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The first of two weekends of Major League Rugby preseason action saw three games played and one restructured. A number of new players featured, some of whom are as-of-yet unconfirmed by their respective clubs. Below are summaries of the four events.
SAN DIEGO LEGION 10 vs 12 AUSTIN GILGRONIS
Friday, January 21, Elite Athlete Center, Chula Vista
Peter Malcolm scored from a lineout drive early, with Zinzan Elan-Puttick finding space out wide for the equalizer soon after. A Thomas Morani break and offload created a try for Joe Pietersen to give the Legion a halftime lead. Morani turned to villain with a deliberate knock-on in the second half that resulted in a penalty try and a win for the AG’s.
Neither side were at full strength though the configuration of the backline revealed some intensions. Notably it was Will Hooley at flyhalf and Joe Pietersen at fullback for San Diego, while Dom Akina lined up at inside center and Marcel Brache at fullback for Austin.
The Legion featured new acquisition Dillon Shotwell at hooker, a USA u20 cap who was drafted by Houston in 2021. San Diego draft picks Jonah Dietenberger and Dom Iacovino played lock and outside center respectively. SDSU graduate Nico Gilli, who went undrafted, played the entire match at scrumhalf.
Austin development trio Jeffery Steele, Alex Lopeti, and Campbell Robinson all saw game time. New arrival Chris Mattina, formerly of New York, played in the second half. We were unable to identify a replacement prop. There were also two San Diego players we could not identify with no lineups posted.
The match in its entirety can be seen below. San Diego host the LA Giltinis on Friday while Austin will take on New York at Bold Stadium on Saturday.
SCORING
SAN DIEGO 10
Tries – P. Malcolm (4′), J. Pietersen (23′)
Cons – W. Hooley 0/2
YC – T. Morani (68′)
AUSTIN 12
Tries – Z. Elan-Puttick (7′), Penalty try (68′)
Cons – M. Mason 0/1, No kick (68′)
TEAMS
SAN DIEGO LEGION (1st half)
1 Nathan Sylvia, 2 Peter Malcolm / Dillon Shotwell, 3 Hencus van Wyk / Chris Baumann, 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Ben Grant, 6 Chris Turori, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Nico Gilli, 10 Will Hooley, 11 Bjorn Basson, 12 Tiaan Loots, 13 Thomas Morani, 14 Matías Freyre / Tre Kersee, 15 Joe Pietersen
SAN DIEGO LEGION (1st half)
1 Chris Schade / AN Other, 2 Dillon Shotwell / Lolenisi Veimau, 3 Chris Baumann / Thomas Reyes, 4 Jonah Dietenberger, 5 Robert Meeson, 6 Jake Stone, 7 Derrick Broussard, 8 Tevita Tameilau / Chris Turori, 9 Nico Gilli, 10 Patrick Madden, 11 Jesse Hamilton, 12 Tiaan Loots, 13 Dominick Iacovino, 14 Tre Kersee, 15 Thomas Morani
AUSTIN GILGRONIS (1st half)
1 Jake Turnbull, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 3 Jeffery Steele / Mika Felix, 4 Christian Ostberg, 5 Cam Dodson, 6 Kyle Breytenbach, 7 Luke Beauchamp, 8 Michael de Waal, 9 Pele Cowley, 10 Mack Mason, 11 Zinzan Elan-Puttick, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Mark O’Keeffe, 14 Conner Mooneyham, 15 Marcel Brache
AUSTIN GILGRONIS (2nd half)
1 Alex Lopeti, 2 Mason Koch, 3 Mika Felix, 4 Campbell Robinson, 5 Isaac Ross, 6 Michael de Waal / Kyle Breytenbach / Luke Beauchamp, 7 Asa Carter, 8 Casey McDermott Vai, 9 Sidney Shoop, 10 Will Magie, 11 Caleb Strum, 12 Dominic Akina / Bryce Campbell, 13 Conner Mooneyham / Mark O’Keeffe, 14 Zinzan Elan-Puttick, 15 Chris Mattina
Referee: Marquise Goodwin (USA)
OLD GLORY DC 17 vs 47 TORONTO ARROWS
Friday, January 21, The St. James, Springfield
A game that was not broadcast saw the Arrows stretch away with a dominant second half performance. Fullback Conor McCann was named man-of-the-match in his first appearance for the Arrows, with Ross Braude and Jack McRogers scoring two tries each.
Neither team were at full strength with Old Glory fielding several newcomers including new senior call-ups John LeFevre, Labi Koi-Larbi, and Jack Russell who each started the match. Kyle Stewart and John Rizzo were late additions to the roster.
That’s the only preseason run-out for the Arrows, who now prepare for their regular season opener in Seattle on February 6. Old Glory welcome the Free Jacks to The St. James on Friday night.
SCORING
DC 17
Tries – O. Sheehy (9′), R. Irimescu (27′), J. Rizzo (80′)
Cons – M. Dabulas 1/3 (28′)
TORONTO 47
Tries – M. Hood (7′), G. Mieres (21′), R. Braude 2 (29′, 66′), J. McRogers 2 (47′, 58′), S. Mace (74′)
Cons – W. Kelly 6/7 (8′, 22′ 30′, 48′, 67′, 75′)
TEAMS
OLD GLORY DC
1 Jack Iscaro, 2 Rob Irimescu, 3 Kyle Stewart, 4 Matthew Gordon, 5 Apisai Naikatini, 6 Dacoda Worth, 7 Cory Daniel, 8 Luke Campbell, 9 John LeFevre, 10 Mike Dabulas, 11 Simi Moala, 12 Labi Koi-Larbi, 13 Doug Fraser (capt.), 14 Jack Russell, 15 Owen Sheehy
Replacements: Nick Hryekewicz, Dante Lopresti, Will Vakalahi, Hannibal Vaivao, Jack Carroll, David Beach, Dom Bailey, Danny Thomas, Palema Roberts, Junior Sa’u, John Rizzo
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Cole Keith, 2 Jack McRogers, 3 Tyler Rowland, 4 Adrian Wadden, 5 Mike Sheppard, 6 Ollie Nott, 7 James O’Neill, 8 Marcello Wainwright, 9 Ross Braude, 10 Will Kelly, 11 Gastón Mieres, 12 Ueta Tufuga, 13 Mitch Richardson, 14 Matthew Hood, 15 Conor McCann
Replacements: Sam Mace, Isaac Salmon, Marc-Antoine Ouellet, Paul Ciulini, Kyle Baillie, Mason Flesch, Lucas Rumball, Andrew Ferguson, Spencer Jones, Mitch Voralek
Referee: Lex Weiner (USA)
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES 76 vs 8 SEATTLE RUGBY CLUB
Saturday, January 22, Starfire Stadium, Tukwila
As expected it was a one-sided win for the professional side against their amateur feeder club. Riekert Hattingh led the way with a hat-trick and James Malcolm added a double for the Seawolves. Newcomers Martin Iosefo, Jeremiah Sio, and Darell Williams all scored tries. Replacement winger Sio is part of the development squad.
The Seawolves host the Hartford Harpooners next weekend.
SCORING
SEAWOLVES 76
Tries – R. Hattingh 3 (4′, 35′, 69′), J. Malcolm 2 (10′, 20′), L. Futi (15′), A. Alatimu (18′), M. Iosefo (40′), J. Sio (60′), K. Joyce (67′), D. Williams (72′), M. Turner (80′)
Cons – A. Alatimu 4/8 (19′, 21′, 36′, 40′), K. Joyce 4/4 (68′, 70′, 73′, 80′)
YC – T. Clark (29′)
SEATTLE RC 8
Tries – F. Tafuna (30′)
Cons – J. Reid 0/1
Pens – J. Reid 1/1 (7′)
TEAMS
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Kellen Gordon, 2 James Malcolm, 3 Henry Hall, 4 Ben Landry, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Tommy Clark, 7 Nakai Penny, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 AJ Alatimu, 11 Lauina Futi, 12 Tavite Lopeti, 13 Martin Iosefo, 14 Cole Zarcone, 15 Duncan Matthews
SEATTLE RUGBY CLUB
1 Mike Shepherd, 2 Pepe Semeraro, 3 Freddy Tafuna, 4 Jamie Demers, 5 Mark Thompson, 6 Tupe Kalifa, 7 Matt Potter, 8 Adam Page, 9 Ronald Dwyer, 10 Johnny Reid (capt.), 11 Johnny Fuimaono, 12 Will Stowers, 13 Matt Brennan, 14 Levi Penter, 15 Ian Wright
Referee: Scott Green (USA)
HOUSTON SABERCATS vs DALLAS JACKALS
Saturday, January 22, AVEVA Stadium, Houston
Fans who paid to attend, some of whom drive from Dallas, were left bemused and unimpressed when the event billed as a preseason game instead turned into a joint practice session. The two teams split into backs and forwards to work on set moves, with a 15-minute ‘game’ played at the end of the session.
Houston called up 10 members of their Rugby HTX academy for the training session. Those include front row trio Hunter Blanchard, Patrick Donovan, and Alec McDonnell, second row Will Crawford, back rows Isaul Arismendez, Nick Wright, and Leo Harried, halfback Trace Bolstad, and outside backs Jake Hidalgo and Jeremy Brown. Donovan, Crawford, and Hidalgo made MLR appearances in 2021.
A live stream of the event faltered and footage of the opposed session has since been taken down from social media. As it stands it now means neither Houston or Dallas will play a preseason game before their regular season openers on February 5 against LA and Austin respectively.
