Toronto Wolfpack win ill-tempered rugby league home debut handily
TORONTO — Rugby league landed in Toronto with a bang Saturday as the fledgling Wolfpack ran, tackled and punched their way to a lopsided 62-12 win over Oxford RLFC in its home debut.
When the dust settled, there had been 14 tries, three red cards and two yellows before an announced crowd of 6,281 on a grey, moist afternoon at Lamport Stadium.
The fans saw a bit of everything, including several punch-ups that resembled old-time hockey line brawls. Toronto, rugby league’s first transatlantic team, finished with 10 men after Jake Emmitt and Blake Wallace were red-carded after a melee in the 68th minute while Sean Penkywicz was yellow-carded in the 71st.
Oxford captain Callum Windley was also ejected in the 68th-minute fight that escalated to punches after Emmitt was yellow-carded but stayed on the field to pursue his beef.