Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Utah Warriors were seconds away from their second loss three games into Major League Rugby’s third season.
And with one final push over the line from big man Kalolo Tuiloma, Utah’s professional rugby franchise eked out their first tie of 2020.
The 6-foot-5, 302-pound tight head prop scored off a maul in the final seconds of the match to give the Warriors a 20-20 road draw with Austin Gilgronis at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Utah improved to 1-1-1 with the draw, while Austin fell to 0-2-1. But the end result felt like a loss to first-year Warriors head coach Chris Latham.
"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."
Austin struck first through an eighth-minute penalty kick by Marcelo Torrealba. But Utah captain Dwayne Polataivao scored the first try of the game, skating in from five meters out to give the Warriors a 7-3 lead.
Hagen Schulte added a penalty kick with the last touch of the half to give Utah a 10-3 lead at the break.
The Gilgronis tied the match from a maul in the 44th minute, and Frank Halai gave them their first lead from the touchline of the game just eight minutes later.
Michael Bask intercepted a Gilgronis try in the 66th minute, but Austin forced a turnover inside the five-meter line five minutes to preserve a seven-point lead.
Austin nearly pulled out all three points, but Tuiloma pushed a maul over the try line in stoppage time of the 80th minute to give the Warriors a share of the points and a draw.
Scoring summary
Utah Warriors at Austin Gilgronis
8’ AUS: Torrealba penalty kick
21’ UTA: Dwayne Polataivao try (Schulte kick)
40’ UTA: Schulte penalty kick
44’ AUS: Try from maul (Torrealba kick)
52’ AUS: Frank Halai try (Torrealba kick)
60’ UTA: Schulte penalty kick
65’ AUS: Torrealba penalty kick
80’ UTA: Kalolo Tuiloma try (Schulte kick)
Final: Utah 20, Austin 20
