In similar fashion to the Seattle Seawolves’ game-winning try beyond the 80th minute in the 2019 MLR Championship game in San Diego, the New England Free Jacks came back from behind in the 77th minute to defeat the San Diego Legion, 25-24, to win the 2023 Major League Rugby shield.
“(It was a) pretty similar feeling to let it slip right at the end there,” Nate Augspurger said. “A few more seconds of patience, you know, and it may have gone our way.”
This time, they had the opportunity to answer back but a turnover and foul in the 79th minute sealed the deal as the Free Jacks managed to stall out the clock with a scrum that went beyond the 80 minutes and awarded New England their first MLR title.
“I think we just made too many mistakes,” head coach Danny Lee said. “We didn’t play that smart in terms of trying to … and putting ourselves under pressure on the wrong parts of the field but we spoke about that at halftime. We were better in the second half and (we were) still within the game there in the last play,” Danny Lee said.
Giving up a late try like the one in the final minutes of the Championship game was a shock to the Legion players.
“It’s just tough,” captain Marcel Brache said. “It’s pretty much the opposite of joy. I don’t know what that is.”
“I hope everybody gets a hunger. That’s really the only way (in) professional sports, rugby, the only option is to keep getting better and find a way to recover from setbacks, so that’s what we’re going to have to learn to do,” Augspurger said.
The Free Jacks jumped off to a hot start, scoring the game’s first try from flanker Mitch Jacobson on a mistake early in the game. However, the Legion quickly rebounded with a try of their own from flanker Christian Poidevin, who knotted the game at seven apiece in the 10th minute with a pass from Richard Judd at the try zone line.
New England took the lead on a pair of penalty kicks in the 15th and 18th minutes that gave them a six-point advantage, but the Legion added a Nate Augspurger try and Will Hooley penalty kick in the 30th and 40th minutes to take a 17-13 into the locker rooms at the half.
The Legion started the second half with multiple substitutions. Nate Sylvia replaced Faka’osi Pifeleti to begin the half; and in the 44th minute, Ben Grant and Luke Green exited with Isaac Ross and Chris Baumann relieving them.
Both teams exchanged tries with New England taking a short-lived lead in the 46th minute before Augspurger added his second go-ahead try in the 61st minute.
Leading 24-20, the Legion missed a big opportunity in the 67th minute when Josh Henderson, who subbed on for Hooley in the 63rd minute, missed a penalty that would’ve only allowed the Free Jacks to tie the game instead of taking a three-point lead with a try and conversion.
The missed kick proved costly as Free Jacks center Le Roux Malan scored the game-winner in the 77th minute.
For Ryan Matyas and Hooley, it was a disappointing end to their careers, almost tasting victory in their final game but ultimately coming up just short.
“Both guys have put a lot of effort into San Diego Legion and where we’ve gone to to this point,” Danny Lee said.
Hooley announced in the middle of June as the season was wrapping up that this would be his final season in Major League Rugby. He joined the Legion in 2022 but underwent season-ending surgery that cut his first season in San Diego short.
Matyas was one of four players to play all six seasons with the Legion since their inaugural 2018 season. His retirement was not made public until after the Championship match as he wanted to spend time with family after this season.