NOLA Gold Roster Update Feb.22, 2020
The Colorado Raptors host NOLA Gold in their home opener at Infinity Park at Glendale on February 22. Kickoff is at 6 pm ET. The match is being streamed on coloradoraptors.com and is being broadcast on FTF and on Cox Sports TV.
The Colorado Raptors are seeking their first win after losing to the Houston SaberCats and to San Diego Legion. NOLA Gold started the season with a win over Old Glory DC and lost to Rugby ATL.
Colorado Raptors
The Colorado Raptors hope that playing at home will lead to their first win of the season. Head Coach Peter Borlase has made four changes in the starters with Sakaria Taulafo and Kody O’Neil at loosehead prop and at lock, respectively. Robbie Petzer starts at inside center with Chad London shifting to outside center. Seth Halliman makes his 2020 regular-season debut at fullback. Reserve Ryan James could also make his debut at some time in the match.
A challenge for the Raptors will be to compete in the set pieces. Penalties will need to be at a minimum as Carl Meyer is an accurate kicker. Look for some tactical kicks for territory and to try to attack the wide channels. To keep NOLA Gold honest, Luke White and others will be using crash ball.
NOLA Gold
NOLA Gold Head Coach Nate Osborne has made four starter changes and another two in the reserves. Eric Howard and Holden Yungert return to the matchday 23 at hooker and at scrum-half, respectively. Billy Stewart gains his first start of the season at lock and Shawn Riley will be on the wing.
Reserve changes include Kevin Sullivan and Nikola Bursic returning to the roster in the front row and at back row/lock, respectively.
The rain prior to the match last week affected handling and the team could not get their expansive attack working on all cylinders. It turned out to be a defensive battle.
This week the team should return to its attacking form at Infinity Park at Glendale.
NOLA Gold Roster Update —- Feb 22 Kane Thompson moves from reserves replacing Ignacio Dotti at #4, #20 Nikola Bursic out, Lindsey Stevens In, #21 JoJo Tikoisuva in
Squads with Player Article Links
Colorado Raptors: 1 Sakaria Taulafo 2 Chad Gough 3 Marco Fepulea’i 4 Dakota O’Neil 5 Luke White (C) 6 Brendan Daly 7 Michael Stewart 8 Sam Slade 9 Nick Boyer 10 Tomas Quinlan 11 John Ryberg 12 Robbie Petzer 13 Chad London 14 Mika Kruse 15 Seth Halliman 16 Jay Finau 17 Xendy Tatibouet 18 Kelepi Fifita 19 Michael Curry 20 Connor Cook 21 Ata Malifa 22 Ryan James 23 Carlo De Nysschen
NOLA Gold: 1 Matt Harmon 2 Eric Howard 3 Dino Waldren 4 Kane Thompson 5 Billy Stewart 6 Kyle Baillie (C) 7 Moni Tongauiha 8 Cam Dolan 9 Holden Yungert 10 Robbie Coleman 11 Julian Dominguez Widmer 12 Con Foley (VC) 13 Tim Maupin 14 Shawn Riley 15 Carl Meyer 16 Cam Falcon17 Kevin Sullivan 18 Ben Tarr 19 Malcolm May 20 Lindsey Stevens 21 Jojo Tikoisuva 22 Ross Depperschmidt 23 Trace Bolstad
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