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The San Diego Legion can tie a Major League Rugby record for consecutive victories if they can get past the New York Ironworkers at Snapdragon Stadium on Sunday. New England set the bar high at 10 straight last season, but the Legion look destined to bust through that mark on their way to the Western Conference Final.
It hasn’t been a walk in the park for San Diego. Danny Lee’s men have been tested in each of their last three outings but have pulled out the goods in the final quarter on each occasion. Now coming off a bye week and with the Seawolves hot on their trail, the Legion will pull out all the big guns to face their East Coast rivals.
Faka’osi Pifeleti and Sama Malolo return to the front row, with Shilo Klein and Nathan Sylvia on the bench this week. It’s all-change in the back row as Tupou Afungia, Blair Cowan, and Tevita Tameilau get the call to start. The in-form Michael Smith will play his role as an impact sub.
Richard Judd is back in at scrumhalf and the competitive No10 shirt will be worn by Will Hooley, with Luke Burton in reserve. Ma’a Nonu is back from a one-game suspension at inside center, and out wide it’s Tomas Aoake and Mikey Te’o starting with Ryan Matyas among the replacements.
New York avoided what would have been a crushing defeat at the hands of Chicago by the width of the upright two weeks ago. Their win over NOLA side before that was more convincing, though against severely depleted opposition. James Semple has retained a similar roster after the bye week with only two personnel changes to the run-on side.
Pago Haini is a straight swap for Kara Pryor at No8, and Brooklyn Hardaker is rewarded for his strong showings off the bench with his first MLR start on the right wing. Andrew Coe swaps to fullback with the versatile Kieran Joyce among the reserves. Nic Mayhew is also back in the squad but the prop will cover loosehead this week as Kaleb Geiger continues in the No3 shirt.
Weather will not be a factor but travel must be taken into account for the visitors. In the past New York have fared well in San Diego, with one victory and two narrow defeats. Both sides are rested but on form there is an obvious favorite. The visitors will not go down easily but the Legion have too much firepower at their disposal to be stopped by the Ironworkers.
Kickoff is set for 1pm local time, 4pm Eastern. Local broadcasts will be available on KFMB in San Diego and the MSG Network in New York, with The Rugby Network streaming worldwide.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Sama Malolo, 3 Luke Green, 4 Ben Grant, 5 Isaac Ross, 6 Tupou Afungia, 7 Blair Cowan (capt.), 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Richard Judd, 10 Will Hooley, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 13 Marcel Brache, 14 Tomas Aoake, 15 Mikey Te’o
Replacements: 16 Shilo Klein, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Nathan Sylvia, 19 Chris Turori, 20 Michael Smith, 21 Jason Higgins, 22 Luke Burton, 23 Ryan Matyas
NEW YORK IRONWORKERS
1 Chance Wenglewski, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Kaleb Geiger, 4 Nate Brakeley (capt.), 5 Hamish Dalzell, 6 Brad Tucker, 7 Monate Akuei, 8 Pago Haini, 9 Connor Buckley, 10 Jason Emery, 11 Teofilo Fidow, 12 Quinn Ngawati, 13 Fa’asiu Fuatai, 14 Brooklyn Hardaker, 15 Andrew Coe
Replacements: 16 DaQuan Perry, 17 Nic Mayhew, 18 Sam Davies, 19 Charlie Hewitt, 20 Joe Basser, 21 Eamonn Matthews, 22 Sam Windsor, 23 Kieran Joyce
Date: Sunday, May 28
Venue: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego
Kickoff: 13:00 local (16:00 Eastern)
Broadcasts: KFMB, MSG Network, The Rugby Network
Referee: Joe James (England)
Assistants: Jack Gohl (USA) & Alexis Alfaro (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-03-13 – Rugby New York 26, San Diego Legion 23 (JFK Stadium)
2021-03-20 – San Diego Legion 29, Rugby United New York 36 (James Regional Sports Park)
2020-03-08 – San Diego Legion 24, Rugby United New York 20 (Torero Stadium)
2019-06-09 – San Diego Legion 24, Rugby United New York 22 (Torero Stadium)
2019-04-14 – Rugby United New York 19, San Diego Legion 29 (MCU Park)
2019-01-27 – San Diego Legion 23, Rugby United New York 25 (Torero Stadium)
