AG Pulls Out Match-Winning Try and First Away Victory

AUSTIN, TX (April 11, 2021) On a muggy Saturday afternoon in New Orleans, the AGs snatched victory from the hands of defeat to secure their second win in a row. With no time on the clock, Mack Mason put a kick to the corner and a perfectly timed dive from Rodrick Waters put a highlight end to an otherwise scrappy match.

AG Head Coach Sam Harris speaks on the gritty win, “It means a lot to win at NOLA because it wasn’t pretty all around and we still came out with a character-building win. This kind of win tells us that we’re a contender, it’s not easy to win on the road and we certainly didn’t make it easy on ourselves. We’re coming home to face ATL and we want to knock off another top team.”

AG vs NOLA was the second match of a double-header at the Gold Mine on Airline. After a night of rain, the boggy pitch made for tough ball handling all match long. The AGs struck first in the match after one NOLA handling error spelled good fortune for the men in orange. Mack Mason scooped it up and streaked off down the field and with only one mand to beat he found Pele Cowley for the try. Mason converted the try and the AGs had an early lead.

Each team had plenty of scoring opportunities, but tough defense and those pesky handling errors cost either team tries. NOLA’s gigantic fullback Carl Meyer put the Gold on the board with a penalty kick to close the half 10-3.

Neither team was able to string together consistent offense for the first 20 minutes of the second half. Mack Mason struck a penalty kick well from inside NOLA’s half to extend the AG lead to 10. After the hydration break, NOLA was able to drive deep into AG territory. A hard run from Argentinian winger Julian Dominguez put NOLA on the front foot and after a bit of offload magic from Cam Dolan the Gold capitalized with a try from Joe Tikoisuva. That try gave the Gold their first lead of the match with less than ten minutes to play. 15-13 NOLA.

As time ticked away on the AGs, a few late handling errors put the game in doubt. Until NOLA conceded a penalty and a long kick from Mack Mason gave the AGs a lineout inside the NOLA 25 meter line. Some quick phase play earned the AGs a penalty advantage and what looked like a match-winning penalty conversion suddenly became a match-winning try when Mack Mason spotted space in the NOLA backline; putting through a cross-field kick into the outstretched arms of Rodrick Waters. The conversion was no good but it didn’t matter, AGs win 18-15!

SCORING

NOLA 15

Tries – J. Dominguez (62’), J. Tikoisuva (72’)

Cons – C. Meyer 1/2 (63’)

Pens – C. Meyer 1/1 (30’)

AUSTIN 18

Tries – P. Cowley (5’), R. Waters (79’)

Cons – M. Mason 1/2 (6’)

Pens – M. Mason 2/2 (15’, 58’)