The New York Ironworkers can take a decisive step towards season if they can secure a bonus point win over the Dallas Jackals in Mount Vernon on Sunday. They entered the weekend with a 5-point lead over Rugby ATL, whose defeat against the Free Jacks on Friday night leaves them on the brink of elimination from the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Last Sunday’s trip to San Diego was not a fruitful one for the Ironworkers. The Legion’s high-powered offense overwhelmed their guests, and their defense proved more than capable of holding out New York’s advances. James Semple has lost two players with injury this week but welcomes back three key reinforcements on the bench.
Chance Wenglewski failed an HIA so Nic Mayhew steps in at loosehead prop, with Tevita Langi fit to provide backup. The rest of the starting lineup is unchanged but the reserves list includes flanker Brendon O’Connor, fit for the first time since Round 4 in March, and scrumhalf Conor McManus who missed the last two games. O’Connor takes the roster spot of the injured Joe Basser.
Dallas are well out of the playoff race in the West but are fully committed to playing the role of spoilers, as they did against ATL two weeks ago. Agustín Cavalieri has named a familiar lineup with one notable addition in the run-on side and another on the bench.
Former Jaguares XV and Argentina XV captain Tomás Cubilla will make his Major League Rugby debut in the midfield alongside countryman Tomás Malanos. Alejandro Torres is preferred to Martín Elías at flyhalf, and Marcos Moroni slides back to fullback with Lui Sitama in the wing. Herman Agenbag is set to make just his second appearance of the season as a tighthead prop replacement.
Calm conditions are expected at kickoff, which should allow for running rugby from both sides. This will be the first trip to New York for the Jackals and it should be noted that they have performed reasonably well on the road this season. The Ironworkers have too much at stake and with a strong bench to lean on should be able to pull out the win, but expect the visitors to make them earn the result.
Kickoff is set for 3pm local time, 2pm Central, noon Pacific. A local broadcast will be available on the MSG Network in New York with The Rugby Network streaming worldwide.
NEW YORK IRONWORKERS
1 Nic Mayhew, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Kaleb Geiger, 4 Nate Brakeley (capt.), 5 Hamish Dalzell, 6 Brad Tucker, 7 Monate Akuei, 8 Pago Haini, 9 Connor Buckley, 10 Jason Emery, 11 Teofilo Fidow, 12 Teihorangi Walden, 13 Fa’asiu Fuatai, 14 Brooklyn Hardaker, 15 Andrew Coe
Replacements: 16 DaQuan Perry, 17 Tevita Langi, 18 Sam Davies, 19 Charlie Hewitt, 20 Brendon O’Connor, 21 Conor McManus, 22 Sam Windsor, 23 Nick Feakes
DALLAS JACKALS
1 Liam Murray, 2 Dewald Kotze, 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Sam Golla, 5 Lucas Bur, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara (capt.), 7 Conrado Roura, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Pedro Imhoff, 10 Alejandro Torres, 11 Lui Sitama, 12 Tomás Cubilla, 13 Tomás Malanos, 14 Campbell Johnstone, 15 Marcos Moroni
Replacements: 16 Alex Tucci, 17 Connor Robinson, 18 Herman Agenbag, 19 Carson Shoemaker, 20 Cameron Nelson, 21 Danny Christensen, 22 Juan Pablo Aguirre, 23 James Vaifale
Date: Sunday, June 4
Venue: Memorial Field, Mount Vernon
Kickoff: 15:00 local (12:00 Pacific, 14:00 Central)
Broadcasts: MSG Network, The Rugby Network
Referee: Robin Kaluzniak (Canada)
Assistants: Miles McIvor (USA) & Marty Steffens (USA)
TMO: Nick Hannon (USA)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-02-26 – Dallas Jackals 5, Rugby New York 41 (Choctaw Stadium)
MLR 2023 – New York Ironworkers vs Dallas Jackals – ARN Guide .
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