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It’s officially business time in Major League Rugby. The regular season is done and it’s straight into the Semi Finals. A late change to the schedule means that both will be played on Sunday, with the first coming at Torero Stadium where the San Diego Legion host Rugby United New York.
The two sides split their earlier matches with New York winning in San Diego and the Legion victorious at Coney Island. In terms of form San Diego have a clear advantage having won seven from eight in the second half of the season, their only loss against Toronto. New York meanwhile split their second half, including two losses on their home turf.
Having already lost Dylan Audsley to injury, the Legion have suffered another blow as Mike Te’o is ruled out with a bad ankle. Rob Hoadley has opted to start Tai Enosa at fullback with the only specialist wing in the match day squad – Save Totovosau – left on the bench. Nick Boyer and Conor Kearns will instead man the wide spaces for San Diego.
Up front the starters are identical to those that defeated NOLA last week but there are two changes on the bench. Dean Muir returns to take up a spot as reserve hooker. Pat Blair retains his spot on the bench but covers loose forward with Keni Nasoqeqe the odd man out. Kyle Rogers fills the vacancy left by Enosa’s promotion to the run-on side.
New York have made just one change to their starting lineup from the team that came up short against Toronto. Mark O’Keeffe is fit enough to resume his duties and takes over from Mike St. Claire on the right wing, the latter missing from the match day squad completely.
There are three further alterations among the reserves. Anthony Parry misses out for the first time this season with Chris Sullivan taking his place as a prop reserve. Marcus Walsh and Luke Hume are cleared to play with Jake Feury and Marcus Satavu dropping out.
Both games between the two were competitive this season and Sunday should be no exception. New York will lean heavily on their forwards, but the San Diego scrum is formidable. Out wide the Legion have lost some firepower from injuries which evens the score slightly. Home field advantage and recent form make San Diego the favorites heading in.
Kickoff is set for 2pm local, 5pm Eastern. The match will be broadcast live on CBS Sport Network. with a Facebook stream available to those located outside the USA.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Kapeli Pifeleti, 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Joshua Furno, 6 Jasa Veremalua, 7 Psalm Wooching, 8 Jordan Manihera, 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.), 11 Nick Boyer, 12 JP u Plessis, 13 Ryan Matyas, 14 Conor Kearns, 15 Tai Enosa
Replacements: 16 Dean Muir, 17 Nathan Sylvia, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 Siaosi Mahoni, 20 Pat Blair, 21 Kyle Rogers, 22 Save Totovosau, 23 Will Holder
RUGBY UNITED NEW YORK
1 James Rochford, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Trevor Cassidy, 5 Nate Brakeley, 6 John Quill, 7 Matt Hughston, 8 Ross Deacon, 9 Mike Petri (capt.), 10 Cathal Marsh, 11 Connor Wallace-Sims, 12 Will Leonard, 13 Chris Mattina, 14 Mark O’Keeffe, 15 Ben Foden
Replacements: 16 Callum Mackintosh, 17 Chance Wenglewski, 18 Chris Sullivan, 19 Alex MacDonald, 20 James Denise, 21 Marcus Walsh, 22 Harry Bennett, 23 Luke Hume
Date: Sunday, June 9
Venue: Torero Stadium, San Diego
Kickoff: 14:00 local (17:00 Eastern)
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (RFU)
Assistants: Elgan Williams (WRU) & Paul-Henri Courbier (USAR)
Broadcasts: CBS Sports Network, Facebook
