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Week 16 of the MLR season sees two Saturday matches and one more on Sunday. Involved are to be players from South America with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay all to be represented.
Due to a prior postponement this weekend actually saw a Thursday fixture. That game was played in Toronto with the Arrows claiming a 24-13 win over the Austin Elite. Technically thereby South American involvement began earlier despite it not being a week 16 fixture.
Playing in Toronto were multiple Uruguayans. Leandro Leivas started on the left wing for the Toronto Arrows, and ran-in a wonderful try. Usual Uruguayan fullback Rodrigo Silva continued to play out of position or Austin at fly half and partnered Andrés Vilaseca in a 10-12 combination. Also involved were Chilean scrum-half Marcelo Torrealba, and Argentine center JP Aguirre who was a replacement.
Taking to the field today in Louisiana will be additional names from Chile, and Uruguay. Starting in his natural position of second-row for NOLA Gold will be Nikola Bursic. This sees Uruguayan Ignacio Dotti starting for the second consecutive round out of position at flanker. This decision may yet prove to be a strike of brilliance with an eye to Uruguay’s RWC starting line-up.
The NOLA Gold are to have home advantage against the San Diego Legion. The Californians do not have South American players on their roster and nor do Rugby United New York who host the Seattle Seawolves. The team from the Pacific North-West will have Argentine born Ben Cima starting for them at fly half. Cima is capped by the USA.
Not taking place is the scheduled match between the Houston SaberCats, and Glendale Raptors. With severe weather in Houston the fixture will instead be played at a later date. The SaberCats are home to Uruguayan players Santiago Arata, Diego Magno, Alejandro Nieto, and Mateo Sanguinetti.
On Sunday the Toronto Arrows will do the unthinkable as they play host to the Utah Warriors. It marks two matches in four days, something not permitted in RWC tournaments. Line-up’s for the match have not yet been confirmed. Both clubs have South American players.
