MLR Preview – Rugby ATL vs NOLA Gold

It’s a Southern derby that kicks off Week 6 on Saturday evening as Rugby ATL opens the doors to The Snake Pit for NOLA Gold. Though there are still a dozen weeks ahead on the schedule, it’s a potentially pivotal contest for both if they harbor playoff ambitions in the ultra-competitive East Conference.

The two sides have met just once before in regular season competition. It was ATL who took the spoils in an upset victory over their hosts at The Gold Mine in February of last year. It was NOLA who provided opposition for the ATL’s first ever exhibition game, a match won by the home side in Marietta.

NOLA will have preferred to stay at home but after last week’s mud-slung match against New England might be happy just to see a relatively dry pitch. It was a close battle that saw the Gold doing just enough to squeak out a one-point win against the Free Jacks.

Most notable this week is the return of captain Kyle Baillie after a week on the sidelines. Billy Stewart drops to the bench to make room at lock. The only other change in the forwards sees Kevin Sullivan handed his first start of the season in place of Matt Harmon at loosehead prop.

In the backs it’s same again with the midfield swap between Juan Cappiello and JP du Plessis deemed a success. Hanno Dirksen will wait a little longer for his run-on debut. The former Ospreys winger came off the bench in the unusual position of flyhalf against New England.

ATL coach Scott Lawrence said he would be naming his strongest available side to face NOLA with a determination to head into the bye week with an even 3-3 record. They will be especially keen to sort out the lineout woes that contributed to the two-point loss at Austin last weekend.

To that end Johan Momsen comes in at lock with Conor Keys shifting to the bench, while captain Matt Heaton and in-form eightman Jason Damm return in the back row. It’s a 6-2 split on the bench with both Vili Helu and Daemon Torres providing loose forward cover.

Ryan Rees gets the nod ahead of Rowan Gouws at scrumhalf. There is no place for Robbie Petzer in the match day squad as Te Rangatira Waitokia returns from injury to partner Mark O’Keeffe in a dynamic midfield selection. Duncan van Schalkwyk is the only other back on the bench aside from Gouws.

Saturday’s forecast in Atlanta suggests rain and a mild but present wind. The turf surface will offer more secure footing than the New Orleans grass, however, which should still allow for attacking play though it may affect the approach to tactical kicking. Though travel is comparatively minimal for NOLA, home field advantage is just enough to call ATL favorites but this one is effectively a toss-up.

Kickoff is set for 7pm local, 4pm Pacific, 6pm Central. Local broadcasts will be available on Cox Sports TV in New Orleans and 11Alive in Atlanta. The Rugby Network is streaming worldwide.

EDIT: Kickoff has now been changed to 5:30pm local, 2:30pm Pacific, 4:30pm Central.

RUGBY ATL
1 Alex Maughan, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 3 Wikus Groenewald, 4 Marno Redelinghuys, 5 Johan Momsen, 6 Connor Cook, 7 Matt Heaton (capt.), 8 Jason Damm, 9 Ryan Rees, 10 Bautista Ezcurra, 11 Rory van Vugt, 12 Mark O’Keeffe, 13 Te Rangatira Waitokia, 14 Jeremy Misailegalu, 15 Adriaan Carelse

Replacements: 16 Neethling Gericke, 17 Jonas Petrakopoulos, 18 Will Burke, 19 Conor Keys, 20 Vili Helu, 21 Daemon Torres, 22 Rowan Gouws, 23 Duncan van Schalkwyk

NOLA GOLD
1 Kevin Sullivan, 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Dino Waldren, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Kyle Baillie (capt.), 6 Moni Tonga’uiha, 7 Devin Short, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Damian Stevens, 10 Timothée Guillimin, 11 Julián Domínguez, 12 Juan Cappiello, 13 JP du Plessis, 14 Joeli Tikoisuva, 15 Carl Meyer

Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Matt Harmon, 18 John Sullivan, 19 Billy Stewart, 20 Nikola Bursic, 21 Holden Yungert, 22 Hanno Dirksen, 23 Tim Maupin

Date: Saturday, April 24
Venue: Lupo Family Field, Marietta
Kickoff: 17:30 local (14:30 Pacific, 16:30 Central)
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistants: Henrique Platais (Brazil) & Cisco Lopez (USA)
Broadcasts: 11Alive, Cox Sports TV, The Rugby Network

Historical Results
2020-02-16 – NOLA Gold 10, Rugby ATL 22 (The Gold Mine)