Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
The first of two teams who will bring their season to a close this weekend is the Legion, who travel to Leesburg on Saturday to face Old Glory DC. Under different circumstances San Diego might have been expected to be title contenders but like the Arrows much of their campaign was spent on the road with only two games played at their spiritual home of Torero Stadium.
It’s unusual at this point of the season to still find new matchups but this will be the first meeting between the two sides. Old Glory were due to travel to San Diego just days after the 2020 season was put on ice.
The Legion’s playoff hopes slipped away in the final minutes at Salt Lake City a month ago and dropped two more matches before returning to their winning ways against Seattle last weekend. Despite injuries and international call-ups they can still field a competitive side though their second row stocks are severely depleted.
Both Tom Franklin and Chris Turori are out this week so it’s a makeshift engine room with usual front rower Aaron Mitchell partnering Keni Nasoqeqe at lock. Another prop, Cronan Gleeson, covers lock on the bench. Dan Pryor is fit to resume at openside flanker and front row rotation sees Faka’osi Pifeleti and Dean Muir starting at loosehead prop and hooker respectively.
There are two changes out wide. Thomas Morani returns to the start in the No13 shirt as Cameron Clark pushes out one spot to the right wing. In a straight swap Bjorn Basson replaces Cole Zarcone on the left wing, with Ryan Matyas settling for a spot on the bench.
Old Glory are now on the bottom of the Eastern Conference after falling short against Toronto last Sunday. It’s an unchanged lineup this week with four players still on tour overseas while Thretton Palamo and Casey Renaud remain sidelined. Callum Gibbins has put the boots aside for the rest of the season to focus on coaching.
Sunshine is on the forecast which should facilitate an entertaining contest between two sides who like to throw the ball around. Neither team are fighting for anything more than bragging rights at this point though the Legion will be keen to end their season on a high note. On paper the visitors have the stronger lineup and coming off a win can be considered favorites.
Kickoff is set for 5pm local time, 2pm Pacific. Local broadcasts will be available on Fox 5 San Diego and NBC Sports Washington with The Rugby Network streaming worldwide.
OLD GLORY DC
1 Jamie Dever, 2 James King, 3 Steven Longwell, 4 Tevita Naqali, 5 Api Naikatini, 6 Cory Daniel, 7 Mungo Mason (capt.), 8 Josh Brown, 9 Danny Tusitala, 10 Jason Robertson, 11 Sam Cusano, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 13 Renata Roberts-Te Nana, 14 D’Montae Noble, 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson
Replacements: 16 Max Lum, 17 Jack Iscaro, 18 Dante Lopresti, 19 Mo Katz, 20 Dacoda Worth, 21 Danny Thomas, 22 Owen Sheehy, 23 Simi Moala
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Dean Muir, 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Keni Nasoqeqe, 5 Aaron Mitchell, 6 Jasa Veremalua, 7 Dan Pryor, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 10 Santiago González Iglesias, 11 Bjorn Basson, 12 Tiaan Loots, 13 Thomas Morani, 14 Cameron Clark, 15 Cecil Afrika
Replacements: 16 Peter Malcolm, 17 Nathan Sylvia, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Derrick Broussard, 20 Cronan Gleeson, 21 Ethan McVeigh, 22 Patrick Madden, 23 Ryan Matyas
Date: Saturday, July 10
Venue: Segra Field, Leesburg
Kickoff: 17:00 local (14:00 Pacific)
Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistants: Mike O’Brien (USA) & Gavin McCandless (USA)
Broadcasts: Fox 5 San Diego, NBC Sports Washington, The Rugby Network
Historical Results
n/a
