Anthem Stumble To Old Glory DC 31-14

A tale of two halves, and the fine margins that separate them

Saturday, April 18 2026, Charlotte, North Carolina – Written by Dan Brooks

The disruption started before kickoff. Luke Carty, Anthem’s orchestrator-in-chief and man of the match just seven days earlier against Seattle, pulled up during warmups and was withdrawn from the starting XV. Karl Keane, getting his first start of the season, stepped in at flyhalf, Ishma-eel Safodien was added to the bench, and a backline that had been building cohesion week by week was suddenly reshuffled with minutes to spare. With Will Leonard making his first start of the season on the wing and new signing Dominic Akina getting his first run at inside center, it was a backline with plenty of talent but very little time together. It wasn’t an excuse, Tom Pittman was adamant about that afterwards, but it set the tone for a first half that never quite found its rhythm.

Anthem actually started well. Campbell Robb’s lineout throwing was vastly improved from the Chicago defeat, five from five in the opening exchanges, and the pack spent long stretches camped inside the Old Glory 22, probing for an opening. But the visitors’ back row of Aidan King, Ben Bonasso, and Cory Daniel were outstanding at the breakdown, turning over possession and shutting down Anthem’s go-forward before it could build. DC were patient, disciplined, and happy to wait for turnovers before striking through the boot of Jason Robertson or the width of their back three.

The first try came inside ten minutes. Perry Humphreys, the former Worcester Warriors wing, produced a sensational offload out of contact to find fullback Max Schumacher, who crossed from close range. Robertson converted from a difficult angle, the first sign of an afternoon where his kicking would be a constant factor. Anthem responded with more territorial pressure, but couldn’t find the finishing touch. A 20-phase sequence deep in the DC 22 ended without points when King’s jackaling work won the ball back, and the frustration was visible.

From there, Old Glory took control. Their scrum was rock-solid, their maul was a weapon, hooker Kirby Myhill drove over from a lineout for the third try, and when they got the ball into the wide channels, they had the extra pass that Anthem lacked. Humphreys added a try of his own after patient buildup, and John Rizzo broke away for a fourth after a turnover deep in Anthem territory. Robertson converted two of the four, and at 26-0 heading into halftime, the game looked beyond reach.

It wasn’t. Coach Cuca’s halftime message was direct: the first-half intensity wasn’t good enough, and the carries lacked aggression. The players responded. The bench, Ramiro Gurovich at hooker, Alejandro Martinez Tapia earning his first game time of the season in the second row, Tom Pittman in the backline brought immediate energy. The scrum, already solid, found another gear entirely. Two collapsed scrums on the DC line drew warnings from referee Shonda Asmus before Anthem finally broke through: Zion Going fired a wide miss-pass through Julian Roberts, and Will Leonard crossed on the left wing. Keane converted off his left boot, and at 26-7, the atmosphere inside American Legion Memorial Stadium shifted.

What followed was both the best and most heartbreaking passage of the afternoon. Anthem drove through phase after phase, Baden Godfrey carrying hard, Alejandro Martinez Tapia crashing into contact, Pittman stepping through gaps around the fringes, until captain Johan Momsen powered over from close range. Keane’s conversion made it 26-14 with over 25 minutes still to play. But DC challenged the try, and the officials found obstruction in the preceding lineout. The try was wiped off the board, the score reverted to 26-7, and the energy that had been building since halftime drained visibly from the stadium.

“I don’t think that killed us too much,” Momsen said afterwards, characteristically measured. “It’s that next-job mentality. You just focus on what you’ve got to do next.” But the facts told a different story. DC regrouped, found territory through Robertson’s kicking, and scored a fifth try through Ross Depperschmidt after working the outside channel, a recurring theme of their attack all afternoon. At 31-7, the contest was effectively over.

To their credit, Anthem kept fighting. Pittman, who had been outstanding since halftime, continued to probe around the edges of the DC defense, drawing defenders before offloading. His work created the overlap for Conner Mooneyham to finish in the corner late on, exactly the kind of wide-channel finishing Anthem had been missing all day. Keane converted again, and the final score of 31-14 at least reflected the second-half effort.

The late stages also brought Elias Garza’s MLR debut off the bench, the young loosehead prop, originally a fourth overall draft pick by Chicago, made an immediate impression with a strong tackle on his first involvement. “Those guys that came on made a massive difference,” Momsen said. “Garza and Tapia came on and made big carries, made big collisions. It’s good for the confidence knowing that everyone’s getting game time and everyone’s on the same level.”

Assistant coach Brendan O’Meara was candid afterwards. Asked how much Carty’s withdrawal impacted the result, he was measured but honest: “You like to think the things you put in place, and your bench roster, can withstand a bit of adversity and chaos at the beginning of a game when you’re losing your starting flyhalf. We didn’t think it was going to have as big an impact as it did.” The failure to convert early territorial pressure into points, he said, was where the energy drained. “We got down there, didn’t convert pressure into points. They were able to get points first, which seemed to just compound into a poor first 40.”

On the disallowed Momsen try, O’Meara preferred not to dwell on a refereeing decision that felt harsh, but acknowledged the impact it had on the contest. “We were already fighting an uphill battle. We got a bit of momentum going up that hill, and then that was a complete swing back in their favor.” It was, he admitted, a moment the team simply couldn’t recover from in the time remaining.

But O’Meara found positives in the individual performances. Dominic Akina, in his first 40 minutes, won collisions on both sides of the ball. Garza had nice moments on his MLR debut. Martinez Tapia’s impact was immediate. And Pittman brought energy off the bench that lifted the entire squad. “A few individual performances that were positive,” O’Meara said. “But collectively, this one will sting. We want to be a team that expects more from our performances.”

Coach Cuca echoed the theme of inconsistency. “We need to get better on the way we start our games, because that cost us today,” he said. “The performance we had last week, or the one against California, it’s completely different from what happened today. We have too many ups and downs.” But he was quick to highlight the lineout improvement, the defensive saves in the first half, and the energy from the bench. “We won the second half. The reaction was good. We need to try to be more consistent for 80 minutes.”

The result leaves Anthem at 2-2, heading to New England next week for their first away game since the season-opening win in California. The loss of Carty to injury and Jordan Trainor to a red card for a shoulder charge late in the match, a moment of frustration that may carry a suspension, leaves squad depth as a genuine concern. But there were enough moments in that second-half performance to suggest this team’s trajectory hasn’t changed. The pack is powerful, the bench impact is becoming a genuine identity, and the young players keep stepping up.

“We have to take a step back, regroup, and go to New England ready to back up the performances we believe we can put out on the field,” O’Meara said. The belief remains. The consistency is what comes next.