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Two teams off to a slow start this campaign will be hoping to kick-start their fortunes when the Gold welcomes RFC Los Angeles to New Orleans on Saturday evening. The visitors finally picked up their first win of the season last week against Seattle, while the home side have dropped all three of their games following their successful opening round.
| CURRENT STANDINGS |
1-3-0 (L3) East 5th
1-3-0 (W1) West 5th
| STARTING LINEUP CHANGES |
|
IN | OUT |
| 3 | Paul Mullen | Isaac Salmon |
| 5 | Cam Dolan | William Waguespack |
| 6 | Aidan King | Malcolm May |
| 9 | Luke Campbell | Ruben de Haas |
| 10 | Reece Botha | Luke Carty |
|
IN | OUT |
| 1 | Alessandro Heaney | Dane Zander |
| 13 | Matias Jensen | Nick Chan |
| 14 | Seth Purdey | Christian Dyer |
| CAPPED INTERNATIONALS |
(14) – Harmon, Mullen, Dolan, Taufete’e, de Haas, Carty (USA), Mau’u, Fidow (Samoa), Afungia, Foliaki (Tonga), Mignot (France), Coats, Matchem, Duguid (Canada)
(6) – Sosene-Feagai, Damm (USA), Bertranou (Argentina), Leali’ifano (Samoa), Coe (Canada), Kunatani (Fiji)
| CLUB DEBUTS |
(1) – Matchem*
(0) – none
* – MLR debut
| NOTABLE ABSENTEES |
– Pat O’Toole (HO), Moni Tonga’uiha (FL), Kélian Galletier (FL/N8)
– Conor Young (TH), Matt Heaton (FL), Reece MacDonald (FB)
| PREDICTION |
For many years the Gold couldn’t buy a win against ATL, but the relocation to LA finally yielded a positive result against the franchise last season. Neither team are in top form at the moment and while Los Angeles picked up a victory over the Seawolves it was still a match that could have gone either way. For their part the Gold probably should have won against New England but late mistakes cost them dearly. Cam Dolan’s return should at least help the lineout. NOLA are slight favorites at home.
| LINEUPS |
NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon, 2 Ale Lopeti, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Chase Jones, 5 Cam Dolan, 6 Aidan King, 7 Jonah Mau’u (capt.), 8 Tupou Afungia, 9 Luke Campbell, 10 Reece Botha, 11 Ed Fidow, 12 Nikolai Foliaki, 13 Isaac Te Tamaki, 14 Xavier Mignot, 15 Cooper Coats
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Jarred Adams, 18 Tyler Matchem, 19 Kaden Duguid, 20 Osaiasi Tonga’uiha, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Luke Carty, 23 JP du Plessis
RFC LOS ANGELES
1 Alessandro Heaney, 2 Mike Sosene-Feagai, 3 Maliu Niuafe, 4 Jason Damm (capt.), 5 Jurie van Vuuren, 6 Tim Anstee, 7 Ed Timpson, 8 Ben Houston, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Christian Leali’ifano, 11 Andrew Coe, 12 Billy Meakes, 13 Matias Jensen, 14 Seth Purdey, 15 Rory van Vugt
Replacements: 16 Ben Sugars, 17 Declan Leaney, 18 Franco van den Berg, 19 Mikaea Wynyard, 20 Semi Kunatani, 21 Ben Strang, 22 Tas Smith, 23 Will Leonard
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, March 22
Venue: The Gold Mine, Metairie
Kickoff: 18:00 local (16:00 Pacific, 19:00 Eastern)
Weather Forecast: partly cloudy, 73°F (23°C), wind S 6-9mph (10-14km/h)
Broadcasts: ESPN+, Fan Duel SoCal, Gulf Coast Sports, Sky Sports NZ, The Rugby Network
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistants: Marquise Goodwin (USA) & Elvy Asonye (USA)
TMO: Saro Turner (Canada)
| HISTORY |
HEAD-TO-HEAD (9) – ATL/LA 8, NOLA 1
2024-06-16 – RFC Los Angeles 21, NOLA Gold 28 (Dignity Health Track Field)
2023-04-15 – NOLA Gold 7, Rugby ATL 23 (The Gold Mine)
2023-03-04 – Rugby ATL 29, NOLA Gold 16 (Silverbacks Park)
2022-06-03 – Rugby ATL 45, NOLA Gold 19 (Silverbacks Park)
2022-04-09 – NOLA Gold 17, Rugby ATL 34 (The Gold Mine)
2022-02-12 – NOLA Gold 9, Rugby ATL 14 (The Gold Mine)
2021-06-05 – NOLA Gold 7, Rugby ATL 8 (The Gold Mine)
2021-04-24 – Rugby ATL 38, NOLA Gold 28 (Lupo Family Field)
2020-02-16 – NOLA Gold 10, Rugby ATL 22 (The Gold Mine)
