Thomas More moved to 4-0 in the Big Rivers with a key victory over Adrian 29-17 Friday night.

Paced by 14 points from center Rafael O’Gorman, Thomas More benefited from two tries against the run of play and a strong physical effort from No. 7 Tomas Casares and prop Hudson Montgomery tp win.

For Adrian, a red card for a punch just before halftime hurt them as they were shorthanded in the pack for half the game

The game began with Adrian on front foot, pressuring right from the kickoff and went through several phases before a dropped ball allowed the Saints to kick through and Casares to chase in and make a nice open-field tackle.

But Adrian pressured further, but again couldn’t quite finish it off.

It wasn’t until six minutes in that Thomas More had any real ball on attack and they set free Tshepo Moselane on the wing, and he burned the Bulldogs for a massive run before finally being taken down.

Now it was Thomas More’s turn to have some time in the red zone and to be held out. Adrian was able to clear, chase well, and No. 8 Inaki Takau charged to the line. He barely knocked the ball on, but Adrian did earn a penalty which  MacGregor Adams put over.

After that, Thomas More camped out in the Adrian end for about 11 minutes. Adrian’s goalline defense was tenacious and abrasive with prop Matagi Fa’avale working very hard and making at least one try-saver, and lock Nic Andiarena also making some key stops. 

The frustration certainly started to creep into the Saints, and little knock-ons stymied their attack.

Then things got weird.

A loose pass by Adrian saw the ball bounce on the ground. Worried a Thomas More player might grab it Adrian fullback Quinn Murray fly-hacked it high and out of trouble … sort of. It was a nice piece of skill but in the end the Saints were able to counter, and get a penalty in front of the posts. An easy decision to go for points and a relatively easy kick for O’Gorman to tie it up.

Adrian went back on the attack after that, but Thomas More was able to break out, and with halftime looming, got into the Adrian half. Takau contested at a ruck and while doing that punched an opponent in the head. The AR saw it and called in the referee—red card.

With just enough time for one more attack, Thomas More then ran a series of forward charges off a maul, got down to the tryline, and then Montgomery picked up and stretched over for the try. Conversion and Thomas More took a 10-3 lead into halftime.

As low-scoring as the first half was the second half was much more open.

Adrian came very close early on with a lineout steal from Fa’avale and a run where he tried to connect with Murray. Despite the Bulldogs being shorthanded they repeatedly had numbers on the outside and just struggled to either recognize that or make that final pass to exploit it. Outside center Petelo Vatuvei caused Thomas More plenty of problems when he had the ball in hand.

And then when they did feel they had an overload, the last pass was nabbed instead by Saints fullback Luca Mattassini and he pinned his ears back and was gone for 85 meters.

Adrian continued to try to open it up but the defense on the edge, especially Moselane, was there. Moselane’s low body position and commitment to the contact was huge for the Saints.