In a very exciting game under the lights at New Orleans City Park, Brother Martin defeated the Bayou Hurricanes 29-24.

Bayou came ready to play and very quickly showed their intent to run. Bayou's big athletic inside center Mike Jackson burst through for for a 60-meter gallop. The conversion from Cade Austin was good and Bayou took a 7-0 lead. Brother Martin fought back but penalties and knock-ons stymied their attacks. Brandon Bourg, as he has done all season, made a break and fed wing John Rink. The Brother Martin winger scored the try but missed the conversion and it was 7-5 to the Hurricanes.

Brother Martin was then called for a penalty in front of their posts and Austin popped the kick over to make it 10-5. Penalties continued to be a problem for Brother Martin, and at the same time Bayou's ferocious hits forced knock-ons. Later in the first half the Hurricanes fed the ball to powerful wing Josh Johnson, who broke several tackles and scored. Austin was good on the kick and it was 17-5 for Bayou Hurricanes.

In the second half Brother Martin came out and started putting phases together and avoiding those penalties and knock-ons. The result was 24 unanswered points. First, Bourg broke free and raced in for the try, with Rink converting. Then Rink scored his second try, once again finishing off a movement on the wing, and converted. Suddenly Brother Martin led 19-17. Brother Martin then used a throw-in to the front of the lineout to launch their attack. Prop Jacob Schmidt fed Sam Vallejos, who had thrown it in, and Vallejos passed to Bourg, who scored the try.  And finally Rink was in for his third to turn a 17-5 deficit into a 29-17 lead.

Bayou was not done, however, and while time was not their friend they stormed back and put No. 8 Landen Zeringue in at the corner. Austin put over the difficult conversion, and it was a one-score game at 29-24. Brother Martin kicked to Bayou and found themselves on the back foot once again. Bayou worked the ball down the field but committed a penalty at the Botherr Martin 22.   Rink kicked the ball out of the back of the try zone to end the game and preserve a very hard-fought victory. 

Along with try-scorers Rink (who logged 19 points on the day) and Bourg, Brother Martin got a big day at the office from the center pairing of Hayden Tubbs and Aiden Haab. Both ran hard and put the Bayou defense under pressure. Defensively they tackled well and were crucial during that middle passage when Brother Martin mounted their comeback.

As for the Bayou Hurricanes, a tie and three losses, two by a try, has been frustrating. Strong performances by scrumhalf Cade Austin have been commonplace this season and against Brother Martin he was once again featured on the scoresheet, converted all three tries and added a penalty, and poached a couple of balls in the breakdown.  

"This year started really rough. We lost a lot of seniors last year," said Head Coach Cade Austin. "We have been working really hard teaching brand new players the game of rugby. We’re definitely progressing and tonight was proof of that. The boys played really well, The big difference tonight was our defense we came up hard putting plenty pressure on Brother Martin. That’s something we’ve been struggling with but tonight the boys hard work at practice really came through. In our last match against St. Paul’s we probably knocked the ball on 20 times and tonight our ball handling was amazing; we had only three knock-ons the entire match."

There is still rugby to be played and since all four teams will be in the playoffs, you won't have seen the last of the Bayou Hurricanes.