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The Cali Cup is up for grabs in San Diego on Sunday evening when the Legion take on the LA Giltinis at the Sports Deck. Both teams are in the playoff race but with very different outlooks.
San Diego’s crushing defeat to the SaberCats last weekend put them in a very precarious position. They trail Seattle and Houston by three points and two of their last three games are against the top two teams in the Western Conference.
Nathan Sylvia and Michael Smith are out, which requires two changes to the starting pack. Joe Walsh comes in at loosehead prop with Tevita Tameilau starting at No8. Dan Pryor shifts to openside flanker. Chris Schade makes his first match day appearance since February as backup hooker with Pat Lynott covering loosehead this week.
Tomas Aoake moves back to the wing and Tiaan Loots starts in the midfield, with no sign of Ryan Matyas. Joe Pietersen is back into the starting side at fullback after being left on the bench last week. It’s Matías Freyre who makes way, joining Nico Gilli and Josh Thiel as backline reserves.
The Giltinis have now won seven in a row after their nail-biting win over Austin last weekend. They are now just six points back of the Gilgronis with a game at hand. Stephen Hoiles will ask his charges to front up again but they’ll have to do so without injured captain Dave Dennis and star hooker Joe Taufete’e.
Andrew Tuala fills in for Big Joe and will have Les Leulua’iali’i-Makin and Charlie Abel alongside in the front row. Nathan Den Hoedt moves over to lock with Zach Bonte called in to start on the blindside flank. The only other change is a straight swap on the wing where Will Chambers comes in for John Ryberg.
With the Legion bound for Snapdragon Stadium next season, this will be their last game at the Sports Deck. They’ll need to draw something out of the occasion, as LA are miles ahead on the form chart and were comfortable winners when the two sides played in March. Expect San Diego to put up a fight but the visitors should be considered clear favorites.
Kickoff is set for 6:30pm local time, 9:30pm Eastern. Fox Sports 1 will broadcast nationwide while those located abroad can watch on The Rugby Network.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Joe Walsh, 2 Peter Malcolm, 3 Hencus van Wyk, 4 Ben Mitchell, 5 Jale Railala, 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 Dan Pryor, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Jason Higgins, 10 Will Hooley, 11 Tomas Aoake, 12 Ma’a Nonu (capt.), 13 Tiaan Loots, 14 Bjorn Basson, 15 Joe Pietersen
Replacements: 16 Chris Schade, 17 Pat Lynott, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Chris Turori, 20 Rohan O’Regan, 21 Nico Gilli, 22 Josh Thiel, 23 Matías Freyre
LA GILTINIS
1 Les Leulua’iali’i-Makin, 2 Andrew Tuala, 3 Charlie Abel, 4 Luke White (capt.), 5 Nathan Den Hoedt, 6 Zach Bonte, 7 Christian Poidevin, 8 Corey Thomas, 9 Tas Smith, 10 Harrison Goddard, 11 Tom Mitchell, 12 Billy Meakes, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Will Chambers, 15 Jordan Trainor
Replacements: 16 Lindsey Stevens, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Marco Fepulea’i, 19 Langilangi Haupeakui, 20 Cyrille Cama, 21 Cristian Rodriguez, 22 Luke Burton, 23 John Ryberg
Date: Sunday, May 15
Venue: SDSU Sports Deck, San Diego
Kickoff: 18:30 local (21:30 Eastern)
Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistants: Marquise Goodwin (USA) & Alexis Alfaro (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)
Broadcasts: Fox Sports 1, The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-03-19 – LA Giltinis 26, San Diego Legion 13 (Memorial Coliseum)
2021-04-24 – LA Giltinis 45, San Diego Legion 17 (Memorial Coliseum)
2021-06-20 – San Diego Legion 13, LA Giltinis 19 (Torero Stadium)
