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San Antonio will host a Major League Rugby game for the first time on Saturday as Austin Elite will host Rugby United New York at Toyota Field. The grass field is the home of professional soccer side San Antonio FC, and with proper rugby lines will offer a dramatically different scene to that of Dell Diamond.
The Elite are feeling more confident after nearly upsetting the league-leaders in New Orleans last weekend and have opted for just three changes to the side. Rikus Zwart takes over from Kyle Breytenbach on the blindside flank in the only alteration to the forward pack.
Sione Fangaiuiha is back on the left wing where he was most often seen last year, and JP Aguirre is recalled to form an all-South American midfield alongside Andrés Vilaseca. Despite impressing on debut Doug Fraser moves to the bench as does winger Reece Czarnecki.
New York are battered and bruised after six straight weekends of action and show six changes to the side that beat Glendale. Ross Deacon is given a spot on the bench to ease his workload with Matt Hughston starting at No8, and Mike Brown steps in at hooker with Dylan Fawsitt left out completely.
Nate Brakeley captains the side with Mike Petri named on the bench for the first time. There is a new halfback pairing with Marcus Walsh and Harry Bennett each getting their first starts of the campaign. Chris Mattina moves to outside center and there are first starts on the wings for Gavan D’Amore-Morrison and Seimou Smith, the latter making his MLR debut.
Are New York perhaps taking Austin lightly? The changes are significant though some of their players are clearly in need of a rest and it may be a risk the team needs to take ahead of the demanding second half of the season. With a good crowd expected and their promising showing last week, Austin could give their guests a real run for their money.
Kickoff is set for 1pm local time, 11am Pacific, 2pm Eastern. The match will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network. Those outside of the USA can watch a live stream on the official MLR Facebook Page.
AUSTIN ELITE
1 LaRome White, 2 Tiaan Erasmus, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Rikus Zwart, 7 Moe Abdelmonem, 8 Travis Larsen, 9 Mickaël Romera, 10 Rodrigo Silva, 11 Sione Fangaiuiha, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 JP Aguirre, 14 Aidan McMullan, 15 Soheyl Jaoudat
Replacements: 16 Dom Bailey, 17 Chris Schade, 18 Brendan Rams, 19 Dylan Pieterse, 20 Kyle Breytenbach, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22 Doug Fraser, 23 Reece Czarnecki
RUGBY UNITED NEW YORK
1 James Rochford, 2 Mike Brown, 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Trevor Cassidy, 5 Nate Brakeley (capt.), 6 John Quill, 7 James Denise, 8 Matt Hughston, 9 Marcus Walsh, 10 Harry Bennett, 11 Gavan D’Amore-Morrison, 12 Mike St. Claire, 13 Chris Mattina, 14 Seimou Smith, 15 Ben Foden
Replacements: 16 Callum Mackintosh, 17 Anthony Parry, 18 Chris Sullivan, 19 Matt Wirken, 20 Ross Deacon, 21 Mike Petri, 22 Mark O’Keeffe, 23 Luke Hume
Date: Saturday, March 30
Venue: Toyota Field, San Antonio
Kickoff: 13:00 local (11:00 Pacific, 14:00 Eastern)
Referee: Luke Rogan (USAR)
Assistants: Mike O’Brien (USAR) & Kat Roche (USAR)
Broadcasts: CBS Sports Network, Facebook
