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San Diego’s four game home stand will come to a close on Sunday afternoon when they play host to the Utah Warriors in Week 4 of the 2019 Major League Rugby season. With two wins from three the Legion have had a positive start to their campaign and will be determined to make it one better but the Warriors will be no pushovers.
There are two changes from the pack that started against Houston. Nathan Sylvia and Dean Muir are rotated back into the run-on side with the Pifeleti brothers switching to the bench. Otherwise it’s business as usual but there are two notable additions on the bench as Eagles pair Siaosi Mahoni and Psalm Wooching return from injury.
The backline, on the other hand, is completely revamped. Nate Augspurger, Dylan Audsley, and Ryan Matyas give the side a triple-boost and with Mike Te’o shifting to fullback there is talent to burn out wide. Jasa Veremalua, Marcus Tupuola, and Conor Kearns drop out with Save Totovosau recalled to take a spot among the replacements.
Utah enjoyed a bye week but they did not take the weekend off, instead playing a scrimmage against the New England Free Jacks to stay sharp. As expected they were comfortably the better side but more notable than the result was the return of two key players from injury – Jackson Kaka and Josh Whippy.
Kaka will wait his turn from the bench as the starting pack is unchanged from the team that beat Austin two weeks ago. The only other alteration to the forwards comes in the form of reserve hooker Blake Burdette, the former World Cup front rower who recently celebrated his 39th birthday. He fills in for Alex Vorster with Kaka taking Kenny Scott’s back row reserve spot.
The backs see two changes. Josh Reeves arrives from Brazil to make his first MLR appearance at flyhalf and Whippy runs out at fullback. Gannon Moore is a late addition to the bench in place of Iniki Fa’amausili and covers the midfield.
On paper the edge goes to the Legion. They have the momentum from last week’s victory and the addition of four Eagles to the match day squad is significant. Add in home field advantage and it’s going to take a special effort for Utah to win, but with the boot of Reeves and Whippy’s class out wide the Warriors should be in the hunt through to the final whistle.
Kickoff is set for 2pm local time, 3pm Mountain, 5pm Eastern. Those based in the USA can watch nationwide on ESPN+. International viewers can access a live stream on the official MLR Facebook page.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia, 2 Dean Muir, 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Chris Turori, 7 Devin Short, 8 Drew Gaffney, 9 Nick Boyer, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.), 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 JP du Plessis, 13 Dylan Audsley, 14 Ryan Matyas, 15 Mike Te’o
Replacements: 16 Kapeli Pifeleti, 17 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 18 Aaron Mitchell, 19 Siaosi Mahoni, 20 Psalm Wooching, 21 Tai Enosa, 22 Kyle Rogers, 23 Save Totovosau
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Logan Daniels, 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Matt Jensen, 5 Saia Uhila, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Ara Elkington, 8 John Cullen, 9 Ian Luciano, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 12 Tim O’Malley (capt.), 13 Jeremy Misailegalu, 14 Tonata Lauti, 15 Josh Whippy
Replacements: 16 Blake Burdette, 17 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa, 18 Alex Tucci, 19 Maikeli Naromaitoga, 20 Jackson Kaka, 21 Joseph Nicholls, 22 Gannon Moore, 23 Josh Anderson
Date: Sunday, February 17
Venue: Torero Stadium, San Diego
Kickoff: 14:00 local (15:00 Mountain, 17:00 Eastern)
Broadcasts: ESPN+, Facebook
