Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Part one of a double header at Lupo Family Field on Saturday sees the Toronto Arrows tabbed as hosts against NOLA Gold. The two are entering in very different places with the former out of the playoff race and the latter desperate for a win to stay in it.
Toronto looked in good shape during the first half of their most recent encounter in early May. The wheels fell off in the second half, however, and NOLA continued their unbeaten run against the Canadian club. Recent history also does not reflect well on the Arrows with three straight defeats, their last a record score conceded against Austin.
Only two of the forwards that were beaten by the AG’s start again on Saturday. Rob Brouwer arrives to make his first appearance of the season and there are recalls for Andrew Quattrin, Adrian Wadden, and Paul Ciulini in the tight five. Mason Flesch moves to the blindside flank and Manuel Diana runs out for the last time before departing for test duty.
The backs, on the other hand, stay the same apart from Andrew Ferguson and Leandro Leivas joining the bench. Two new arrivals are set to make their MLR debuts as replacements in French prop Alexandre Janlin and Irish loose forward Ronan Foley.
NOLA weren’t particularly convincing against Old Glory last weekend but did enough to get four points and keep the playoff flame flickering. With eight players now set to depart for the upcoming internationals there is precious little time to earn points and this match certainly qualifies as a must-win.
Pat O’Toole and Timothee Guillimin were late withdrawals from last week’s lineup but are fit to resume this week. Other changes see Billy Stewart add bulk to the second row and a return for Eagles call-up Andrew Guerra at openside flanker. USA u20 lock William Waguespack is set to make his first appearance of the campaign from the bench.
Rain is expected in Marietta on Saturday though it will likely have a greater effect on the late game. It would be hard to blame the Arrows for casting their eye to next season but they can still play a spoiler role. The Gold are on the edge of elimination and have slightly better form. Give the visitors the favorites tag but it should be a very close result either way.
Kickoff is set for 4:30pm local time, 1:30pm Pacific, 3:30pm Central. A local broadcast will be available on Cox Sports TV in New Orleans, with TSN available to Canadian viewers on their digital platforms. The Rugby Network will be streaming worldwide.
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Rob Brouwer, 2 Andrew Quattrin, 3 Gastón Cortes, 4 Adrian Wadden, 5 Paul Ciulini, 6 Mason Flesch, 7 Lucas Rumball (co-capt.), 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Ross Braude, 10 Will Kelly, 11 Gastón Mieres, 12 Spencer Jones, 13 Ben LeSage (co-capt.), 14 Johnny Sheridan, 15 Joaquín Tuculet
Replacements: 16 Jack McRogers, 17 Alexandre Janlin, 18 Marc-Antoine Ouellet, 19 Mike Sheppard, 20 Ronan Foley, 21 Andrew Ferguson, 22 Leandro Leivas, 23 Mitch Richardson
NOLA GOLD
1 Kevin Sullivan, 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Dino Waldren, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Billy Stewart, 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Andrew Guerra, 8 Cam Dolan (capt.), 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Julián Domínguez, 12 JP du Plessis, 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 Ross Depperschmidt, 15 Hanno Dirksen
Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Matt Harmon, 18 Brian Nault, 19 William Waguespack, 20 Devin Short, 21 Damian Stevens, 22 Lockie Kratz, 23 Kyle Rogers
Date: Saturday, June 19
Venue: Lupo Family Field, Marietta
Kickoff: 16:30 local (13:30 Pacific, 15:30 Central)
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistants: Henrique Platais (Brazil) & Cisco Lopez (USA)
Broadcasts: Cox Sports TV, The Rugby Network, TSN Direct
Historical Results
2021-05-02 – NOLA Gold 22, Toronto Arrows 14 (The Gold Mine)
2019-04-07 – Toronto Arrows 31, NOLA Gold 35 (York Alumni Field)
2019-01-26 – NOLA Gold 36, Toronto Arrows 31 (Archbishop Shaw Stadium)
