Hounds Travel to New England for Pivotal Matchup: Week 10 Preview

News May-3-2024

Hounds Travel to New England for Pivotal Matchup: Week 10 Preview

Roster Update:

Paddy Ryan is starting at tighthead prop, wearing the number 3 jersey. Ignacio Peculo is on the sub’s bench and will wear the number 18 jersey.

CHICAGO, IL- Sam Harris named his gameday-23 for the Hounds’ pivotal week 10 contest against the New England Free Jacks on Sunday. Major League Rugby’s Game of the Week, broadcasting live nationally on FS2, features the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Hounds last saw the Free Jacks in week four, the 2024 Chicago home opener. Despite leading at halftime, the Free Jacks escaped Dawg Town with a five-point win, 22-17. Kickoff for Sunday’s contest is set for 11AM CT from Veterans’ Memorial Stadium in Quincy, Massachusetts.

The Forwards:

Charlie Abel will get his fourth consecutive start at loosehead prop. Despite primarily featuring at tighthead over the course of his career, the Australian-native has made a smooth transition to the other side of the scrum. He’ll combine with Ignacio Peculo, set to earn his ninth cap, in the props. Backup props Fred Apulu and Paddy Ryan retain their places on the bench.

All-Pro hooker Dylan Fawsitt gets his seventh start of the season against the Free Jacks. In the last three games, Fawsitt scored six tries, including a week seven hat-trick against the Carolina Anthem that earned him MLR Player of the Week honors. He’s been a brick wall on defense as well, completing over 94% of his tackle attempts (50/54). The perennial all-pro is on an absolute heater right now and it has been fun to watch. Janus Venter will seek his fourth cap from the replacements.

The lock pairing of Mason Flesch and James Scott will take the field once again on Sunday. Both players come into the contest with seven starts on the season. Flesch is enjoying somewhat of a breakout campaign during his first year in Chicago. He’s been named to the MLR Weekly First XV on two occasions, weeks one and five, and is on pace for career-highs in nearly every statistical category. At just 24-years-old, the versatile Canadian forward still has room to get better. Scott’s 2024 season has been impressive in his own right, though. The former Jersey Red currently leads the team in dominant tackles with six.

Similarly to the tight five, the backrow remains unchanged heading into this pivotal eastern conference matchup. At blindside flanker, Ben Landry will earn his 44th MLR cap on Sunday. The Wisconsin-native is coming off a two-try performance in week eight that earned him MLR First XV honors.

Mac Jones will register his seventh consecutive start of the season, and 22nd start as a Chicago Hound, on Sunday morning. The flanker is coming off of back-to-back games with double-digit tackles and currently sits at 86 successful tackles on the season. Irishman Conall Boomer rounds out the starting forward pack from the No. 8 position. The Terenure College product has five appearances and three starts on the season. George Merrick and Luke White will look to make an impact off the bench for the second consecutive game after appearing in the second half in week eight’s contest.

The Backs:

Capped-Canadian international Jason Higgins gets the nod at scrumhalf for the third game in a row. On the season, Higgins has completed 117 of his 131 pass attempts (89.3%) and scored three tries, all of which came in week seven against the Anthem. Nick McCarthy seeks his eighth cap from the bench.

Higgins combines with flyhalf Adriaan Carelse once more on Sunday morning in Boston. Carelse is quietly putting together one of the better seasons of his MLR career. With 56 points, via six penalty attempts and 19 successful conversion kicks, he’s only seven points away from eclipsing his single-season high of 63 points, set back in 2021 with Rugby Atlanta. Carelse is also on pace for a new single-season high in meters gained.

Captain Billy Meakes is set to earn his 50th Major League Rugby cap when he takes the field at inside center on Sunday. The perennial All-Pro is coming off his best performance of the season in week eight against Los Angeles. He finished the day with 111 meters on his 13 carries (8.5 MPC), taking his season total to 514 meters on the year.

He’ll combine with Bryce Campbell in the centers for the third consecutive game. The MLR veteran is coming into the game fresh off of two of his better performances in a Hounds’ jersey. Against Carolina in week seven, Campbell finished the day with 12 meters-per-carry, registering 50 meters on four carries. He carried the ball 12 times against LA in week eight, running for 83 meters (7 MPC).

The wing duo of Nate Augspurger and rookie Noah Brown will take the field again together on Sunday. In week eight, both players scored tries, with Augspurger nabbing himself a hat trick, taking his try total to four on the season. The veteran is averaging 8.4 meters-per-carry and has beaten 20 defenders in his seven appearances this year.

Brown has firmly cemented himself in the Rookie of the Year race, and as we move into the back-half of the season, he could lock the award up sooner rather than later. In six appearances, the Indiana product has 358 meters on 28 carries (12.8 MPC) along with a pair of clean breaks and three tries. Brown only carried the ball three times in week eight, but still managed to gain 52 meters on the ground.

Luke Carty’s transition to fullback has seen the US Eagle put up some of the best attacking numbers of his MLR career. In week eight against Los Angeles, he ran for over 100 meters for the first time in his career. He averaged 5.9 meters-per-carry entering the season, but on his 22 carries in 2024, he’s averaging 8.7 per-carry. He retains the starting gig.

Mark O’Keeffe will seek his first game action since week six against New Orleans. When the Hounds hosted New England in week four, O’Keeffe had his best game of the season, running for 147 meters on nine carries. Expect him to provide a spark off of the bench on Sunday. Cassh Maluia is another powerful center included in the game day 23 for week 10.

Numbers Around the Roster:

After totalling 304 meters throughout the entire 2023 season, Luke Carty gained 191 meters in weeks seven and eight alone. The flyhalf-turned-fullback is enjoying some of the best attacking rugby of his career, averaging over 8.5 meters-per-carry.

Flanker Mac Jones registered double digit tackles in five of his six starts this season:
- Week 3 at DC: 17 tackles / 19 attempts
- Week 4 vs New England: 16/18
- Week 5 vs Seattle: 16/19
- Week 7 vs Carolina: 12/13
- Week 8 vs RFC LA: 11/12