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The preseason for Major League Rugby’s seventh year has officially kicked off. While the Hounds got a taste of opposed collisions in a controlled scrimmage with LA earlier in the week, it was full-on match conditions against the Legion on Friday.
Other matches included the Seawolves hosting the Pacific Pride, LA traveling to Utah, and the Jackals welcoming the Gold to Texas. None of the matches were streamed with only scant details available. Brief summaries of the best available information is below.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16
 |
 |
| San Diego | Chicago |
| Legion | Hounds |
| 21 |
21 |
All square at the Elite Athlete Training Center in Chula Vista between two sides that will likely feature on many preseason prediction lists for title contention. Billy Meakes and Nate Augspurger were the only try-scorers identified on social media. No lineups were made available by either side but match photos reveal many of the big guns for each team played at least some part. Halftime: SD 7, CHI 14.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16
 |
 |
| Seattle | Pacific |
| Seawolves | Pride |
| 79 | 7 |
To be expected, Seattle had little trouble putting away the young Canadian development side at Starfire Stadium, with 50 points on the board by halftime. Allen Clarke opted to roll out a largely second-string Seawolves outfit with the Pacific Pride up next on Wednesday.
Try-scorers for Seattle included a hat-trick for Duncan Matthews, doubles for Lauina Futi and Huw Taylor, and singles for David Busby, Jeremiah Sio, Dewald Donald, Ryan Rees, Jade Stighling, and Dan Kriel.
After the match it was revealed that tighthead prop Mason Pedersen had suffered a season-ending injury in training. Also noted was the arrival of Kara Pryor in Seattle. The ex-Ironworkers back row appears to be filling a gap left by the departures of Devin Short and Nakai Penny.
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Chance Wenglewski, 2 Dewald Donald, 3 Sam Matenga, 4 Taylor Krumrei, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Reid Davis, 7 Neal Moylett, 8 Pago Haini, 9 Ryan Rees, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Jeremiah Sio, 12 David Busby, 13 Tavite Lopeti (capt.), 14 Lauina Futi, 15 Duncan Matthews
Replacements: 16 DaQuan Perry, 17 Kellen Gordon, 18 Cameron Orr, 19 Jean Droste, 20 Isaia Lotawa, 21 Huw Taylor, 22 Charles Elton, 23 Rhys Jones
PACIFIC PRIDE
1 Sam Miller, 2 Sam Mace, 3 Tyler Matchem, 4 James Stockwood, 5 Alistair Bruce, 6 Ben James, 7 Matt Klimchuk, 8 Charles Taimani, 9 Jesse Kilgour, 10 James Thiel, 11 Ian Jones, 12 Tyler Buchanan, 13 Kyle Tremblay, 14 Liam Poulton, 15 Jamie Armstrong
Replacements: 16 Austin Creighton, 17 Griffin Phillipson, 18 Theo Espagnol, 19 Conor Williams, 20 Jaiden John, 21 Von Richardson, 22 Brady White, 23 Ty Driscoll, 24 Justin Taylor, 25 Ben Russell
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17
 |
 |
| Utah | RFC |
| Warriors | Los Angeles |
| 7 | 34 |
No scoring details were immediately available, but it was an impressive showing from SoCal’s newest team. LA had scrummed down against Chicago in Chula Vista earlier in the week and the scoreboard suggests they were the sharper of the two sides. At halftime the score at Zions Bank Stadium was 17-7 in favor of the visitors. Lineups identified in match photos are below.
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Phil Bradford, 3 Takaji Young Yen, 4 Frank Lochore, 5 Matt Jensen, 6 Kalisi Moli, 7 Bailey Wilson, 8 Dylan Nel, 9 Zion Going, 10 Joel Hodgson, 11 Joe Mano, 12 Spencer Jones, 13 Alesana Pohla, 14 Michael Manson, 15
Replacements (incomplete): Nic Souchon, Emerson Prior, Angus MacLellan, Saia Uhila, Louis Conradie, Thomas Tu’avao, John DuPree, Onehunga Havili, Sam Reimer, Robbie Povey, Isaia Kruse, Noah Bain
RFC LOS ANGELES
1 Dane Zander, 2 Ben Strang, 3 Alex Maughan, 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 5 Max Katjijeko, 6 Michael Amiras, 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Jason Damm, 9 Niall Saunders, 10 Dan Hollinshead, 11 Jack Shaw, 12 Jason Emery, 13 James Stokes, 14 Andrew Coe, 15 Rory van Vugt
Replacements: Bruce Kauika-Petersen, Connor Grindal, Conor Young, Lincoln Si’i, Reegan O’Gorman, Matt Gelhaus, Tas Smith, Sam Walsh, Seth Purdey, Austin White, Matt Anticev
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17
 |
 |
| Dallas | NOLA |
| Jackals | Gold |
| 48 | 26 |
Little information about the match at Choctaw Stadium was made available, with no lineups posted and no score of any kind revealed publicly. EDIT: A member of the Dallas team has now confirmed the result.
