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The brisk Colorado air may greet Austin Elite when they arrive at Infinity Park but at least it won’t be the blizzard that Toronto encountered a week ago. Austin enter the house of the Glendale Raptors with a chance to start anew following a much-needed bye week at the end of their torrid opening to the campaign. Included in that run was a 24-13 defeat to Glendale at Dell Diamond just three weeks ago.
There’s a new coat of paint on this group of Elites. Eagles hooker Peter Malcolm is fully fit and starts his first game in a year, with Dylan Pieterse handed an opportunity at lock in the absence of Josh Larsen. Perhaps most significant is the arrival of dynamic openside Moe Abdelmonem from Canada. He is thrown straight into the fire against last season’s finalists.
Rodrigo Silva returns from injury to start at flyhalf but with Andres Vilaseca playing for Uruguay this weekend it’s Mickaël Romera who partners him to handle the goal-kicking duties. Trading his coach’s clipboard for the No12 shirt is Andrew Suniula, asked to start for the first time this year.
Glendale have mixed up their pack after the deep freeze of last week. Zach Fenoglio and Kelepi Fifita come into the front row with second row Casey Rock given his first start of the season. Will Munro rotates out of the back row as Connor Cook switches to the No8 spot.
With no Marco Fepueali’i there are two lock reserves on the bench including Jonny Layne, set to make his Major League Rugby debut. Captain Luke White will cover prop if required.
In the backs there is a straight swap in the midfield as Chad London comes in at outside center with Mika Kruse left on the bench. Otherwise it’s the same familiar faces who have taken the Raptors through the international window.
With zero wins from five outings it’s impossible to side with Austin heading in, but more should be expected from this Elite lineup with Malcolm and Suniula adding leadership and Abdelmonem a bit of x-factor at the breakdown. Asking them to turn over a well-oiled Glendale team just starting to hit their stride looks a step too far.
Kickoff is set for 7pm local time, 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern. Those in the USA can watch online at 9News. Canadians and international viewers can access the live stream on the official MLR Facebook page.
GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Blake Rogers, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Kelepi Fifita, 4 Casey Rock, 5 Luke White (capt.), 6 Brendan Daly, 7 Peter Dahl, 8 Connor Cook, 9 Carlo de Nysschen, 10 Ata Malifa, 11 Harley Davidson, 12 Robbie Petzer, 13 Chad London, 14 John Ryberg, 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson
Replacements: 16 Chad Gough, 17 Max Lum, 18 Kody O’Neil, 19 Jonny Layne, 20 Will Munro, 21 Mickey Bateman, 22 Mika Kruse, 23 Nick Johnson
AUSTIN ELITE
1 Chris Schade, 2 Peter Malcolm, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Dylan Pieterse, 6 Rikus Zwart, 7 Moe Abdelmonem, 8 Kyle Breytenbach, 9 Mickaël Romera, 10 Rodrigo Silva, 11 Peni Tagive, 12 Andrew Suniula, 13 Zinzan Elan-Puttick, 14 Alex Faison-Donahoe, 15 Soheyl Jaoudat
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Erasmus, 17 LaRome White, 18 Brendan Rams, 19 Dom Bailey, 20 Travis Larsen, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22 Timothée Guillimin, 23 Sione Fangaiuiha
Date: Saturday, March 9
Venue: Infinity Park, Glendale
Kickoff: 19:00 local (18:00 Pacific, 21:00 Eastern)
Referee: Ben Crouse (SARU)
Assistants: Derek Summers (USAR) & Cam Pettit (USAR)
Broadcasts: 9News, Facebook
