Florida Jaguares Impress in Winning MLR Academy Tourney
Florida Jaguares Impress in Winning MLR Academy Tourney
The Florida Jaguares took home the honors this past weekend at Major League Rugby's first MLR Academies tournament.
Held in Boston, Mass. and hosted by the New England Free Jacks at their stadium, the MLR Academies Tournament featured a round-robin between five teams:
New York MLR Academy-NY Foundry
New England Free Jacks Academy-Junior Jacks
Houston Bobcats MLR Academy
Florida Jaguares
MYRO Lions
The Jaguares started off strong, shutting out Massachusetts Youth Rugby (MYRO) 40-0 and followed that up with a 19-0 shutout of the Junior Jacks.
New York's academy, the Foundry, provided a sterner test and the Florida side edged the Foundry 17-14.
The Final
That set up the Cup Final with the Houton SaberCats Academy. The Jaguares took a 3-0 lead eight minutes in thanks to a penalty goal from flyhalf Joaquin Tartara. Houston spent the next seven minutes or so pressuring the Jaguares in their 22, but once Florida got out of their end they scored quickly. Houston's discipline let them down and Florida got a lineout at midfield. From there scrumhalf Adrian Suarez sold a dummy and sliced through a rather porous Houston defense. After weaving past a couple of defenders and getting inside the SaberCats' 22, Suarez fed flanker Kristian Poux, running well in support, and Poux was in under the posts.
The same sort of story led to Florida's next try. A kick to touch from a penalty for Houston missed touch and rolled past the dead ball line. The ball returned to the mark near halfway and a scrum for the Jaguares. From that scrum quick hands set up wing Matthew Arteta to race 50 meters for the try. Tartara converted this try as he had the one before and it was 17-0.
Houston answered with some pressure and a little more accuracy. From close range they send it wide and center Zan Smith burst through for the try. The difficult conversion was nicely slotted by flyhalf Devon Smith and Houston was on the board, making it 17-7. Houston came right back to threaten again, but were held up in-goal. And once again they were punished soon afterward by Florida's quick-strike attack.
The Jaguares Strike Back
Center Jordan Vassel got the ball with no momentum and five SaberCats players in front of him. He charged at a gap in the loosely-organized defensive line, shouldered away one tackler, raced past everyone else, and dummied his way past the fullback to score an improbably try for the freshman.
Tartara slotted the difficult conversion and the Jaguares were in control 24-7.
In the second half Vassel ran nicely in support of Arteta's half-break and he once again outstripped the defense to score under the posts. Five tries from the Jaguares and all had started at least 40 meters from the tryline. And that was pretty much that. Houston has much of the run of play for the second half but Florida's defense was pretty organized. Houston did well to test interior defenders and work their way into scoring position. Finally some slick ball handling put Jonathan Ridley in at the corner.
It was scant consolation for Houston, and Florida answered anyway, with Tartara popped a perfect little kick for fullback Romulo Sotomayor to chase down. Tarara converted and the Jaguares had won it 38-12.
See full game on The Rugby Channel>>
Florida Jaguares Roster:
1. Zachary Crook; 2. Juan Castillo; 3. Gozie Mosi; 6. Kristian Poux; 9. Adrian Suarez; 10. Joaquin Tartara; 11. Juan Gonzalez Cheda; 13. Logan Sage; 14. Matthew Alexander Arteta; 17. Ethan Fluxman; 18. Benjamin Diaz; 19. Juan Pedro Ameijenda; 20. Nathan Cox; 21. Miguel E Villarreal Rojas; 23. Tiago Roveta; 24. Jordan Vassel; 25. Simon Van Thienen; 27. Santino Di Mare; 29. Syro Sosa
Houston SaberCats Academy Roster:
2. Seth Smith; 3. Jacob Sanders; 4. Skylawn Viliata Feletoa Tua’one; 45. Dylan Bentsen; 6. Fionn Smith; 7. Malachi Pacheco; 8. Marcus Harris; 9. Joseph Curran; 10. Devon Johannes Smith; 12. Sean Stephen Mendoza Lewthwaite; 14. Lucas Staggs; 15. Shaundre Belker; 16. Mason Tyler Wilson; 17. Jacob Cavazos; 18. Alexander Taylor; 19. Nicholas Hernandez; 20. Elijah Uyenco; 21. Christian Bennett; 22. Jan Chojnacki; 23. Jonathan Ridley
In an entertaining and back-and-forth Plate Final in which the teams traded tries, the Junior Jacks edged the New York Foundry 21-19.
Unity and Set Piece
But overall the Jaguares showed better skill and adventure than the rest. And they were more unified. This, perhaps, was due to how many players came from one team, the state champion Okapi Wanderers, or more because they had already played several games together. This unit, after all, had won the Florida International Rugby Showcase at both the U18 and U16 level.
The U18s beat the Eastside Lions 19-0, Wando 28-0, and Jacksonville 35-0 as well as a Charlotte Cardinals XV 78-3 in that tournament.
So they and coaches Juan Orfila, Jose Codoni, Julio Baylac, and Pablo Parada were ready.
Through the weekend Tartara's kicking in defense, on attack, and for goal were all very strong (he was 6-for-6 in the final). He ran the attack, working well with Suarez, and that unleashed the liked of Arteta and Vassel, whose pace and confidence in attack led to those long-range tries in the final.
Up front, hooker and captain Nano Fernandez was a superb leader. Poux's try overshadowed his excellent defense. And while it's easy to get excited about the open-field tries, they wouldn't have happened if the likes of locks Benja Diaz and Steel Castillo weren't making the hard yards and winning clean set-piece ball. Five tries in the final by the Jaguares and every single one was directly off a scrum or lineout.
For his part, Head Coach Juan Orfila was pleased with the performance and also praised the event in general. "The organization was excellent from New England and the plan is to keep attending this tournaments to play the best U18 talent in the nation," said Orfila.
See Day 1 Action Here:
See Day 2 Action Here:
