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HERRIMAN — Cold. Wind. Rain. Snow.
The Utah Warriors have seen it all in just two home games of the 2019 Major League Rugby season.
With three inches of snow on the ground, the Warriors were left frozen at the mercy of a home loss Saturday night.
Nicholas Feakes scored his third try of the game with just 35 seconds left — all in the corner — and the NOLA Gold stormed into Herriman and took a 21-19 win over the Utah Warriors at Zions Bank Stadium.
Lance Williams opened the scoring for Utah just five minutes into the match, and Franco Van den Berg added a 24th minute try for the Warriors, who have not won since a 17-9 victory at Austin Elite Rugby in the season opener Feb. 1.
But New Orleans took a 16-14 edge into halftime on back-to-back tries by Feakes, then rallied in a defensive second half to steal the win in front of an announced crowd of 1,447 fans left stunned in frigid temperatures.
Logan Daniels also scored a try for the Warriors.
NOLA Gold moved to 4-1 on the season, with 21 points to keep them as the league’s highest-scoring team. Utah drops to 1-2-1 and seventh place in the nine-team Major League Rugby.
Utah faces a quick turnaround next week, hosting expansion side Rugby United New York at 7 p.m. MST Friday at Zions Bank Stadium. The match will be broadcast on KMYU and streamed live on ESPN+.
Scoring tries
5’ — UT: Lance Williams try
25’ — UT: Franco Van den Berg try
27’ — NOLA: Nicholas Feakes try
39’ — NOLA: Nicholas Feakes try
Halftime: NOLA Gold16, Utah Warriors 14
60’ — UT: Logan Daniels try
80’ — NOLA: Nicholas Feakes try
Final: NOLA Gold 21, Utah Warriors 19
