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LA Giltinis back row Hanco Germishuys has been suspended for three weeks. The USA international was sent off 59 minutes into Saturday’s game against Rugby ATL after landing an elbow on the head of Will Leonard while the two players were on the ground following a tackle situation.
As a result Germishuys will miss this weekend’s pivotal match against the Austin Gilgronis, as well as subsequent games against the San Diego Legion and Dallas Jackals. He will be free to play again in the May 28 road fixture against the Utah Warriors.
The New England Free Jacks set a new Major League Rugby mark with their 8th consecutive win on Saturday, defeating the Utah Warriors in Quincy. Previously the record had been jointly held by the Glendale Raptors, who won the first seven games of the inaugural 2018 season, and the Toronto Arrows, who won the last seven games of the 2019 regular season.
Other significant winning streaks currently in progress are Austin at five games and LA at six. The two sides will collide at the Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. On the flipside Dallas are yet to register a win in 12 games, while Utah and NOLA have consecutive losing streaks of six and five games respectively.
Houston and New England have settled on the player sent ‘in trade’ from the Free Jacks to the SaberCats. Promising second row Javon Camp will head to Texas for a month. The 23-year-old has yet to make his MLR debut. Scrumhalf Zachary Short moved in the opposite direction last week and appeared as a replacement for New England against Utah. Both are short-term loans only.
The Toronto Arrows have bid farewell to scrumhalves Riley DiNardo and Gordon McRorie. Both were emergency short-term signings to cover a horror injury run at scrumhalf that sidelined Ross Braude, Andrew Ferguson, Chris Bell, and Cole Brown. The latter is now fit and set to make his MLR debut on Sunday against New York.
NOLA have secured Kane Thompson as their Head Coach for the next two years. The Gold have struggled this season but are backing the former Manu Samoa lock to turn things around with a full off-season to enact his vision. Thompson was handed the role in late December, replacing Nate Osborne, and has been assisted by Carlos Spencer, Taylor Howden, and Dave Williams this season.
The extension ends speculation that Thompson could make the move to an expansion team next year. He had been linked to a Midwest bid that has yet to be confirmed by MLR. Expansion talk has cooled in recent days as the league focuses on sorting out the sale of the Austin franchise.
In a first for MLR, the new ‘trade and signing’ deadline is fast approaching. Monday, May 9, will be the last day when players can move teams or sign on. Joe Pietersen memorably debuted for the San Diego Legion in the 2018 Semi Final, having not made any regular season appearances.
It’s been a quiet start to the week on the movement front with Dallas confirming scrumhalf Darrick Marik on a development deal from the Grande Prairie Maverick. Look for at least one or possibly two announcements from New York this week. A loose forward who has represented New Zealand 7s has reportedly already arrived in The Big Apple.
