Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
The second-ever meeting between the Utah Warriors and the Seattle Seawolves will take place at Zions Bank Stadium on Friday evening. Their only meeting in 2018 was a spectacular contest in Seattle that saw 10 tries split between the two sides, with the defending champions ultimately taking the result.
Utah are looking to bounce back from a record defeat to the Toronto Arrows on Saturday. Despite conceding nine tries to the visitors, Alf Daniels has backed his side to turn it around with no changes made to the run-on side. In fact the only change to the match day 23 sees the return of Josh Whippy, albeit on the bench, at the expense of Jeremy Misailegalu.
Saia Uhila and Lance Williams each left the field in rough shape against the Arrows but will start the match nonetheless. Eight players including six of the forwards have started all seven games thus far and the Seawolves will be counting on fatigue to set in later in the game.
Whether for performance or simply to freshen up his side on only four days rest, Richie Walker has made six changes to the side that lost to San Diego on Sunday. Kellen Gordon comes in at loosehead prop with Olive Kilifi asked to cover tighthead from the bench. There are first starts of the season for second row Jérémy Lenaerts and openside flanker Nakai Penny.
Phil Mack is restored at scrumhalf, swapping shirts with JP Smith. There is a first start in a Seawolves shirt for new recruit Joey Iosefa, and Mat Turner makes his full return at fullback after making an impact as a replacement against the Legion.
There is a new name on the bench in the form of Canadian international prop DJ Sears-Duru. He makes a timely arrival after John Hayden hobbled off with a knee injury against San Diego. Api Naikatini returns as lock cover, while midfield and wing backup is provided by Roland Suniula and Dion Crowder respectively.
Seattle had won four in a row before their disappointing showing on Sunday. The defending champions started slowly and fell flat in the end. A similar start was experienced by Utah though to their credit they came back to tie the game before letting it slip away in dramatic fashion.
While the San Diego match was certainly a let-up for the Seawolves, their form remains a step ahead of the Warriors who have yet to taste victory since their opening match of the season. On paper the tools are there for Utah to compete but on the field they have yet to be as convincing.
Kickoff is set for 7pm local time, 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern. Local broadcasts will be available on KMYU in Utah and Root Sports in Seattle. ESPN+ will carry the match nationwide with a Facebook stream available to those located abroad.
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Jeremy Leber, 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Matt Jensen, 6 Jackson Kaka, 7 Lance Williams, 8 John Cullen, 9 Sione Ika, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 12 Tim O’Malley (capt.), 13 Gannon Moore, 14 Tonata Lauti, 15 Don Pati
Replacements: 16 Blake Burdette, 17 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa, 18 Ara Elkington, 19 Arthur Bergo, 20 Alex Tucci, 21 Nolan Tuamoheloa, 22 Josh Whippy, 23 Joseph Nicholls
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Kellen Gordon, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Jérémy Lenaerts, 5 Brad Tucker, 6 Cam Polson, 7 Nakai Penny, 8 Riekert Hattingh, 9 Phil Mack, 10 Ben Cima, 11 Sequoyah Burke-Combs, 12 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 13 Joey Iosefa, 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner
Replacements: 16 Dan Trierweiler, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Olive Kilifi, 19 Apisai Naikatini, 20 Eric Duechle, 21 JP Smith, 22 Roland Suniula, 23 Dion Crowder
Date: Friday, April 5
Venue: Zions Bank Stadium, Herriman
Kickoff: 19:00 local (18:00 Pacific, 21:00 Eastern)
Referee: Luke Rogan (USAR)
Assistants: Elgan Williams (WRU) & Kahlil Harrison (USAR)
Broadcasts: ESPN+, Facebook, KMYU, Root Sports
