NOLA Gold hosts the New England Free Jacks on Saturday, April 17 at 4 pm ET at the Gold Mine on Airline. The match will be broadcast on Cox Sports Network, NESN, and streamed on The Rugby Network.
NOLA Gold in fourth place in the MLR Eastern Conference with a 1-1-1 record and 9 points in the standings, while the Free Jacks are in third place with a 2-1 record and 9 points. Both Rugby ATL and Rugby United New York have 10 points in the close conference race.
NOLA Gold Head Coach Nate Osborne has made five changes in the starters with Eric Howard returning at hooker, Ignacio Dotti and Billy Stewart the locks, Devin Short at openside flanker, and Damian Stevens starting for the first time at scrumhalf.
There are also three changes in the reserves with James Irey at tighthead prop, Hanno Dirksen, who played for the Ospreys, at the center, and Tim Maupin in the back three.
New England Free Jacks’ head Coach Ryan Martin has made one change with Conor Kindregan replacing Joe Johnston, who is serving a two-match suspension. Former Sharks back-row Tera Mtembu, center Harry Barlow, and Saint Mary’s of California scrumhalf Tom Brusati are the reserves, with Mtwmbu and Brusati on the MLR match day roster for the first time.
Squads With Player Article Links
NOLA Gold: 1 Matt Harmon 2 Eric Howard 3 Dino Waldren 4 Ignacio Dotti 5 Billy Stewart 6 Tesimoni Tongauiha 7 Devon Short 8 Cam Dolan 9 Damian Stevens 10 Timothee Guillimin 11 Julian Dominguez 12 Juan Cappiello 13 JP Du Plessis (C) 14 Joeli Tikoisuva 15 Carl Meyer 16 Pat O’Toole 17 Kevin Sullivan 18 James Irey 19 Nikola Bursic 20 Andrew Guerra 21 Holden Yungert 22 Hanno Dirksen 23 Tim Maupin
New England Free Jacks: 1 Sef Fa’gase 2 Pieter Jansen 3 Erich de Jager 4 Jackson Thiebes 5 Conor Kindregan 6 Josh Larsen (c) 7 Justin Johnson 8 Wian Conradie 9 John Poland 10 Harrison Boyle 11 Mitch Wilson 12 Aleki Morris Lome 13 Poasa Waqanibau 14 Dougie Fife 15 Beaudein Waaka (VC) 16 Vili Toluta’u 17 Kensuke Hatakeyama 18 Quentin Newcomer 19 Ronan McCusker 20 Tera Mtembu 21 Tom Brusati 22 Harry Barlow 23 Danny Collins
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