San Diego Legion & Glendale Raptors
The third-place San Diego Legion host the first place Glendale Raptors at Torero Stadium in San Diego on June 23. Kickoff is at 7:30 pm local time (10:30 pm ET). The match will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network. For international viewers, the match will be on the Major League Rugby Facebook page.
Both teams will be in the Major League Rugby playoffs next Saturday, June 30 at Infinity Park, Glendale, Colorado. Pending the outcome of the Utah Warriors game against the Houston SaberCats, the final playoff spot will be determined. That team could either be the Warriors with a win or a 2 or less point loss or Austin Elite Rugby should the Warriors lose. A loss by the Legion would mean a fourth-place finish should the Warriors win. Glendale will play the fourth place team next week in the semi-finals, while the Seattle Seawolves will play the third-place team.
San Diego Legion
Head coach Rob Hoadley has made five changes in the forwards from the 31-17 win over Austin Elite Rugby. In the front row, Sione Tu’ihalamaka will be the loosehead prop with Pat O’Toole, the former Connacht Academy hooker gaining the starting nod for the first time. Devin Short and Sam Peri will be the locks, and Tony Lamborn, an Eagle, will debut at openside flanker. Short returns to a starting role after playing with the USA Rugby Men’s Junior All-Americans against Canada. He normally is a flanker.
Glendale Raptors
Head coach David Williams has made two changes to his starters from last week’s 33-11 win over the Seattle Seawolves. Nick Kwasniewski will be the tighthead prop with Kelepi Fifita moving to the reserves. Sam Figg will be at No. 8 after being rested last week. Grigor Kerdikoshvili could enter his first regular season match after playing during the preseason.
There are also positional changes with Connor Cook moving from the flanker to the second row, Brian Wanless switching to the blindside flanker, and Peter Dahl to openside flanker from No. 8.
San Diego Legion & Glendale Raptors Squads
San Diego Legion: 1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Pat Blair, 3 Nathan Sylvia, 4 Nick Grass, 5 Chris Turori, 6 Alec Barton, 7 Derrick Broussard, 8 Drew Gaffney, 9 Nick Boyer, 10 Tadhg Leader (capt.), 11 Nick Evans, 12 Anthony Salaber, 13 Ryan Matyas, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 15 Conor Kearns 16 Pat O’Toole, 17 Sione Tu’ihalamaka, 18 Aaron Mitchell, 19 Sam Peri, 20 Gil Covey, 21 Nick Lupian, 22 Maceo Brown 23 Kyle Rogers + Head Coach Rob Hoadley
Glendale Raptors: 1 Blake Rogers, 2 Zach Fenoglio (capt.), 3 Nick Kwasniewski, 4 Casey Rock, 5 Connor Cook, 6 Brian Wanless, 7 Peter Dahl, 8 Sam Figg, 9 Jake Christmann, 10 Maximo de Achaval, 11 John Ryberg, 12 Chad London, 13 Mika Kruse, 14 Harley Davidson, 15 Seth Halliman16 Luke White, 17 Kelepi Fifita, 18 James Del Bozque, 19 Devin Vaughter, 20 Grigor Kerdikoshvili, 21 Mickey Bateman, 22 Siale Maka, 23 Nick Johnson + Head Coach David Williams
San Diego Legion Pre-season Record (1-1)
- March 25 at. Austin Elite (W 32-24) Preview
- April 7 vs. Houston SaberCats (L 33-17) Preview
San Diego Legion 2018 Major League Rugby Schedule
- April 22 at Seattle Seawolves (L 39-23) Preview Cox/AT&T
- April 29 vs. Utah Warriors (W 31-24) Preview Cox/AT&T
- May 4 vs. Houston SaberCats (W 35-32) Preview CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
- May 13 at Glendale Raptors (L 31-27) Preview Cox/AT&T
- May 26 at Austin Elite (L 31-5) Preview CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
- June 9 at New Orleans Gold (W 39-22) Preview Network: COX
- June 17 vs. Austin Elite (W 31-17) Preview 5 pm PDT Network: Cox/AT&T
- June 23 vs. Glendale Raptors Preview CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
- June 30 MLR Semi-Finals at Glendale Sat, 5-10 pm PDT Network: CBSSN
- July 7 MLR Championship at San Diego 7-9:45 pm PDT Network: CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
Glendale Raptors Exhibition Season
- March 10 vs. New Orleans Gold (W 38-14) Preview
- March 30 at Utah Warriors (W 42-15) Preview
- April 7 at New York Athletic Club (W 35-22) Preview with March 30 recap against Utah Warriors
Glendale Raptors 2018 Major League Rugby Season
- April 21 vs. Austin Elite (W 41-26) Preview CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
- April 28 at Seattle Seawolves (W 19-15) Preview CBSSN (GAME OF THE WEEK)
- May 5 at Utah Warriors (W 36-29) Preview AT&T SportsNet
- May 13 vs. San Diego Legion (W 31-27) Preview Cox/AT&T SportsNet
- June 3 at New Orleans Gold (W 47-10) Preview 2 pm MDT Network: Cox/AT&T SportsNet
- June 8 vs. Houston SaberCats (37-24) Preview AT&T SportsNet
- June 16 vs. Seattle Seawolves (W 33-11) Preview 7 pm MST Network: AT&T SportsNet
- June 23 at San Diego Legion Preview 8 pm MT CBSSN
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