a result of being the only other team in the league yet to taste defeat.
The Canadian club’s unbeaten status remained intact after they dispatched the Seawolves 39-17 at Starfire Stadium in Seattle, with Manawatu fullback Sam Malcolm slotting three conversions and six penalties for a personal haul of 24 points.
🧊 ICE 🧊 IN 🧊 HIS 🧊 VEINS 🧊
A perfect nine-for-nine from the tee 👉 https://t.co/ealzwE4vuo
Sam Malcolm, take a bow.#ArrowsUp | @usmlr pic.twitter.com/MOnJAtip1Y
— Toronto Arrows RC (@TorontoArrows) February 24, 2020
ADVERTISEMENT
Elsewhere, a prominent-looking Old Glory DC side, headlined by ex-Springboks prop Tendai Mtawarira, downed the Houston SaberCats 22-13 at Aveva Stadium.
Former Scotland sevens international and Edinburgh loose forward Mungo Mason found himself on the scoresheet, which alleviated the pressure applied on his side when fleet-footed Northland wing Renata Roberts-Tenana was sent to the sin bin for an off-the-ball altercation late in the match.
That win lifted the Washington DC-based franchise, which also featured the likes of Auckland halfback and ex-Samoa sevens star Danny Tusitala, Kiwi journeyman Declan O’Donnell and blockbusting USA midfielder Thretton Palamo, off the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
In the round’s other matches, the NOLA Gold fought off the Colorado Raptors – who were without their key men Rene Ranger and Digby Ioane – 27-20 in Denver, while French star Mathieu Bastareaud started at No. 8 in Rugby United New York’s 22-19 win over Rugby ATL in Atlanta.
MLR Western Conference
San Diego Legion (3-0) – 15pts
Utah Warriors (1-1-1) – 7pts
Houston SaberCats (1-2) – 6pts
Austin Gilgronis (0-1-2) – 3pts
Seattle Seawolves (0-3) – 1pt
Colorado Raptors (0-3) – 1pt
MLR Eastern Conference
Toronto Arrows (3-0) – 13pts
NOLA Gold (2-1) – 10pts
Rugby ATL (2-1) – 10pts
Rugby United New York (2-1) – 9pts
Old Glory DC (2-1) 9pts
New England Free Jacks (1-2) – 7pts
Round Four Fixtures
NOLA Gold vs San Diego Legion at Shrine on Airline, New Orleans
Austin Gilgronis vs Old Glory DC at Toyota Field, San Antonio
Colorado Raptors vs Utah Warriors at Infinity Park, Denver
Seattle Seawolves vs New England Free Jacks at Starfire Stadium, Seattle
Rugby ATL vs Toronto Arrows at Life University, Atlanta
Houston SaberCats vs Rugby United New York at Aveva Stadium, Houston
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments