The Chicago Hounds signed off on Major League Rugby’s first perfect campaign with a dominant 35-17 victory over the California Legion on Sunday night. A soaked pitch at SeatGeek Stadium forced the visitors to take a tactical approach, which played into the hands of a fearsome home forward pack that got the better of the set piece and the collisions.
Torrential rain greeted the players at kickoff. A kicking exchange went in favor of the home side, taking advantage of a missed touch. With the Legion under pressure they were too slow to roll from a ruck, and Chris Hilsenbeck took points to open the scoring for the Hounds.
Almost instantly the visitors were on the back foot again. A raking kick forced Coby Miln to slide into touch. From the ensuing lineout drove Theo Fourie crashed onto the line. The referee initially declared no grounding, but his assistant approved the score. Hilsenbeck tacked on an extra two to make it 10-nil with only 8 minutes on the clock.
Miln got California on the board with a three-pointer but the momentum was again short-lived. The Legion were pinged for a neck roll, and then Tonga Kofe saw yellow for collapsing a maul. Chicago picked a scrum and after Ollie Devoto charged over the gainline, Mason Flesch smashed his way in from 5 meters out to score a second try for the home side.
Before Kofe could return to the pitch his replacement at prop Justus Tavai was binned for a dangerous clearout. It left California with 13 men and forced Joe Taufete’e to temporarily shift over to avoid uncontested scrums. The Legion held on and when back to 14 some soccer skills from Joe Mano and Gonzalo Bertranou forced a 5-meter scrum. Chicago won the hit and Ruben de Haas forced a turnover to escape the danger and take it to halftime.
Hilsenbeck stretched the lead with a penalty goal early in the second half, and more pressure resulted in a third try for the home side before the 50-minute mark. The forwards pounded up the middle until the California defense was sucked in, and Peyton Wall was left wide open on the left side to finish off the resulting overlap.
Discipline hurt the Legion again when a badly-timed challenge from Cassh Maluia on Lucas Rumball resulted in another yellow card. Devoto and Flesch made inroads and this time Nathan Den Hoedt got the credit with the big lock’s try putting the result beyond doubt.
California hit a purple patch at the hour mark when Billy Meakes stepped in at first receiver to put Coby Miln over. A quick tap penalty to Ed Timpson came next, but it was too little, too late. With the Legion attempting to play out of their end, Man-of-the-Match Rumball fittingly won a turnover penalty and Hilsenbeck did the honors with his boot to bring on the final whistle.
CHICAGO 35
Tries (4) – T. Fourie (7′), M. Flesch (26′), P. Wall (47′), N. Den Hoedt (53′)
Cons (3) – C. Hilsenbeck 3/4 (8′, 27′, 54′)
Pens (3) – C. Hilsenbeck 3/3 (5′, 44′, 80′)
CALIFORNIA 17
Tries (2) – C. Miln (60′), E. Timpson (66′)
Cons (2) – C. Miln 2/2 (61′, ’67)
Pens (1) – C. Miln 1/1 (17′)
YC (3) – T. Kofe (25′), J. Tavai (33′), C. Maluia (51′)
CHICAGO HOUNDS
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Jake Turnbull 61′), 2 Theo Fourie (16 Jackson Zabierek 74′), 3 Charlie Abel (18 Wilton Rebolo 67′), 4 Brandon Harvey (19 Tomás Casares 55′), 5 Nathan Den Hoedt, 6 Mason Flesch, 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 8 Jake Kinneeveauk (20 Emmanuel Albert 67′), 9 Ruben de Haas (21 Michael Baska 75′), 10 Chris Hilsenbeck, 11 Peyton Wall, 12 Ollie Devoto, 13 Tavite Lopeti (23 Santiago Videla 61′), 14 Noah Brown, 15 Brock Webster
Not used: 22 Reece Botha
CALIFORNIA LEGION
1 Ma’ake Muti (17 Declan Leaney 35′), 2 Joe Taufete’e (16 Ale Lopeti 55′), 3 Tonga Kofe (18 Justus Tavai 61′), 4 Keni Nasoqeqe (19 Ronan Murphy 48′), 5 Jason Damm (capt.), 6 Lance Williams (18 Justus Tavai 25′-35′), 7 Ed Timpson (20 Cyrille Cama 73′), 8 Ben Houston, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Coby Miln (21 Tas Smith 73′), 11 Joe Mano, 12 Billy Meakes, 13 Cassh Maluia (23 Cole Semu 75′), 14 Oscar Treacy (16 Ale Lopeti 33′-35′) (Justus Tavai 35′-43′) (22 Corbin Smith 59′), 15 Rory van Vugt
Date: Sunday, June 21
Venue: SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview
Kickoff: 19:00 local
Weather: rain, 61°F (16°C), wind E 12-18 mph (20-30 km/h)
Referee: Robin Kaluzniak (Canada)
Assistants: Derek Summers (USA) & Luke Rogan (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)