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Two top-four teams will be seeking a definitive result in their second meeting of the season on Saturday. San Diego and Glendale finished in a dead heat at Infinity Park a month ago in one of the best games of the Major League Rugby season. Round two will take place at Torero Stadium where the Legion will look to extend a three-game winning streak against the Raptors.
Wins against Seattle, Austin, and most recently New York have seen San Diego grow in confidence since that cold evening in Colorado. Their scrum put on a show at Coney Island and has been the backbone of their success, a remarkable turnaround given last years woes. Off-season recruitment has clearly helped in this department with Southern Hemisphere imports Dean Muir and Aaron Mitchell front and center in every game this year.
Ryan will get a well-earned rest, at least for a few minutes, as the hulking figure of Aaron Mitchell gets his first start of the season at tighthead prop. Otherwise the pack that started against RUNY is unchanged with Oti Pifeleti starting his 6th in a row at loosehead prop and Jasa Veremalua again deputising for the suspended Keni Nasoqeqe in the second row.
There are two personnel changes in the backline. JP du Plessis and Save Totovosau are out meaning two players will start in new positions for the first time in the campaign. Ryan Matyas shifts to outside center with Dylan Audsley moving in one spot.
Taking the vacancy on the left wing is Nick Boyer, normally a scrumhalf but unable to reclaim the No9 shirt from an in-form Nate Augspurger. Conor Kearns is summoned from the reserves to line up on the right wing, where he played the second half against New York.
The promotion of Boyer and Kearns to the run-on side leaves room for Nick Lupian and Kyle Rogers to cover the midfield and fullback respectively. One further alteration sees Pat Blair rejoin the group from Eagles Sevens duty. He acts as further loose forward cover with Jordan Manihera or Devin Short emergency options at lock if required.
Glendale had the week off to reflect on their near-miss against Houston. The Raptors pulled off a miracle comeback but their weaknesses were badly exposed by the lowly SaberCats. Already identified as an area concern, their scrum was humiliated en route to a pair of penalty tries and as a result the entire front row has been swapped out for San Diego.
Canadian international Noah Barker returns from injury and Marco Fepulea’i will hope his ankle has responded to treatment as they bookend the experienced Zach Fenoglio in a new-look trio. Another significant change in the pack sees Peter Dahl starting at openside flanker with Hanco Germishuys ruled out after coming off in the first half against Houston.
The backs on the other hand look reasonably settled with only one change to the starting side. Dylan Taikato-Simpson is recalled at fullback with Max de Achaval dropping out. Mika Kruse also makes a return albeit on the bench where he is one of only two back reserves, the other scrumhalf Carlo de Nysschen.
Six forwards on the bench suggest that Dave Williams expects a battle up front. Malon Al-Jiboori retains his spot but there are returns for second row Kody O’Neil and flanker Connor Cook who both missed the game against Houston.
Starting Mitchell ahead of Ryan is a slight gamble by Rob Hoadley but the younger Mitchell has been taking notes from the Australian international and has looked far more effective at the set piece in recent weeks. Each side boasts hard-running Kiwis at No8, while on the flanks there is an interesting contrast between the experience of Glendale and two up-and-comers with San Diego.
Augspurger has a chance to go head-to-head with the Eagles incumbent Shaun Davies, who many expect will be first choice in Japan later this year. Similarly Matyas can prove his versatility if he can create line breaks against Chad London, among the best defending midfielders across MLR.
There are intriguing battles across the pitch but there look to be two significant advantages for San Diego – home field advantage and their scrum. In a game so evenly matched even the smallest edge can make a difference and both teams have top-class kickers to punish mistakes. It’ll will be close but the Legion are just a nudge ahead at the moment.
Kickoff is set for 2pm local time, 3pm Mountain, 5pm Eastern. A local broadcast will be available on Fox 5 San Diego with ESPN+ carrying the match nationwide. Those located abroad can access the live stream on the official MLR Facebook page.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Dean Muir, 3 Aaron Mitchell, 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Jasa Veremalua, 6 Psalm Wooching, 7 Devin Short, 8 Jordan Manihera, 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.), 11 Nick Boyer, 12 Dylan Audsley, 13 Ryan Matyas, 14 Conor Kearns, 15 Mike Te’o
Replacements: 16 Kapeli Pifeleti, 17 Nathan Sylvia, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Pat Blair, 20 Drew Gaffney, 21 Tai Enosa, 22 Nick Lupian, 23 Kyle Rogers
GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Noah Barker, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Marco Fepulea’i, 4 Luke White, 5 Will Munro, 6 Brendan Daly, 7 Peter Dahl, 8 Murphy Taramai, 9 Shaun Davies (capt.), 10 Will Magie, 11 Harley Davidson, 12 Robbie Petzer, 13 Chad London, 14 John Ryberg, 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson
Replacements: 16 Chad Gough, 17 Kelepi Fifita, 18 Max Lum, 19 Kody O’Neil, 20 Connor Cook, 21 Malon Al-Jiboori, 22 Carlo de Nysschen, 23 Mika Kruse
Date: Saturday, April 20
Venue: Torero Stadium, San Diego
Kickoff: 14:00 local (15:00 Mountain, 17:00 Eastern)
Referee: Scott Green (USAR)
Assistants: Sam Grove-White (SRU) & Marquise Goodwin (USAR)
Broadcasts: ESPN+, Facebook, Fox 5 San Diego
