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The first steps of a new West Coast rivalry will be taken on Sunday in the final Major League Rugby match of the weekend. It’s the old guards, the two-time champion Seattle Seawolves, up against the next big thing, the expansion LA Giltinis.
Those halcyon days seem a distant memory now for the Seawolves. A torrid 2020 campaign and now this past weekend’s loss in Houston. There are still four consecutive road games to play before their first at home in early May though at least next week’s bye gives pause for breath.
LA made their league debut in style with a convincing win over the New England Free Jacks at the Coliseum on Saturday. The Seawolves may look to target their hosts at the set piece to prevent their attack from getting clean first phase possession. Once on the front foot, that LA backline is a scary sight.
There will be one star missing, however, as DTH van der Merwe sits out with a sore shoulder. Ryan James steps in for his first MLR start with fellow Raptors alumni Luke White replacing Nathan Den Hoedt in the second row.
Four new names join LA’s bench. Lindsey Stevens and Marco Fepulea’i come in as reserve hooker and tighthead prop respectively, with Luke Burton tabbed as midfield cover. Former Eagles back row Langilangi Haupeakui is set to be unleashed in MLR for the first time as a second half sub.
The Seawolves have named an identical run-on side with Ben Cima recovering quickly from the injury that forced him off against Houston. JP Aguirre is named as a back reserve and it’s an all-new backup front row set with new signing James Malcolm joining extended squad members Gavin Prentice and Freddy Tafuna.
With home field advantage and form both going to the Giltinis it’s an easy choice to nominate a favorite. Seattle need to earn respect early in the match or it could be a long day at the office. Another commanding performance from LA will start to make believers of the skeptics.
Kickoff is set for 5:30pm local time, 8:30pm Eastern. Live broadcasts will be available on Fox Sports West in Southern California, Root Sports in Seattle, and The Rugby Network worldwide.
LA GILTINIS
1 Jean-Pierre Smith, 2 Mahe Vailanu, 3 Charlie Abel, 4 Dave Dennis (capt.), 5 Luke White, 6 Angus Cottrell, 7 Christian Poidevin, 8 Adam Ashe, 9 Harrison Goddard, 10 Matt Giteau, 11 John Ryberg, 12 Bill Meakes, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Ryan James, 15 Glenn Bryce
Replacements: 16 Lindsey Stevens, 17 Blake Rogers, 18 Marco Fepulea’i, 19 Corey Thomas, 20 Langilangi Haupeakui, 21 Cristian Rodriguez, 22 Luke Carty, 23 Luke Burton
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Djustice Sears-Duru, 2 Mike Shepherd, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 4 Les Soloai, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Brad Tucker, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 Ben Cima, 11 Sitiveni Tamaivena, 12 George Barton, 13 Ross Neal, 14 Aaron Matthews, 15 Mat Turner
Replacements: 16 James Malcolm, 17 Gavin Prentice, 18 Freddy Tafuna, 19 Eric Duechle, 20 Nakai Penny, 21 Devereaux Ferris, 22 Shalom Suniula, 23 Juan Pablo Aguirre
Date: Sunday, March 28
Venue: Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Kickoff: 17:30 local (20:30 Eastern)
Referee: Lex Weiner (USA)
Broadcast: Fox Sports West, Root Sports, The Rugby Network
Historical Results:
n/a
