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San Diego will look to bounce back from their first defeat of the campaign when they host Dallas at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday. The Legion were made to look mortal against a determined SaberCats side in Houston but remain among the elite in the Western Conference.
Fortunes for the Jackals could not be further apart. Having dropped their first three matches of their sophomore campaign, last year’s newcomers are still in search of a first win and are now just one defeat away from tying the Major League Rugby record for futility.
There is some good news with the return of Lucas Bur at lock, while Marcos Moroni’s suspension was reduced by one game allowing him to run out at fullback. Martín Elías, however, has replaced Moroni in the doghouse and the side has also lost both Conrado Roura and Pedro Imhoff.
Nazareno Valentini takes Imhoff’s place at scrumhalf with Adriaan Carelse moving up to flyhalf. Juan Pablo Aguirre is named on the bench, which features an unusual 4/4 split. Aaron Gray is set to make his first appearance of the season as a replacement.
The Legion have regained Nate Sylvia up front but left out are Blair Cowan, Josh Henderson, and Nate Augspurger. Marcel Brache captains the side in Cowan’s stead with Will Hooley taking over for Henderson at flyhalf and Ryan Matyas coming in on the wing.
In contrast to Dallas, there are six forwards on San Diego’s bench with Sean McNulty and Tevita Tameilau making their first appearance of the season. It’s also the first sighting this year of veteran midfielder Tiaan Loots, who joins scrumhalf Jason Higgins as the only back reserves.
Slightly cooler than normal temperatures are expected though the rain should subside by game time. Imhoff, Elias, and Roura are all key losses for the Jackals while their bench split does not inspire confidence against a heavyweight San Diego side. Look for the Legion to put last week’s disappointment well behind them with a dominant victory.
Kickoff is set for 5pm local time, 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern. A live stream will be available worldwide on The Rugby Network.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Sama Malolo, 3 Nathan Sylvia, 4 Ben Grant, 5 Isaac Ross, 6 Dan Pryor, 7 Christian Poidevin, 8 Tupou Afungia, 9 Richard Judd, 10 Will Hooley, 11 Tomas Aoake, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 13 Marcel Brache (capt.), 14 Ryan Matyas, 15 Mikey Te’o
Replacements: 16 Sean McNulty, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Jale Railala, 20 Tevita Tameilau, 21 Malakai Latu, 22 Jason Higgins, 23 Tiaan Loots
DALLAS JACKALS
1 Nicolás Revol, 2 Dewald Kotze, 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Sam Golla, 5 Lucas Bur, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara (capt.), 7 Jalen Tatum, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Nazareno Valentini, 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 James Vaifale, 12 Alejandro Torres, 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Eric Naposki, 15 Marcos Moroni
Replacements: 16 Connor Robinson, 17 Liam Murray, 18 Kyle Steeves, 19 Juan Pablo Aguirre, 20 Carson Shoemaker, 21 Danny Christensen, 22 Lui Sitama, 23 Aaron Gray
Date: Saturday, March 11
Venue: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego
Kickoff: 17:00 local (19:00 Central, 20:00 Eastern)
Referee: Paulo Duarte (Portugal)
Assistants: Will Nelson (USA) & Benjamin Lebeaupin (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)
Broadcasts: The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-04-30 – Dallas Jackals 14, San Diego Legion 53 (Choctaw Stadium)
2022-02-12 – San Diego Legion 37, Dallas Jackals 29 (SDSU Sports Deck)
