The New England Free Jacks face Rugby United New York at Sam Boyd Stadium in a Major League Rugby Vegas Weekend match. Kickoff is at 4 pm ET on Sunday, February 9. The match is being streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on NESN.
Last season Rugby United New York finished in fourth place in the league. Major League Rugby has since added three new teams for the 2020 season. The New England Free Jacks, Old Glory DC, and Rugby ATL are in the newly former Eastern Conference along with Rugby United New York, NOLA Gold, and the Toronto Arrows.
The Eastern and Western Conference teams will face each other in-home and away matches during the season and play the other Conference teams once, with three home and three away matches. The Austin Gilgronis, Colorado Raptors, Houston SaberCats, San Deigo Legion, Seattle Seawolves, and the Utah Warriors are in the Western Conference.
Following the regular sixteen match season which includes one bye week, the top three teams will advance to the playoffs in both the Western and Eastern Conferences. The playoffs will have the second and third seeds facing each other with the number one seed having a bye the first week. The following week the one seed will face the winner of the previous week’s match. The Conference champions will then play for the MLR shield.
The New England Free Jacks played two preseason matches against the New England Selects, winning 39-7 and 84-21. Rugby United New York had a controlled scrimmage at the Buffalo Bills Training facility in Orchard Park, NY and then beat the New York Barbarians 84-7 in Staten Island last weekend.
Get to know the players by clicking on the players in the matchday rosters below.
Squads With Player Article Links
New England Free Jacks: 1 Donald Brighouse 2 Sean McNulty 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama 4 Jackson Thiebes 5 6 Naulia Dawai 7 Zack Stryffeler 8 Brad Hemopo 9 John Poland10 Tadhg Leader 11 Mitch Wilson 12 Sam Beard 13 Liam Steel 14 Poasa Waqanibau15 Beaudein Waaka 16 Steve Hinshaw 17 Khalid Williams 18 Kyle Ciquera 19 Conor Kindregan 20 Owen Hundt 21Erik Thompson 22 Timothée Guillimin 23 Deion Mikesell
Rugby United New York: 1 Anthony Parry 2 Dylan Fawsitt 3 Paddy Ryan 4 Matt Wirken 5 Trevor Cassidy 6 Nate Brakeley 7 James Denise 8 Kyle Sumsion 9 Marcus Walsh 10 Cathal Marsh 11Connor Wallace-Sims 12 Will Leonard 13 Mathieu Bastareaud 14 Chris Mattina 15 Ben Foden16 Mike Brown 17 Will Burke 18 Jonas Petrakopoulos 19 Robert Irimescu 20 Julio César Giraldo 21 Mike Petri 22 Harry Bennett 23 Mark O’Keeffe
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