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An East Conference clash takes place in New Orleans on Saturday afternoon as the Gold welcome the Free Jacks to The Gold Mine. It’s the second meeting of the two, with NOLA taking a convincing win over New England at the same venue in March of last year.
The Free Jacks enjoyed a bye after the one-point result over Utah in their Week 3 home opener. Ryan Martin has opted to stick with a winning formula with only one enforced change to the run-on side.
With Joe Johnston serving a two-game suspension there is a start for Conor Kindregan in the second row. Josh Larsen shifts to the blindside flank and Justin Johnson fills the void at openside.
There are two notable inclusions on the bench. Former St. Mary’s scrumhalf Tom Brusati is set for his pro debut, and high profile off-season signing Tera Mtembu will make his MLR bow as a replacement after finally arriving from South Africa.
Nate Osborne has made five changes to his NOLA side following their disappointing loss to Austin. One comes at No9 where Damian Stevens gets his first start in place of Holden Yungert. Halfback partner Timothée Guillimin wears the same number he lined up in for New England in last year’s fixture.
Kyle Baillie is ruled out with injury and Nikola Bursic swaps to the bench. The new lock combination is Ignacio Dotti and Billy Stewart, with Devin Short swapping shirts with Andrew Guerra to start on the openside flank. Eric Howard rotates in at hooker with Pat O’Toole among the reserves this week.
Also named on the bench is tighthead prop James Irey and former Eagles winger Tim Maupin, the latter making his first appearance of the season. NOLA’s own high profile acquisition Hanno Dirksen will also make his MLR debut as an impact substitute.
This is an even match-up on paper with each team missing a key starter but also welcoming an exciting newcomer. New England should come in prepared and rested after their week off, though the trip from Boston is not insignificant.
An x-factor will be the conditions as rain is expected in New Orleans in the build-up and possibly on game day. The effect on the pitch last week was dramatic as ambitious attacking rugby was near impossible to achieve for any of the four teams in action. Give NOLA the edge with home field advantage and Carl Meyer’s boot, but if we learned anything last week it’s to expect the unexpected.
Kickoff is set for 3pm local time, 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern. Live broadcasts will be available on Cox Sports TV in New Orleans with The Rugby Network streaming worldwide. A delayed broadcast will be available on NESN in New England.
NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon, 2 Eric Howard, 3 Dino Waldren, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Billy Stewart, 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Devin Short, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Damian Stevens, 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Julián Domínguez, 12 Juan Cappiello, 13 JP du Plessis (capt.), 14 Joeli Tikoisuva, 15 Carl Meyer
Replacements: 16 Pat O’Toole, 17 Kevin Sullivan, 18 James Irey, 19 Nikola Bursic, 20 Andrew Guerra, 21 Holden Yungert, 22 Hanno Dirksen, 23 Tim Maupin
NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Sef Fa’agase, 2 Pieter Jansen, 3 Erich de Jager, 4 Jackson Thiebes, 5 Conor Kindregan, 6 Josh Larsen (capt.), 7 Justin Johnson, 8 Wian Conradie, 9 John Poland, 10 Harrison Boyle, 11 Mitch Wilson, 12 Aleki Morris-Lome, 13 Poasa Waqanibau, 14 Dougie Fife, 15 Beaudein Waaka
Replacements: 16 Vili Toluta’u, 17 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 18 Quentin Newcomer, 19 Ronan McCusker, 20 Tera Mtembu, 21 Tom Brusati, 22 Harry Barlow, 23 Danny Collins
Date: Saturday, April 17
Venue: The Gold Mine, New Orleans
Kickoff: 15:00 local (13:00 Pacific, 16:00 Eastern)
Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Allen Alongi (USA) & Saade Bou-Mikael (USA)
Broadcasts: Cox Sports TV, NESN (delayed), The Rugby Network
Historical Results
2020-03-07 – NOLA Gold 31, New England Free Jacks 22 (The Gold Mine)
