Chaos ensues as players rush in to break up fist fight between coaches in MLR
Major League Rugby witnessed some unprecedented scenes at Memorial Field, New York, on Sunday as all out war broke out between two coaches.
The coaches in question were Houston SaberCats head coach Pote Human and New York Ironworkers head of high-performance Ollie Richardson.
After Human rushed onto the field in anger, he was confronted by Richardson, where in no time at all the SaberCats chief was slapping his opponent. The coaches were briefly pulled apart by the players and officials, before Richardson responded with a punch of his own.
The pair were eventually split up by the players, but these were very strange scenes indeed. Take a look:
We have video @SickosCommittee pic.twitter.com/hTqa9USusR
— r/MLRugby (@r_MLRugby) April 23, 2023
The SaberCats went on to win the contest 34-27.
The New York team sheet featured a starting lineup of Samuel Davies at loosehead prop, supported by hooker Dylan Fawsitt and Kaleb Geiger at tighthead. The second row was made up of captain Nate Brakeley and Hamish Dalzell, while the back row consisted of Brad Tucker at flanker, Monate Akuei Gai at openside, and Kara Pryor at No8. Conor McManus and Jason Emery served as scrum-half and fly-half, respectively, while Teihorangi Walden and Fa’asiu Fuatai made up the centre pairing. Andrew Coe and Sam Windsor were stationed on the wings, and fullback duties were covered by Quinn Ngawati. On the bench, the team had DaQuan Perry, Anthony Parry, Enrique Quintero, Charlie Hewitt, William Whiteside, Cristian Rodriguez, Nick Feakes, and Brooklyn Hardaker.
The SaberCats’ front row consisted of Robert Cobb, Dean Muir leading the team as captain, and Morgan Mitchell. CC Mahoni and Nathan Den Hoedt formed the second row, while Marno Redelinghuys, Wynand Grassmann, and Malon Al-Jiboori made up the back row. The scrum-half and fly-half positions were held by Carlo de Nysschen and Davy Coetzer, respectively. Louritz van der Schyff and Dom Akina provided coverage at the centre positions, while Vereniki Tikoisolomone and Christian Dyer played as wingers. Drew Wild was stationed as the fullback. The bench players included Axel Zapata, Alec McDonnell, Pono Davis, Keni Nasoqeqe, Danny Barrett, Emmanuel Albert, Devereaux Ferris, and Zachary Pangelinan.
