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The fifth week of the 2022 Major League Rugby season concludes in San Diego where the Legion host Old Glory DC for a late afternoon match at the Sports Deck. It’s the second ever meeting between the two sides, with the East Coasters taking the spoils at Leesburg last July.
San Diego enter with a 3-1 record after their road win over Houston last weekend. With some intended arrivals still absent and others injured Danny Lee’s roster features some fresh faces.
Ma’a Nonu is the biggest name missing with Nate Augspurger captaining the side this week. Tiaan Loots fills in at inside center, and there is a first start in San Diego colors for Canadian international Kainoa Lloyd on the wing. Nathan Sylvia returns to the No1 shirt in the only change to the starting pack.
USA u20 hooker Dillon Shotwell is set to make his regular season bow as a replacement, while loosehead prop Pat Lynott and scrumhalf Jason Higgins makes it three former Arrows in the match day 23. Back row Ayemere Oiyemhonlan has switched from Dallas to San Diego while winger Marcus Tupuola could make his first MLR appearance since the 2020 season after joining from the Eagles Sevens squad.
Old Glory’s struggles continued at home against the Arrows last Saturday. They have now dropped four games to start the campaign and while their points conceded was slightly improved against Toronto, they maintained the highest points conceded total in the league heading into the weekend.
The suspension of Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz sees Luke Campbell moving from blindside flanker to No8, with Dom Bailey filling the vacancy on the side of the scrum. David Beach is called up to provide second row cover with Fintan Coleman the back row reserve.
Junior Sa’u returns to the run-on side at inside center with William Talataina bumping out one spot in the midfield. Renata Roberts-Te Nana starts in his third different position this season as he moves to fullback with Owen Sheehy dropping to the bench. Eagles cap Mike Dabulas has recovered from injury but is left among the sub options.
The odds are firmly against Old Glory here. San Diego are at home and have shown vastly superior form this season. Nonu’s absence is a minor inconvenience compared to that of Fa’anana-Schultz, who is DC’s best forward. On paper this is the Legion’s game to lose.
Kickoff is set for 4pm local time, 7pm Eastern. Fox 5 San Diego will air the game locally with NBC Sport Washington offering a delayed broadcast. Viewers elsewhere in the USA and abroad can watch live on The Rugby Network.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia, 2 Matt Moulds, 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Ben Grant, 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 Michael Smith, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 10 Will Hooley, 11 Matías Freyre, 12 Tiaan Loots, 13 Thomas Morani, 14 Kainoa Lloyd, 15 Joe Pietersen
Replacements: 16 Dillon Shotwell, 17 Pat Lynott, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Jonah Dietenberger, 20 Ayemere Oiyemhonlan, 21 Jason Higgins, 22 Josh Thiel, 23 Marcus Tupuola
OLD GLORY DC
1 Jack Iscaro, 2 Rob Irimescu, 3 Kyle Stewart, 4 Api Naikatini, 5 Stan South, 6 Cory Daniel, 7 Dom Bailey, 8 Luke Campbell, 9 Danny Tusitala (capt.), 10 Rohan Saifoloi, 11 Doug Fraser, 12 Junior Sa’u, 13 William Talataina, 14 Peni Lasaqa, 15 Renata Roberts-Te Nana
Replacements: 16 Mo Katz, 17 Jake Ilnicki, 18 Jack Carroll, 19 David Beach, 20 Fintan Coleman, 21 John LeFevre, 22 Mike Dabulas, 23 Owen Sheehy
Date: Sunday, March 6
Venue: SDSU Sports Deck, San Diego
Kickoff: 16:00 local (19:00 Eastern)
Referee: Kat Roche (USA)
Assistants: Marquise Goodwin (USA) & Jacob Gonzalez (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)
Broadcasts: Fox 5 San Diego, NBC Sports Washington (delayed), The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-07-10 – Old Glory DC 38, San Diego Legion 29 (Segra Field)
