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An East Conference clash between two new adversaries takes place in New Orleans on Saturday afternoon. Both NOLA and New England are looking to bounce back from defeat, the Gold foiled by the San Diego Legion while the Free Jacks fell to the resurgent Seattle Seawolves.
Nate Osborne has named an unchanged starting lineup, with only two alterations coming on the bench. Ben Tarr gets the week off as Doc Irey is set to make his first appearance of the season as backup tighthead prop. The bench reverts to a conventional 5-3 split as John Sullivan drops out with Ross Depperschmidt nominated as midfield cover.
New England meanwhile show five changes to their run-on side. Tolu Fahamokioa gets his first Major League Rugby start at loosehead prop and new signing Ben Landry is named on the blindside flank in his MLR return. Kensuke Hatakeyama is fit to take up a spot as a reserve, and Evan Geist is named as an extra loose forward.
There are three key returnees from injury in the backline. Tadhg Leader jumps back into the flyhalf spot with Liam Steel in at outside center. Beaudein Waaka starts at fullback a month after his impressive debut against New York. Poasa Waqanibau moves to the right wing and Danny Collins switches to the left with Deion Mikesell dropped to the bench.
The Free Jacks look a different side with almost a full compliment available this week. Landry is an imposing figure up front while Leader and Waaka are game changers in the backs. NOLA however are settled and another week removed from the illness that hit some of their leading players. Take the Gold as favorites at home but this will be a tight battle that could go either way.
Kickoff is set for 3pm local time, 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern. Local broadcasts will be available on Cox Sports TV in Louisiana and on NESN+ in New England, the latter on tape delay (9pm ET). ESPN+ will carry the game nationwide. Those located outside the USA can watch on the official MLR Facebook page.
NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon, 2 Eric Howard, 3 Dino Waldren, 4 Billy Stewart, 5 Kyle Baillie (capt.), 6 Nikola Bursic, 7 Moni Tonga’uiha, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Scott Gale, 10 Robbie Coleman, 11 Julián Domínguez, 12 Con Foley, 13 Carl Meyer, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 JP Eloff
Replacements: 16 Cam Falcon, 17 Kevin Sullivan, 18 Doc Irey, 19 Kane Thompson, 20 Malcolm May, 21 Holden Yungert, 22 Ross Depperschmidt, 23 Nick Feakes
NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS
1 Tolu Fahamokioa, 2 Sean McNulty, 3 Donald Brighouse, 4 Josh Larsen (capt.), 5 Conor Kindregan, 6 Ben Landry, 7 Zack Stryffeler, 8 Naulia Dawai, 9 John Poland, 10 Tadhg Leader, 11 Danny Collins, 12 Sam Beard, 13 Liam Steel, 14 Poasa Waqanibau, 15 Beaudein Waaka
Replacements: 16 Steven Hinshaw, 17 Simon Courcoul, 18 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 19 Owen Hundt, 20 Evan Geist, 21 Ollie Engelhart, 22 Timothée Guillimin, 23 Deion Mikesell
Date: Saturday, March 7
Venue: The Gold Mine, New Orleans
Kickoff: 15:00 local (13:00 Pacific, 16:00 Eastern)
Referee: Jamie Nutbrown (New Zealand)
Assistants: Kahlil Harrison (USA) & Dave Edwards (USA)
Broadcasts: Cox Sports TV, ESPN+, Facebook, NESN+ (Delay)
