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Week seven of the 2022 Major League Rugby season begins in Utah. The Warriors host the Arrows in the fourth regular season meeting between the two sides. Toronto won the first two but were second best when they made the trip to Salt Lake a year ago.
Utah arrive on a high, having beaten the defending champion Giltinis in Los Angeles last weekend. A week before that they broke their winless streak with a record-setting performance against the Jackals. There are two personnel changes to the lineup this week, both enforced.
Injury to Saia Uhila sees Thomas Tu’avao stepping into the starting lineup. Unlike the game against LA, however, Jurie van Vuuren will stay at No8 with Tu’avao playing lock for the first time. Puna Vuli serves as conventional second row cover on the bench.
Paul Lasike has departed Harlequins but his return to MLR will have to wait another week. Instead it’s Mika Kruse who moves into the midfield to fill the gap left by the suspension to Tyler Fisher. James Vaifale gets the start on the left wing, and Calvin Whiting is restored to the No12 shirt with Tomasi Tonga dropping to the reserves.
The Arrows endured horrendous weather conditions during their loss to the Free Jacks but did manage to come away with a losing bonus point after a late surge. This is their last big road trip before their long-awaited return to Toronto with a relatively short jaunt to New York in between.
James O’Neill is rewarded with a first professional start. He wears No7 with Lucas Rumball moving to No6 this week. Tomás de la Vega drops to the bench. The rest of the pack is unchanged but 39-year-old prop Rob Brouwer is summoned to to the bench for his first appearance of the 2022 season.
Injuries to Spencer Jones and Gastón Mieres have required changes in the backs. Ueta Tufuga slides in one spot to inside center with Mitch Richardson his midfield partner. Matthew Hood returns on the right wing, and New Zealand import Dennon Robinson-Bartlett is set to make his MLR debut from the bench after recovering from injury.
The weather this week will be dramatically different for the Arrows with relatively warm weather and clear skies on the forecast. That’s also good news for the Warriors, who love to throw the ball around on their home turf. Both teams are missing key players, but recent form and home field advantage suggests that Utah should be favorites in a close contest.
Kickoff is set for 2:30pm local time, 1:30pm Pacific, 4:30pm Eastern. Local broadcasts will be available on KMYU and the KSL Sports website in Utah, with TSN’s digital outlets available to Canadian viewers. Those located elsewhere in the USA and abroad can watch on The Rugby Network.
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Tuvere Vugakoto, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Thomas Tu’avao, 5 Jamie Lane, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Bailey Wilson (capt.), 8 Jurie van Vuuren, 9 Niall Saunders, 10 Caleb Makene, 11 James Vaifale, 12 Calvin Whiting, 13 Mika Kruse, 14 Mike Te’o, 15 Cliven Loubser
Replacements: 16 Chad Gough, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Puna Vuli, 20 Mike Gieselman, 21 Danny Christensen, 22 Tomasi Tonga, 23 Connor Burns
TORONTO ARROWS
1 Cole Keith, 2 Andrew Quattrin, 3 Isaac Salmon, 4 Mike Sheppard (capt.), 5 Paul Ciulini, 6 Lucas Rumball, 7 James O’Neill, 8 Ronan Foley, 9 Ross Braude, 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Brock Webster, 12 Ueta Tufuga, 13 Mitch Richardson, 14 Matthew Hood, 15 Conor McCann
Replacements: 16 Jack McRogers, 17 Rob Brouwer, 18 Tyler Rowland, 19 Adrian Wadden, 20 Tomás de la Vega, 21 Chris Bell, 22 Will Kelly, 23 Dennon Robinson-Bartlett
Date: Saturday, March 19
Venue: Zions Bank Stadium, Herriman
Kickoff: 14:30 local (13:30 Pacific, 16:30 Eastern)
Referee: Mike Lash (New Zealand)
Assistants: Paulo Duarte (Portugal) & Kahlil Harrison (USA)
TMO: Chris Assmus (Canada)
Broadcasts: KMYU, KSL Sports, The Rugby Network, TSN.ca
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-03-27 – Utah Warriors 39, Toronto Arrows 24 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2019-05-12 – Toronto Arrows 28, Utah Warriors 21 (Lamport Stadium)
2019-03-30 – Utah Warriors 31, Toronto Arrows 64 (Zions Bank Stadium)
