New Orleans Gold & Seattle Seawolves

The New Orleans Gold Rugby Club will face the Seattle Seawolves at Noon CDT (1 pm EDT) at Shaw Stadium in Marrero, LA. The match will be broadcast locally on Cox YurView, as well as AT&T Sports Net, nationally on ESPN+, and internationally on the Major League Rugby Facebook page. Get your tickets!

Gates will open at 10 am, with tailgating, a live DJ, and with player photos and autographs available.

NOLA Gold comes into the match with a 1-1 record. They traveled to Texas twice, beating the Houston SaberCats and losing to Austin Elite Rugby. The Seattle Seawolves also have a 1-1 record after beating the San Diego Legion and suffering a narrow loss to the Glendale Raptors.

New Orleans Gold

The timing of the squad release and travel commitments for Monmouth RFC Day and their Hall of Fame induction have precluded team comments.

New Orleans Gold Rugby Club will be prepared and excited to showcase the team for their home opener at Shaw Stadium.

San Diego Legion

Phil Mack has made four changes to the starting XV from their narrow loss to the Glendale Raptors. Mike Shepherd is at hooker, Nakai Penny at flanker, Peter Smith at flyhalf, and Jeremy Misailegalu at wing.

Several positional changes were also made with Cam Polson moving from flanker to lock, Mat Turner from fullback to wing, and Will Holder from flyhalf to fullback.

Cole Van Harn, a back row who played for the Seattle Saracens, also was announced earlier in the day as joining the team.

The Seattle Seawolves have a strong group of forwards but expect NOLA Gold to challenge. Using quick ball should create opportunities for attacks and line-speed of the defense and probing kicks, will seek to minimize the team’s potent attack. The match should be a good one between two quality teams.

New Orleans Gold & Seattle Seawolves Squads

New Orleans Gold: 1 Hubert Buydens 2 Eric Howard (VC) 3 Ben Tarr 4 Nikola Bursic 5 Matt Wirken 6 Tesimoni Tongauiha 7 Matt Hughston 8 John Sullivan 9 Holden Yungert 10 Ratu Rinakama 11Joeli Tikoisuva 12 Taylor Howden (C) 13 Zack Stryffeler 14 Bobby Johns 15 Michael Baska 16 Amro Gouda 17 Cameron Falcon 18 Derrek Van Klein19 Billy Stewart 20 Todd Dupre 21 Myles McQuone 22 Tevita Makasini 23 Melvin Desouza + Head Coach Nate Osborne

Seattle Seawolves: 1 Olive Kilifi 2 Mike Shepherd 3 Tim Metcher 4 Cam Polson 5 Taylor Krumrei 6 Vili Toluta’u 7 Nakai Penny 8 Aladdin Schirmer (VC) 9 Phil Mack 10 Peter Smith 11 Mat Turner 12 Shalom Suniula (C) 13 William Rasileka 14 Jeremy Misailegalu 15 Will Holder 16 Kellen Gordon 17 Larome White 18 John Hayden 19 Eric Dueschle 20 Cole Van Harn 21 Peter Tiberio 22 George Barton 23 Mozac Samson