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The top two teams in the Western Conference will duke it out at the Sports Deck on Sunday when the San Diego Legion take on the Austin Gilgronis. With five teams competing for three playoff spots, the second half of the season is certain to deliver plenty of drama.
After a red-hot start to the season Austin hit a bit of a wall with back-to-back defeats. They returned to form with a blowout win over Houston last weekend and jumped back to the top of the West ladder.
Cam Dodson swaps jerseys with Sebastian de Chaves in one of two changes to the pack. The other sees Christian Ostberg come in on the blindside flank in the absence of Locky McCaffrey.
With Mark O’Keeffe out for the first time this season there is a shuffle out wide. Marcel Brache moves up to outside center with Chris Mattina coming in at fullback. It’s back to a regular 5-3 split on the bench with Dom Akina wearing the No23 shirt.
The Legion are still searching for consistency but remain just two points back of the AG’s. They are coming off a big win over the Warriors in Utah. It cost them scrumhalf Nate Augspurger, though there are indications his knee injury is not as serious as first thought.
Good news arrives in the form of Ma’a Nonu, who returns to captain the side after a four-game absence. Tiaan Loots bumps out one spot to outside center with Thomas Morani left out this week. Jason Higgins starts in place of Augspurger and Nico Gilli is added to the bench. There is no change to the forwards.
San Diego hold the advantage in historical results at 4-2 but the AG’s were convincing winners last June. Austin look to be back to their best, though the loss of both McCaffrey and O’Keeffe is significant. Meanwhile while the Legion will miss Augspurger, Nonu’s return is a huge boost to the side. Give the favorites tag to the home side by a the slimmest of margins.
Kickoff is set for 2pm local time, 4pm Central, 5pm Eastern. A local broadcast will be available on Fox 5 San Diego with The Rugby Network streaming worldwide.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia, 2 Peter Malcolm, 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Ben Grant, 6 Rohan O’Regan, 7 Michael Smith, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Jason Higgins, 10 Joe Pietersen, 11 Tomas Aoake, 12 Ma’a Nonu (capt.), 13 Tiaan Loots, 14 Bjorn Basson, 15 Matías Freyre
Replacements: 16 Matt Moulds, 17 Joe Walsh, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Chris Turori, 20 Dan Pryor, 21 Nico Gilli, 22 Josh Thiel, 23 Ryan Matyas
AUSTIN GILGRONIS
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Hugh Roach, 3 Mason Pedersen, 4 Cam Dodson, 5 Isaac Ross, 6 Christian Ostberg, 7 Maclean Jones, 8 Michael de Waal, 9 Ryan Louwrens, 10 Mack Mason, 11 Julián Domínguez, 12 Bryce Campbell (capt.), 13 Marcel Brache, 14 Zinzan Elan-Puttick, 15 Chris Mattina
Replacements: 16 Mason Koch, 17 Jake Turnbull, 18 LaRome White, 19 Sebastian de Chaves, 20 Casey McDermott Vai, 21 Pele Cowley, 22 Will Magie, 23 Dom Akina
Date: Sunday, April 10
Venue: SDSU Sports Deck, San Diego
Kickoff: 14:00 local (16:00 Central, 17:00 Eastern)
Referee: Jack Gohl (Australia)
Assistants: Marquise Goodwin (USA) & Alexis Alfaro (USA)
TMO: Mike Lash (New Zealand)
Broadcasts: Fox 5 San Diego, The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-06-26 – San Diego Legion 14, Austin Gilgronis 33 (Torero Stadium)
2021-03-28 – Austin Gilgronis 11, San Diego Legion 14 (Bold Stadium)
2019-04-07 – San Diego Legion 45, Austin Elite 15 (Torero Stadium)
2019-02-22 – Austin Elite 17, San Diego Legion 45 (Dell Diamond)
2018-06-17 – San Diego Legion 31, Austin Elite 17 (Torero Stadium)
2018-05-25 – Austin Elite 31, San Diego Legion 5 (Round Rock Multipurpose Complex)
