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It’s a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Final on Sunday, as the LA Giltinis play host to the Utah Warriors at Memorial Coliseum. On that day the Giltinis came from behind to secure a late victory and would go on to lift the MLR Shield a week later. The two sides split their regular season meetings.
Given their respective success in 2021 it might come as a shock to see both in the bottom half of the table with neither sporting a winning record. The Giltinis were upset by Houston in the season opener and were defeated again by Austin last week. Utah dropped their first three games of the year before exploding with a record-setting result against Dallas.
The magnitude of the win gives the Warriors much-needed confidence and changes the complexion of Sunday’s match. Redemption will be heavy on their minds with 17 of the 23 players named in the Conference Final returning for Sunday’s fixture.
Shawn Pittman has made just one change to his starting lineup as Tuvere Vugakoto rotates back in at hooker with Chad Gough moving to the bench. The only other change in the match day squad sees winger James Vaifale taking the place of Coleson Warner among the replacements.
LA were faced with an unprecedented challenge last week as a third flyhalf went down with injury, forcing 42-year-old assistant coach Orene Ai’i to lace up the boots again nearly six years since his last professional game. Ai’i continues this week and there are further disruptions as first choice scrumhalf Harrison Goddard has been ruled out under Covid protocols.
Tas Smith steps for Goddard to make his first Major League Rugby start. The backs are otherwise unchanged though D’Montae Noble is called up to the bench this week alongside Kahani Koi, the 18-year-old who became MLR’s youngest ever player a week ago.
Up front there is a change at tighthead prop with Charlie Abel relegating Marco Fepulea’i to the bench, and Adam Ashe makes his first start of the season at No8. The big news this week was the arrival of Joe Taufete’e and the US Eagles front rower immediately finds himself on the bench just a week after playing his final game for French Top 14 club Lyon.
Perfect sunny conditions are on the forecast which will allow for an entertaining contest. Under normal circumstances the Giltinis might be considered firm favorites, but the champs are coming off a loss and sport a makeshift halfback pairing. Combined with Utah’s big win and suddenly there is doubt cast upon the outcome. Take the home side, but not by much.
Kickoff is set for 4pm local time, 5pm Mountain, 7pm Eastern. Fox Sports 2 will broadcast nationwide with The Rugby Network streaming for viewers located abroad.
LA GILTINIS
1 Luke White, 2 Andrew Tuala, 3 Charlie Abel, 4 Dave Dennis (capt.), 5 Nathan Den Hoedt, 6 Angus Cottrell, 7 Christian Poidevin, 8 Corey Thomas, 9 Tas Smith, 10 Orene Ai’i, 11 Ryan James, 12 Billy Meakes, 13 Will Chambers, 14 Cristian Rodriguez, 15 Jordan Trainor
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Marco Fepulea’i, 19 Corey Thomas, 20 Hanco Germishuys, 21 Zach Bonte, 22 Kahanu Koi, 23 D’Montae Noble
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Tuvere Vugakoto, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Jamie Lane, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Bailey Wilson (capt.), 8 Jurie van Vuuren, 9 Niall Saunders, 10 Caleb Makene, 11 Mike Te’o, 12 Tomasi Tonga, 13 Tyler Fisher, 14 Mika Kruse, 15 Cliven Loubser
Replacements: 16 Chad Gough, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Thomas Tu’avao, 20 Mike Gieselman, 21 Danny Christensen, 22 Calvin Whiting, 23 James Vaifale
Date: Sunday, March 13
Venue: Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Kickoff: 16:00 local (17:00 Mountain, 19:00 Eastern)
Referee: Luke Rogan (USA)
Assistants: Austin Reed (USA) & Tim Lew (USA)
TMO: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Broadcasts: Fox Sports 2, The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-07-25 – LA Giltinis 17, Utah Warriors 13 (Memorial Coliseum)
2021-07-17 – Utah Warriors 34, LA Giltinis 29 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2021-05-15 – LA Giltinis 38, Utah Warriors 27 (SoFi Stadium)
