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A new Major League Rugby champion will be crowned on Saturday when the San Diego Legion takes on the New England Free Jacks in Chicago. Ticket sales have been strong despite the neutral location, with attendance expected to significantly exceed the previous Final mark of 7,389 set at LA in 2021.
This will be the first trip to the ‘big dance’ for New England, who came up short against New York in last year’s Eastern Conference Final. San Diego came painfully close to the title in 2019 when a last-gasp try gave the Seattle Seawolves their second consecutive Final win.
In head-to-head battles the Legion hold a 2-1 lead all-time, and were 29-12 winners when the two sides met in San Diego at the end of February. This will be the first time they have met outside of California. Both teams have been in exceptional form since, with the Legion riding an unprecedented 14-game winning streak and New England not far behind with 11 straight victories.
San Diego made easy work of the Seawolves in the Western Conference Final, dominating the contest after a slow opening. Danny Lee has rewarded his changes by naming an identical match day 23 this week. Will Hooley runs out in the No10 shirt for his final competitive outing before retirement.
It was a similar situation at Fort Quincy, where the Free Jacks were always in control against a competitive but outgunned Old Glory side. Injury to Reegan O’Gorman sees Semisi Paea moving into the starting lock role, with Sam Fischli called up to the bench. Mitch Wilson has recovered sufficiently from a hamstring problem to start on the right wing in place of Taniela Filimone.
Notably there is no place of Beaudein Waaka in the Free Jacks lineup. The 2022 MLR Player of the Year continues to struggle with sore ribs and Reece MacDonald’s outstanding form has been rewarded with the No15 shirt. Another standout of a year ago, Slade McDowall, is again left out with Joe Johnston getting the nod at openside flanker.
Both teams are without their regular skippers with New England’s Josh Larsen struck by a shoulder injury early in the year, and San Diego’s Blair Cowan suspended for a dangerous tackle in the last round of the regular season. Mitch Jacobson has been an exemplary replacement for Larsen while Marcel Brache has been a calming figure in Cowan’s absence.
Conditions at game time are expected to be ideal, warm and partly cloudy with light winds. Though the Chicago Hounds play in the Western Conference, it’s a longer trip from San Diego than Boston. That could see more of the Free Jacks faithful making the trip to boost the Eastern Conference champions.
There’s nothing to choose between the two on form, and in style both like to play similar attacking games that use the width of the field. New England might fancy their chances in the scrum, but the lineout will be a challenge. Despite struggling on their own throw-ins, San Diego’s jumpers have proved more than capable of disrupting the opposition.
The Legion have more star power in their lineup, but the Free Jacks have repeatedly shown themselves to be greater than the sum of their parts. It’s a fascinating contest, and in terms of success rates these are arguably the two best sides ever to take the pitch in MLR. San Diego take the favorites tag based on their earlier win and overall standing, but this Clash of the Titans won’t be decided until the final whistle.
Kickoff is set for 2pm local time, 3pm Eastern, noon Pacific. Fox will broadcast nationwide with BT Sport airing the game for viewers in the UK. Those located in Canada and elsewhere can watch a free live stream on The Rugby Network.
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Sama Malolo, 3 Luke Green, 4 Ben Grant, 5 Tom Franklin, 6 Christian Poidevin, 7 Tupou Afungia, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Richard Judd, 10 Will Hooley, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 13 Marcel Brache (capt.), 14 Tomas Aoake, 15 Mikey Te’o
Replacements: 16 Shilo Klein, 17 Nathan Sylvia, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Chris Turori, 20 Isaac Ross, 21 Michael Smith, 22 Josh Henderson, 23 Ryan Matyas
NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Kianu Kereru-Symes, 2 Andrew Quattrin, 3 Joel Hintz, 4 Semisi Paea, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Mitch Jacobson (capt.), 7 Joe Johnston, 8 Wian Conradie, 9 John Poland, 10 Jayson Potroz, 11 Paula Balekana, 12 Le Roux Malan, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Mitch Wilson, 15 Reece MacDonald
Replacements: 16 Mills Sanerivi, 17 Kyle Ciquera, 18 Cole Keith, 19 Sam Fischli, 20 Cam Davidowicz, 21 Holden Yungert, 22 Spencer Jones, 23 Zach Bastres
Date: Saturday, July 8
Venue: SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview
Kickoff: 14:00 local (12:00 Pacific, 15:00 Eastern)
Broadcasts: BT Sport, Fox, The Rugby Network
Referee: Joe James (England)
Assistants: Cam Stone (New Zealand) & Lex Weiner (USA)
TMO: Nick Hannon (USA)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2023-02-26 – San Diego Legion 29, New England Free Jacks 12 (Snapdragon Stadium)
2021-05-01 – San Diego Legion 17, New England Free Jacks 33 (LA Memorial Coliseum)
2020-02-23 – San Diego Legion 30, New England Free Jacks 21 (Torero Stadium)
