MLR 2023 Preseason Week 2 Summary

The second week of the Major League Rugby preseason saw four games taking place with seven teams suiting up. Seattle played against the only non-MLR opponent this week, the American Raptors of Super Rugby Americas. None of this past weekend’s matches were streamed live.

This coming week will feature nine MLR teams across seven games. Two will be played on Wednesday evening, with the Seawolves hosting Seattle RFC and the Free Jacks traveling to Houston. The SaberCats will stream the New England game live on their YouTube channel.

A complete preseason schedule can be seen here.

 

OLD GLORY DC 28 vs 33 NEW YORK IRONWORKERS
Friday, February 3, The St. James, Springfield

A close result in the end, though the Ironworkers at one point held a 33-7 lead. Old Glory split their team with a mix of projected starters and second-string players in each half. An encouraging turnout saw over a thousand people crammed into the indoor venue.

Lineups and scoring details were not available for New York. DC’s scorers are noted below. There was one yellow card for each team though the players were not specified. This was the last scheduled preseason run-out for New York, while DC host the Arrows at The St. James on Friday night.

SCORING

DC 28
Tries (4) – A. Daireaux, Penalty try, J. Rizzo, J. Fa’anana-Schultz
Cons (4) – G. Bowd, No kick, J. Díaz Bonilla 2

NEW YORK 33
Tries (5)
Cons (4)

TEAMS

OLD GLORY DC
(1st half) 1 Jack Iscaro, 2 Facundo Gattas, 3 Cali Martinez, 4 Stan South (capt.), 5 David Beach, 6 Collin Grosse, 7 Alejo Daireaux, 8 Fintan Coleman, 9 Danny Tusitala, 10 Gradyn Bowd, 11 Peni Lasaqa, 12 Doug Fraser, 13 William Talataina, 14 Mike Weir, 15 Owen Sheehy

(2nd half) 1 Quentin Newcomer, 2 Nic Souchon, 3 Kyle Stewart, 4 Tevita Naqali, 5 Fintan Coleman, 6 Lautaro Bavaro, 7 Cory Daniel, 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz (capt.), 9 Danny Tusitala, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 John Rizzo, 12 Fermín Martínez, 13 Marcos Young, 14 Mike Dabulas, 15 Kurt Baker

Replacements: KoiKoi Nelligan, Alex Balladares, Brady Daniel

NEW YORK IRONWORKERS
roster not released

Attendance: 1,259

 

DALLAS JACKALS 19 vs 45 NOLA GOLD
Saturday, February 4, Choctaw Stadium, Arlington

The Jackals at least revealed a significant portion of their playing roster for the coming season, though it came in the form of an underwhelming team sheet. Dallas started a squad missing several likely first-choice players with some on the bench and others not suiting up at all.

NOLA led 26-19 at halftime but it was one-way traffic in the second half. The Gold released a match summary which can be read here. For both teams that is the last planned preseason contest.

SCORING

DALLAS 19
Tries (3)
Cons (2)

NOLA 45
Tries (7) – C. Hodgson, T. Florence (2), P’ Toole, S. Villani, M. Koroi, L. Hallam-Eames
Cons (5) – R. Iona 3, No kick 2
YC – J. Trainor

TEAMS

DALLAS JACKALS
1 Alex Tucci, 2 Dewald Kotze, 3 Herman Agenbag, 4 Charlie Hola, 5 Sam Golla, 6 Jalen Tatum, 7 Conrado Roura, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Danny Christensen, 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 James Vaifale, 12 Juan Pablo Aguirre, 13 Campbell Johnstone, 14 Eric Naposki, 15 Marcos Moroni

Replacements: Connor Robinson, Joaquín Horcada, Liam Murray, Lucas Bur, Carson Shoemaker, Nazareno Valentini, Alejandro Torres, Patrick Medina, Tomás Malanos, Jason Tidwell, Aaron Gray, Martín Elías

NOLA GOLD
1 Matt Harmon, 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Jarred Adams, 4 Cam Dolan (capt.), 5 Billy Stewart, 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Devin Short, 8 Tom Florence, 9 Damian Stevens, 10 Rodney Iona, 11 Cael Hodgson,12 Jordan Hackson-Hope, 13 JP du Plessis, 14 Jack Webster, 15 Jordan Trainor

Replacements (incomplete): Eric Howard, Kevin Sullivan, Dino Walden, James Irey, Liam Hallam-Eames, Malcolm May, Maciu Koroi, Sebastiano Villani, Kenneth Jinkins

 

RUGBY ATL 31 vs 31 UTAH WARRIORS
Saturday, February 4, Silverbacks Park, Atlanta

Little information was available from Atlanta, where the home side sported their new-look outfits for the first time. Utah led 19-12 at halftime through tries from Onehunga Havili, Paul Mullen, and Bailey Wilson. The Warriors will play San Diego in Chula Vista on Friday, while ATL plays 40-minute matches against the Chicago Hounds and American Raptors at Panama City Beach.

RUGBY ATL
1 Alex Maughan, 2 Tiaan Erasmus, 3 Wikus Groenewald, 4 Jordan Brown, 5 Johan Momsen, 6 Vili Helu, 7 Daemon Torres, 8 Jason Damm, 9 Alex Rees, 10 Kurt Coleman, 11 Nolan Tuamoheloa, 12 Rewita Biddle, 13 Will Leonard, 14 Austin White, 15 Martini Talapusi

Replacements: 16 Ben Strang, 17 Jonas Petrakopoulos, 18 Lincoln Si’i, 19 Will Burke, 20 Justin Basson, 21 Fred Henry-Ajudua, 22 Ross Deacon, 23 Rowan Gouws, 24 Duncan van Schalkwyk, 25 Seth Purdey, 26 Harley Davidson

UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Tuvere Vugakoto, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Onehunga Havili, 5 Jamie Lane, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Bailey Wilson (capt.), 8 Thomas Tu’avao, 9 Connor McLeod, 10 Joel Hodgson, 11 Joe Mano, 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Calvin Whiting, 14 Mika Kruse, 15 Caleb Makene

Replacements: Joey Backe, Olive Kilifi, Emerson Prior, Angus MacLellan, Takaji Young Yen, Jurie van Vuuren, John DuPree, Zion Going, Sione Mahe, Tyler Fisher, Cliven Loubser

 

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES 47 vs 0 AMERICAN RAPTORS
Sunday, February 5, Starfire Stadium, Tukwila

Complete dominance from start to finish for the Seawolves, as they put their Super Rugby Americas opponents to the sword. Seattle fans got a first look at a handful of newcomers including Charles Elton, Ronan Foley, and Jordan Chait. The Raptors featured 13 players with MLR experience.

SCORING

SEAWOLVES 47
Tries (7) – D. Kriel 2, A. Alatimu, D. Matthews, M. Iosefo, K. Keane, L. Aisea
Cons (6) – A. Alatimu 3, J. Chait

RAPTORS 0

TEAMS

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Mzamo Majola, 2 Peter Malcolm, 3 Sam Matenga, 4 Taylor Krumrei, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Ben Landry (capt.), 7 Nakai Penny, 8 Charles Elton, 9 JP Smith, 10 AJ Alatimu, 11 Conner Mooneyham, 12 Tavite Lopeti, 13 Dan Kriel, 14 Lauina Futi, 15 Duncan Matthews

Replacements: Alex Glover, Jake Turnbull, Dewald Donald, Mason Pedersen, Freddy Tafuna, Isaia Lotawa, Ronan Foley, Karl Keane, Reid Watkins, Shane Barry, Jordan Chait, Lopeti Aisea, Jeremiah Sio, Cole Zarcone

AMERICAN RAPTORS
1 Ma’ake Muti, 2 Diego Fortuny, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Shawn Clark, 5 Mikey Grandy (capt.), 6 Diego Magno, 7 Tommy Clark, 8 Ronan Murphy, 9 Ethan McVeigh, 10 Line Latu, 11 Nolan Saraceni, 12 Watson Filikitonga, 13 Dom Iacovino, 14 Ryan James, 15 Ramiro Moyano

Replacements: Sione Finefeuiaki, Payton Telea-Ilalio, Sebastián Otero, Tavius Sykora-Matthess, Mo Vainikolo, Jeffrey Peleseuma, Patrick Madden, Cassh Maluia