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The final match of Major League Rugby’s Vegas Weekend festivities pits the San Diego Legion up against the Colorado Raptors. San Diego jumped into the early title favorites slot with a strong win over Seattle last weekend while the Raptors were second best in Houston.
San Diego haven’t messed with a winning formula with only two changes. Aaron Mitchell fills in for Paul Mullen at tighthead prop, and Tira Patterson comes in for the unavailable Mike Te’o. Patterson starts on the left wing with Dylan Audsley sliding to fullback.
Colorado have made three changes to the starting lineup. Kelepi Fifita starts at loosehead prop for the first time with Zak Taulafo dropping to the bench. Brendan Daly swaps spots with Michael Curry as the Raptors hope to shore up a creaky scrum with more ballast in the engine room.
A change at scrumhalf sees Nick Boyer step into the No9 shirt with Carlo de Nysschen among the reserves. High profile signing Rene Ranger gets his first start at outside center with Robbie Petzer settling for a reserve role.
Virtually every edge in this contest leans towards the Legion. San Diego’s scrum minus Mullen may not be as potent but the Raptors are not the side to take advantage. Expect the Legion to come away with a clean victory at home.
Kickoff is set for 3pm local, 4pm Mountain, 6pm Eastern. Both Antenna TV and ESPN+ will carry the game nationwide. Those located outside the USA 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 Siaosi Mahoni, 5 Joshua Furno, 6 Jasa Veremalua, 7 Psalm Wooching, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 10 Luke Burton, 11 Tira Patterson, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 13 JP du Plessis, 14 Save Totovosau, 15 Dylan Audsley
Replacements: 16 Peter Malcolm, 17 Nathan Sylvia, 18 Jamie Dever, 19 Ben Mitchell, 20 Louis Stanfill, 21 Devin Short, 22 Devereaux Ferris, 23 Tai Enosa
COLORADO RAPTORS
1 Kelepi Fifita, 2 Chad Gough, 3 Marco Fepulea’i, 4 Brendan Daly, 5 Luke White (capt.), 6 Michael Curry, 7 Mike Stewart, 8 Sam Slade, 9 Nick Boyer, 10 Tomás Quinlan, 11 John Ryberg, 12 Chad London, 13 Rene Ranger, 14 Mika Kruse, 15 Mason Emerson
Replacements: 16 Jay Finau, 17 Xendy Tatibouët, 18 Zak Taulafo, 19 Kody O’Neil, 20 Connor Cook, 21 Ata Malifa, 22 Robbie Petzer, 23 Carlo de Nysschen
Date: Sunday, February 16
Venue: Sam Boyd Stadium, Whitney
Kickoff: 15:00 local (16:00 Mountain, 18:00 Eastern)
Referee: Derek Summers (USA)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (USA) & Kat Roche (USA)
Broadcasts: Antenna TV, ESPN+, Facebook
