BRIDGEVIEW, ILL. — It’s been a long journey for the San Diego Legion since their last MLR Championship appearance in 2019.
But they’re back four years later. And they’re stronger than they’ve ever been before, going 15-1 during the regular season and dominating the Seattle Seawolves in the Western Conference Final to get to their second-ever championship.
“We’ve still got a job to do,” six-year Legion veteran Nate Augspurger said.
And they’re training like it. The team traveled to Chicago on Wednesday, two days earlier than they typically would for a weekend away match, to get adjusted to the time change and make sure there’s nothing that could take the best team in the league off their A-game.
They practiced outside of SeatGeek Stadium on Thursday, and did a captain’s run, a one-hour training session, inside of the stadium on Friday ahead of the big game on Saturday.
Taking a look at the New England Free Jacks
The New England Free Jacks topped the MLR’s Eastern Conference with a 14-2 record, tallying 68 points – only six points behind San Diego’s league-leading 74. They’re the only team that could keep up with the Legion through Round 17, which by then San Diego clinched the best record in MLR history.
New England comes in with an 11-game win streak and haven’t lost since March 31. Their only two losses came to San Diego in Round 2 and the Utah Warriors in Round 7.
Comparatively, the Legion have won a league-record 14 straight games and haven’t lost since March 5 in Round 3 at the Houston SaberCats.
“We can’t take anything for granted, we just have to trust in what we’ve done this year, worry about ourselves to a certain extent and now those basic things, control our discipline, and hopefully grind our way through the game and obviously the results (will) come out with a win,” head coach Danny Lee said.
New England fly-half Jayson Potroz leads the league in successful goal kicks (53), ranks second in points scored (131), and fifth in kicking meters (3,712).
Left wing Paula Balekana finished first in the Eastern Conference and second in the league with 13 tries scored over the 16-game regular season.
How the San Diego Legion can defeat them
San Diego has had many dominant wins over the season, but none more complete than their Western Conference Final win over the Seattle Seawolves last week. The defense held the Seattle attack to just one try while putting up four tries of their own.
This was despite losing their captain, Blair Cowan, to a four-game suspension due to a red card in the regular-season finale. San Diego’s “next man up” mentality has rung true all season long.
“We’ve got 23 guys that have played a lot of rugby together this year, the continuity in the group, the togetherness in the group, and they know that when it comes down to the tight moments, they stick tight together,” Danny Lee said.
“That’s what’s going to happen. I think there’s going to be some really tight moments, some scary moments, and as long as they stay tight and they focus on what the next task is, then it’s all they can do.”
Will Hooley’s grand finale
San Diego fly-half Will Hooley announced in June that this would be his final season in Major League Rugby and that he would retire at the end of the season.
Hooley joined the Legion prior to the 2022 season but suffered a season-ending injury that cut his season short. This year, he returned stronger than ever, taking over as the starting fly-half and excelled all season long.
Knowing this will be his final game, win or lose, is an exciting feeling for Hooley.
“I feel incredibly grateful to be here in Chicago with my teammates who honestly are just such a caring group, loving group, and I’ll have some family there (Saturday),” Hooley said. “I could not think of a better place to be to finish off.”
How to watch
The Championship game kicks off at 12 p.m. PT on FOX national television in a neutral-site final from SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Ill.