San Diego Has Run Out Of Runway
Much of this season’s hiccups have been forgivable for the Legion. The Vegas experiment that quickly fell apart. The list of injuries that looked like a strong starting 15 for an MLR side in and of itself. The fact they made their true home debut this past weekend. This weekend, the bill finally came due.
Getting healthy and hot headed into a late playoff push, the Legion felt like the side we expected in the preseason. Then, the Warriors made a late game run to put San Diego’s season into a corner. The Giltinis coming to town was either going to be the signature win they needed or the nail in the coffin.
It was the later.
The loss backs them into a nearly impossible playoff scenario. Loots and Robshaw left the game injured. The league is better with a strong San Diego team, but we’ll have to wait until next year to see them at full strength and pushing for the postseason.
Utah Showed The Strength Of Their Depth
With the international window just over a week away, the Warriors needed to push themselves as close to a playoff spot as possible. Their solution: leave Mikey Teo and Mika Kruse on the bench against RUNY. New York went into the game with Hollinshead and Ellis still sidelined, but this is still a tough side.
Of course, Utah’s gamble paid off.
The focus has been on the late game heroics of the replacements. However, the depth that filled the starting 15 is the real hero here. When you sit your Eagles, you shouldn’t be good enough to keep with a team like RUNY. They were. For everyone else, that’s terrible news.
The Playoff Picture May Officially Come Into View Next Week
This week saw Toronto officially eliminated, but any realistic path for the Arrows dried up a month ago. Old Glory is likely to be out after next week, but their situation is more like Toronto’s than any contender’s. However, Round 14 sat the table for the playoff picture to become clear.
Consider the following Round 15 story lines sat up by Round 14:
- LA can clinch a playoff spot outright
- NOLA and New England will go head to head with the loser being nearly out
- Utah could virtually lock up their playoff spot if Austin drops all points and the Warriors can grab the full 5
- Old Glory and San Diego can be eliminated
Little is guaranteed in Major League Rugby. Only chaos. That’s what Round 15 will give us.
RugbyFootballTalk 