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Former All Black great Mils Muliaina will make his San Francisco debut on Sunday as Ohio visit Boxer Stadium in the second PRO Rugby match of the weekend. It won’t be fullback where he starts out, however, it will be in the midfield alongside former New Zealand 7s rep Orene Ai’i. Muliaina replaces Canadian Nick Blevins in a starting lineup that shows just three changes from the team that narrowly lost to Denver last week.
Patrick Latu returns to lead the side but moves to hooker having previously been selected as a prop. Isaac Helu gets his first start of the season replacing Siupeli Sakalia on the flank, with Sam Finau switching back to the blindside. Giant lock Siaosi Mahoni returns from injury to take a spot on the bench, where there is also a first appearance for flying SFGG winger Pila Huihui.
Ohio meanwhile have made just two changes to their run-on side. Kyle Baillie has recovered sufficiently to play lock in place of Dominic Pezzutti, and Ahmad Harajly plays his third position of the season on the left wing with Mason Baum dropping out. Peter Malcolm replaces Chris Schade as reserve hooker, and Ryan McTiernan is in for Derrek van Klein, leaving Demecus Beach as the only specialist prop replacement.
A new name on the bench is football convert Sam McGuffie. The former Rice University running back spent three seasons on NFL practice rosters and one with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL. In 2015 he joined the USA national bobsled team, and in April he joined Tiger Academy to try his hand at rugby.
After losing JP Eloff to injury a week before, Ohio hardly missed a beat as they smashed Sacramento in Obetz but will be wary of facing a revamped San Francisco side on their home turf. The heavy Pacific Island flavour in the San Francisco side will give them plenty of sting in the contact area and Ohio will need to avoid getting into an arm wrestle against a bigger pack.
Look for Shaun Davies to try and move the ball quickly to stretch and tire the San Francisco defense. On the other side Muliaina’s presence will be both calming and inspiring, and if San Francisco can find parity in possession they have the runners to do damage both in tight and out wide.
SAN FRANCISCO
1 Niko Lolohea 2 Patrick Latu (capt.) 3 Fancy Namulau’ulu 4 Brendan Daly 5 David Tameilau 6 Sam Finau 7 Isaac Helu 8 Bill Fukofuka 9 Michael Reid 10 Volney Rouse 11 Pila Iongi 12 Orene Ai’i 13 Mils Muliaina 14 Michael Haley 15 Martini Talapusi
16 Codi Jones 17 Maka Tameilau 18 Jacob Finau 19 Siaosi Mahoni 20 Siupeli Sakalia 21 Junior Helu 22 Nick Blevins 23 Pila Huihui
OHIO
1 Jamie Mackintosh 2 Dylan Fawsitt 3 Angus MacLellan 4 Pierce Dargan 5 Kyle Baillie 6 Filippo Ferrarini 7 Matt Hughston 8 Sebastián Kalm 9 Shaun Davies (capt.) 10 Robbie Shaw 11 Ahmad Harajly 12 Roland Suniula 13 Ryan Cochran 14 Spike Davis 15 Allan Hanson
16 Peter Malcolm 17 Demecus Beach 18 Ryan McTiernan 19 Chad Joseph 20 Alex Elkins 21 Chris Kunkel 22 Shawn Riley 23 Sam McGuffie
Date: Sunday, May 29
Venue: Boxer Stadium, San Francisco
Kickoff: 15:00 local (16:00 MDT, 18:00 EDT)
Referee: Scott Green
Assistants: Kurt Weaver & Derek Summers
Broadcasts: PRO Rugby (web stream) & ONE World Sports (cable)
Tickets: TicketsWest
