The third week of the 2022 Premier League rugby season begins Friday night in Leesburg, where Old Glory hosts the New England Free Jacks. This is the first match at Segra Field this season, and DC plan to make it a festival atmosphere with a number of events planned to begin.
On the field Andrew Douglas will be looking for significant improvements from his wards, setting club records for several weeks in a row for missed points. There are still some injury issues, but finally there is good news for Old Glory fans with the arrival of Flyhalf Rohan Saifola and winger Penny Lasak from Australia and New Zealand respectively.
Both players immediately hit the starting back line, which also features two position switches. William Talatina is pushing one seat into the inner center, and Junior Sau has dropped out this week. Trying to get the ball to him more often, star striker Renato Roberts-Te Nana moves to the center center, and Doug Fraser moves to the flank.
Four more changes have been made to the package. Rob Irimescu got his first start in the MLR by swapping T-shirts with Mo Katz, and Jake Ilnitsky is performing this week with Kyle Stewart, covering a faint shirt from the bench. Corey Daniel imitates Finton Coleman on the flank, and Stan South returns after injury to replace Matt Gordon at the castle.
It was a cozy weekend for the Free Jacks, who had extra time to master their first-round win over Gold in New Orleans. Now they have a full compliment of foreign subscriptions, and two will debut on Friday. Scottish International Doug Fife, however, will hold the first game of its three-week disqualification.
In the absence of Fife in one of two shifts in the back line Mitch Wilson enters the defender’s goal. Others see Holden Jungert give his first start in the Free Jacks, and Sean Jakubian has covered the bench. South African center Wayne van der Bank is due to make his MLR bow as a replacement, and Zach Bastress’s collegiate draft pick will also appear on the first day of the match.
The forwards have the same starting lineup, only one new name on the bench. Spencer Kruger is giving way to Tonga’s international under-20 team Tevita Sole as a backup. Terrell Pate continues to be in 8th place, and Jesse Pareth isn’t exactly fit to make his MLR debut.
Given the high temperature expected during the game, you can recommend sleeves and leggings. Whether this will affect management remains to be seen. New England is coming on holiday and has demonstrated an impressive defense against gold, while DC has really struggled in this division and is not shining with confidence. Grab free jacks while Old Glory tries to find their mojo.
The start is scheduled for 8pm local time, 5pm Pacific time. Local broadcasts will be available on NBC Sports Boston and NBC Sports Washington, and The Rugby Network will broadcast worldwide.
OLD GLORY DC
1 Jack Iscar, 2 Rob Irimescu, 3 Jake Ilnitsky, 4 Api Naikatini, 5 Stan South, 6 Bailey House, 7 Corey Daniel, 8 Jamasan Faanana-Schultz, 9 Danny Tusitalo (captain), 10 Rohan Sayfoloy, 11 Doug Fraser, 12 William Talatina, 13 Renato Roberts-Te Nana, 14 Penny Lasaka, 15 Owen Shea
Substitutions: 16 Mo Katz, 17 Kyle Stewart, 18 Jack Carroll, 19 Finton Coleman, 20 Luke Campbell, 21 Danny Thomas, 22 Simi Moala, 23 LJ Coy Larby
NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKETS
1 Foster DeWitt, 2 Peter Jansen, 3 Erich de Jaeger, 4 Josh Larsen (captain), 5 Regan O’Gorman, 6 Joe Johnston, 7 Slade McDowell, 8 Terrell Pate, 9 Holden Jungert, 10 Bodein Waak, 11 Harry Barlow, 12 Le Roux Malan, 13 Jack Reeves, 14 Paul Balecano, 15 Mitch Wilson
Substitutions: 16 Mills Sunnyrivi, 17 Alex Johnston, 18 Tevita Sole, 19 Stan van den Hoven, 20 Kam Davidovich, 21 Sean Jakubian, 22 Wayne van der Bank, 23 Zach Bastress
Date: Friday, February 18th
Venue: Segra Field, Lisburg
Start: 20:00 local (17:00 Pacific)
Referee: Paulo Duarte (Portugal)
Assistants: Gavin McCandless (USA) and Aaron Davis (USA)
TMO: Luke Rogan (USA)
Broadcasts: NBC Sports Boston, NBC Sports Washington, Rugby Network
Historical results
06/06/2021 – New England Free Jacks 38, Old Glory DC 34 (Union Point Stadium)
04/25/2021 – Old Glory DC 35, New England Free Jacks 22 (Segra Field)