The San Diego Legion defeated the Colorado Raptors 49-22 on February 16 at Sam Boyd Stadium as part of MLR Vegas Weekend.
San Diego opened the 2020 Major League Rugby season with a win over the Seattle Seawolves, while the Colorado Raptors lost to the Houston SaberCats.
New Saturday the Colorado Raptors will host NOLA Gold in their home opener at Infinity Park at Glendale. The San Diego Legion host the New England Free Jacks the following day.
San Diego Legion vs Colorado Raptors Recap
For the second week in a row, the Legion made a last-minute change with Paul Mullen starting a tighthead prop and Aaron Mitchell moving to #18, replacing Jamie Dever in the reserves.
The Legion quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead after a penalty goal by Luke Burton.
The Raptors struck back with a Rene Ranger offload to Mika Kruse and another to Mason Emerson for a wrap-around try to take their only lead of the day.
Discipline affected Colorado soon after as Kelepi Fifita was sent to the bin for bringing down a lineout jumper while in the air. San Diego capitalized after a Legion player was held up in-goal and from the ensuing scrum, a penalty try was awarded to lead 10-5.
Colorado struck back with a penalty goal by Tomas Quinlan to cut the lead to 10-8. Then the floodgates opened with tries by Dylan Audsley, who picked up a loose ball, Ma’a Nonu bursting up the middle, and from Dean Muir from a maul. Burton slotted the extras to lead 31-8.
Just prior to the break Nick Boyer added a try with Quinlan converting to cut the lead to 31-15.
Second Half
The Raptors struck first in the second half as Mika Kruse intercepted a Nonu pass and raced in for a try. Quinlan converted again and it was 31-22.
Two Burton penalty goals pushed the lead to 37-22. Nate Augspurger and JP Du Plessis added tries, with Burton converting the first for a final of 49-22.
The Legion is 2-0 on the season and is in first place in the Western Conference with 10 points. The Raptors are still looking for their first win of the season and are in sixth place in the Conference.
Squads with Player Article Links & Match Preview
San Diego Legion vs Seattle Seawolves Week 1: 1 Faka’osi Pifeleti 2 Dean Muir 3 Aaron Mitchell 4 Siaosi Mahoni 5 Josh Furno 6 Jasa Veremalua 7 Psalm Wooching 8 Tevita Tameilau 9 Nate Augspurger (C) 10 Luke Burton 11 Tira Patterson 12 Ma’a Nonu 13 JP Du Plessis 14 Save Totovosau 15 Dylan Audsley16 Peter Malcolm 17 Nathan Sylvia 18 Jamie Dever 19Ben Mitchell 20 Lou Stanfill 21 Devin Short 22 Devereaux Ferris 23 Tai Enosa
Colorado Raptors vs Houston SaberCats Week 1: 1 Kelepi Fifita 2 Chad Gough 3 Marco Fepulea’i 4 Michael Curry 5 Luke White (C) 6 Brendan Daly 7 Michael Stewart 8 Sam Slade 9 Nick Boyer 10 Tomas Quinlan 11 John Ryberg 12 Chad London13 Rene Ranger 14 Mika Kruse 15 Mason Emerson16 Jay Finau 17 Xendy Tatibouet 18 Sakaria Taulafo 19 Dakota O’Neil 20 Connor Cook 21 Ata Malifa 22 Robbie Petzer 23 Carlo De Nysschen
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