Last week was harsh on match predictions. With each game decided by five points or less, only Paul Bains was over .500 with his Round 1 selections.

It doesn’t get much easier this week. Utah Warriors make their first appearance after an offseason in a news abyss. They’ll visit Austin Elite Rugby, who lost in Round 1 to the Houston SaberCats. They remain the only team to have ever done so in MLR play.

The Glendale Raptors take off for New Orleans, where they face a NOLA Gold team that melted the Toronto Arrows with a stylized attack last week.

And defending champion Seattle Seawolves, after clipping championship opponent Glendale, head down to San Diego for a rematch of last year’s semifinal against the Legion.

Will anyone on the staff hit their first perfect week?

Utah Warriors @ Austin Elite Rugby

It is a bit concerning that Utah’s biggest public offseason move was to steal Josh Pray from their Round 2 opponent, Austin. The comedian may help them fill seats and is certainly amusing the social media horde, but he can’t help them on the pitch.

No Paul Lasike. No Kurt Morath. But there’s talk of an increased offseason fitness program and additional staff. And the Warriors have, at least, brought in exciting new Eagle Gannon Moore.

Still, we don’t have much to go on but last year’s play. Last year, when Utah visited Austin, the Elite racked up a bonus-point win. Both teams have suffered personnel losses since then, but it would be tough to argue that Utah has gained on Austin in the personnel department. And, with limited preseason and no MLR play, Utah is more likely to be rusty.

Austin didn’t play great in Round 1, but they played well enough for me to give them the edge against the side they beat handily last time around.

Austin by 8

Glendale Raptors @ NOLA Gold

Last week, I was the only one of my TRS colleagues to pick against NOLA, and it burned me. The Gold played an inspired game with ball in hand and they took advantage of a Toronto side that needed a halftime regrouping to stop the bleeding.

Toronto wasn’t ready for NOLA, but Glendale will be. Not only do they have the benefit of a game tape to analyze, they are just too clinical to be sucked in the way Toronto was in the first half. They won’t bunch around the ruck and they won’t be beat on the outside so easily.

But Toronto did score with relative ease once they started holding onto the ball. Stopping Glendale this week will be a big ask. Glendale should be able to curtail that high powered offense a little better than Toronto did, but I’m not sure NOLA will do any better at keeping Glendale beyond the try line.

Both sides expect meaningful ARC losses. Glendale likely loses its starting half back pairing and NOLA say goodbye to #8 Cam Dolan, who was the focal point of their offense. This match will be won by the team that manages the more successful defensive effort. With no Cam Dolan, look for a Raptor road win.

Glendale by 6

Seattle Seawolves @ San Diego Legion

I’ve been agonizing over this pick since the final whistle Sunday evening. Seattle went through San Diego twice last year on the way to a title. But never in San Diego.

But that’s not to say they haven’t played in San Diego! They stood tall against Glendale and won the championship in Torero Stadium last year.

Both teams looked good in Round 1, though San Diego did so in a losing effort. Add to that the fact that the Legion are beset with injuries and ARC call ups. Dylan Audsley and Nick Boyer head to USA camp, Ryan Matyas is injured. Presumably, Nate Augspurger and Psalm Wooching remain sidelined as well.

But! But! San Diego played without its injured folks last week and nearly won. Boyer had a tough outing as well, so his departure shouldn’t bring down their quality of play from Round 1 much if at all. And something about these sides has me liking the way San Diego matches up.

First, it is tough for any side to beat another good side three times in a row. See, for example, Seattle’s third fixture against Glendale. Also, Seattle has never been as tough defensively on the road as it has been at home. And where Glendale had success last week was moving the ball wide. San Diego is built to move the ball wide. At the same time, the Legion pack toughed up in the offseason and probably had the better game than their New York counterparts last week. They should be closer to the Seattle pack in quality than they were last year.

Finally, San Diego needs the win more. It’s early, of course, but starting 0-2 after two home games would put them in an early season hole from which they’d need to dig themselves out. Seattle, on the other hand, just had a huge and physical win against rival Glendale. Being as mentally up for this Round 2 match may prove difficult.

If this was Vegas, I would be staying away from this game. But if I have to pick, I’m saying the Legion manage the narrow home win.

San Diego by 3

TRS Staff Picks

You can find TRS contributor Paul Bains’ picks here.

Season Summary