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The NOLA Gold will look to make it two wins in a row at home against the Utah Warriors on Saturday afternoon. Despite both teams being founding members of Major League Rugby, they have only played four times and not at all since the 2021 campaign. Notably, the Gold have won all four matches to date.
It was an altogether different NOLA side that took the field against New York. Not in personnel, but in attitude. After three disappointing performances to start they season everything seemed to click with Rodney Iona contributing 21 of the 31 points against the Ironworkers.
The victory came at a cost with injuries to Liam Hallam-Eames and Harley Wheeler. Billy Stewart comes in at lock for the former and Cael Hodgson on the wing for the latter. Another change to the run-on side sees Devin Short returning to the starting lineup after making his return from a shoulder knock off the bench last week.
Notably there are 11 players in the Gold’s roster who are not currently US-eligible, one higher than their 10-import allowance. It appears former Lindenwood flyhalf Reece Botha has been granted an exemption by the league, but at the time of writing confirmation was not available. Botha will be making his pro debut assuming he takes the field.
The Warriors have had a week off to recover from their hard-fought win over the Hounds. Before that was a five-try performance against Dallas at home. Greg Cooper has named an identical starting lineup this week with the only three changes coming on the bench.
Olive Kilifi tags in for Emerson Prior as reserve loosehead prop, and Jurie van Vuuren returns to the squad in place of youngster Jeremiah Noaese. van Vuuren joins Onehunga Havili as lock or loose forward options in a conventional 5/3 split. Tomasi Tonga makes his first appearance of the season in place of the injured Cliven Loubser.
Conditions at game time will be considerably cooler than last week at The Gold Mine. NOLA enter with much-needed confidence and history on their side, but have lost two starters. Much will rest on the ability of halfbacks Campbell and Iona to keep the tempo high.
Key to disrupting that flow is Warriors flanker Lance Williams, who has now switched to openside. Paul Lasike is the fulcrum for the attack and NOLA’s midfield will have their hands full there. Give the Gold the favorites tag at home but it’s a very unsteady prediction.
Kickoff is set for 2pm local time, 1pm Mountain, 3pm Eastern, noon Pacific. Local broadcasts will be available on KMYU in Utah and YurView Louisiana, with The Rugby Network streaming worldwide.
NOLA GOLD
1 Jarred Adams, 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Sean Paranihi, 4 Cam Dolan (capt.), 5 Billy Stewart, 6 Malcolm May, 7 Devin Short, 8 Tom Florence, 9 Luke Campbell, 10 Rodney Iona, 11 Cael Hodgson, 12 Jordan Jackson-Hope, 13 JP du Plessis, 14 Dougie Fife, 15 Jordan Trainor
Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Kevin Sullivan, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 William Waguespack, 20 Moni Tonga’uiha, 21 Damian Stevens, 22 Reece Botha, 23 Aaron Matthews
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Henry Bell, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Jamie Lane, 5 Saia Uhila, 6 Bailey Wilson (capt.), 7 Lance Williams, 8 Thomas Tu’avao, 9 Connor McLeod, 10 Joel Hodgson, 11 Joe Mano, 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Calvin Whiting, 14 Mika Kruse, 15 Caleb Makene
Replacements: 16 Tuvere Vugakoto, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Jurie van Vuuren, 20 Onehunga Havili, 21 Zion Going, 22 Tomasi Tonga, 23 Logan Tago
Date: Saturday, March 18
Venue: The Gold Mine, New Orleans
Kickoff: 14:00 local (12:00 Pacific, 13:00 Mountain, 15:00 Eastern)
Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Allen Alongi (USA) & Rob Halcomb (USA)
TMO: Luke Rogan (USA)
Broadcasts: KMYU, The Rugby Network, YurView Louisiana
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-05-22 – NOLA Gold 29, Utah Warriors 24 (The Gold Mine)
2019-04-13 – NOLA Gold 28, Utah Warriors 19 (Archbishop Stadium Stadium)
2019-03-02 – Utah Warriors 19, NOLA Gold 21 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2018-06-16 – Utah Warriors, 43, NOLA Gold 46 (Zions Bank Stadium)
