April 22, 2016
PRO Rugby San Diego Squad vs Sacramento
Photo: PRO Rugby San Diego
Doug Coil
PRO Rugby San Diego had a bye last week and begin their season on Saturday home against Sacramento in Torero Stadium. Sacramento opened their season at home last week with a thrilling 37-25 win against San Francisco at Bonny Field.
The match is on TV on One World Sports and is being streamed live on AOL.com on Saturday April 23rd at 3pm PT.
Key match ups will be in the scrums, with Sacramento expected to test San Diego early. Hubert Buydens is Internationally capped for Canada, Mikey Sosene-Feagai palyed for the Eagles in the Americas Rugby Championship, while Sam Taungakava will be a person of interest. They will face a battle from Sacramento’s Val Lee-Lo, Ray Barkwill and Ollie Kilifi in the front row.
Former Eagle Brian Doyle will team up with former Army player David Dolinar at Lock. The backrow will have Chile’s Nikola Bursic and Seattle’s Cecil Garber at Flankers and Sione Tuihalamaka at 8-man.
The strength of the San Diego team is in their backs, as most have had international experience. Look for Kurt Morath to direct traffic as he did for Tonga’s National side after receiving ball from Charlie Purdon. Phil Mackenzie and Ryan Matyas will be attacking centers, while the back three will feature the speed of Tim Stanfill and Pono Haitsuka and the guile of Mikey Te’o.
San Diego: 1 Hubert Buydens 2 Mikey Sosene-Feagai 3 Sam Taungakava 4 David Dolinar 5 Brian Doyle 6 Nikola Bursic 7 Cecil Garber 8 Sione Tuihalamaka 9 Charlie Purdon 10 Kurt Morath 11 Tim Stanfill 12 Phil Mackenzie 13 Ryan Matyas 14 Pono Haitsuka 15 Mikey Te’o 16 Tim Barford 17 Epi Kalemani 18 Kakalia Pule 19 Tai Tuisamoa 20 Chris Turori 21 Tom Bliss 22 Kalei Konrad 23 Ben Leatigaga Coaches: Head Coach – Ray Egan Assistant Coaches: Matt Hawkins, Rob Hoadley Manager: Sean Lindersmith
