Simply put,Chicago scored 26 unanswered points in the first half hour of the game against the Seattle Seawolves on Saturday. Then Seattle scored 34 unanswered points to win 34-26.
Seattle scored five tries (Jade Stighling, Mack Mason, J.P. Smith, Sam Windsor and Toni Pulu) for the extra bonus points keeping them within four points of Houston, who lead the Western Conference. Mason added three conversions and a penalty kick, which put the Seawolves ahead 27-26 for the first time in the game at 75 minutes. Pulu’s try with a minute remaining and Mason’s conversion kept Chicago from getting a bonus point for losing within seven points.
A remarkable turnaround from the first half hour compared to the time that followed. At the beginning, the Seawolves missed tackles, let Chicago’s backs get outside their back line, gave up an intercepted pass that was run in for a try and had a forward power over them for Chicago’s fourth try (a bonus point).
Then someone turned on the lights. A great pass out to Stighling who touched down in the corner, Mason converted his own try, a show and go by Smith to drop over the Chicago goal line, Windsor’s try from not at the end of an overload (he had another man outside of him – and man inside if he wanted to offload that way) and great back and forth passing by Riekert Hattingh and Ina Futi, ending in Pulu’s try.
You can’t have unanswered points without solid defense, which the Seawolves had after the first half hour. Best defensive play? Gotta be Jean Droste’s holding up a would be try by Chicago at 70 minutes.
Seawolves are back at Starfire on Friday night, April 5, at 7:30 against the Dallas Jackals, who were respectable against Houston this weekend losing, 30-27.
Kicks make a difference in today’s rugby. Too much foot in the game? Maybe. But for now, those are the rules of the game.
In the Dallas vs. Houston game Friday evening, the Jackals made five tries but their kickers only made one conversion, losing out on eight possible points.
Houston had four tries but converted two of them. They added two penalty kicks even though they committed 12 penalties to the Jackals’ eight.
So Dallas had 25 points on tries and two on a conversion for 27 at the end of the game.
Houston had 20 points on tries, six on penalty kicks and four on conversions to win 30-27 and maintain their undefeated status.
Hoping the Seawolves’ kickers are on target this afternoon in Chicago, the team scores more than four tries, the Hounds score fewer and the Miami Sharks pull off an upset against San Diego on Sunday.
The Seawolves on MLR’s Week 4 Top 15 is a repeat of Week 3 with Joe Taufete’e and Jade Stighling named again.
Hooker, Joe Taufete’e – Seattle Seawolves
Two Tries Scored
46 Meters Gained
16 Ruck Arrivals
Left Wing, Jade Stighling – Seattle Seawolves
Two Tries Scored
70 Meters Gained
11 Ruck Arrivals
Lots of competition for the fly half spot on the Top 15 this week. Major League Rugby chose Felipe Etcheverry from the Miami Sharks:
Fly-half, Felipe Etcheverry – MIAM Sharks
18 Points Scored
83 Meters Gained
13 Kicks in Play
Jayson Potroz from New England Free Jacks had two tries, a penalty kick and a conversion for 15 points, and Dan Hollinshead kicked five conversions and a penalty kick for 13 points.
Glad I’m not making these difficult choices.
MLR has suspended Old Glory DC player Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz for five weeks after receiving a red card. He will be back on the pitch May 4, well in time for the Seawolves’ match against DC on May 24,
Could be a new version of the “tush push.” Loved this halftime entertainment.
A Seattle welcome to returning AJ.
The Seawolves will be shakin’ their booties against Chicago (there), Dallas (here) and LA (there) before they meet the New England Free Jacks, perhaps a precursor to the championship match, now set for August, not July as previously posted earlier here. So how did those teams do this past weekend:
Chicago took on New England, the reigning Major League Rugby champions, and got within five points of a win with a last minute try. But New England, behind two tries and a penalty kick from fly half Jayson Potroz, ended with a 22-17 win. Seven of Chicago’s 17 points came from a penalty try after New England’s fullback Reece MacDonald knocked on a Chicago pass at goal line. That resulted in a yellow card on MacDonald. IMHO, a yellow card is too heavy a penalty for an “intentional knockoff.” A penalty at best. A scrum even better. In this case, the penalty try was justified as Chicago would have scored except for MacDonald’s knocking down the pass. Despite the boost from the penalty try, the Hounds are not to be overlooked by the Seawolves.
Dallas also needed a penalty try to come “anywhere” close to New Orleans Gold, 35-22. The Gold scored early after receiving a red card and kept scoring to 27-3 before a legit try by Dallas and the penalty try right before half. Score at the break, 32-15. Dallas added a converted try and in the 79th minute, NOLA kicked a penalty. A red card and a yellow card against New Orleans, and a yellow card against Dallas. The Jackals are 2-2 on the season, which gets them to fourth place in the Western Conference.
What happened to Utah? The Warriors are tied at the bottom of the Western Conference with LA at eight points. And LA beat them this weekend, 36-32. Without the two bonus points for four tries scored and coming within seven pints of the winner, Utah would be at the bottom of the conference alone. LA scored five tries, converted four of them and added a penalty kick. Dan Hollinshead, LA’s kicker, is a danger. (He plays ahead of Jordan Chait, a former Seawolves.) Seattle will need to reduce their penalty count before facing Hollinshead. And the demise of Utah comes from the loss of Olive Kilifi, back in the arms of the Seawolves.
Elsewhere:
Miami 50, Anthem 21: Stakes for this game was a first Major League Rugby win for either team. A chance maybe for an Anthem victory, but it did not happen. Miami scored three tries in the first 13 minutes of the game, and three more in the first 17 minutes of the second half. Miami gets their first Major League Rugby win in a game that got plenty sloppy in the second half.
San Diego 27, Old Glory DC 11: San Diego’s win included five tries, allowing them to pick up four bonus points for the win and one for four tries scored, putting them in second place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Seawolves. Old Glory did not look like the team that beat New England Free Jacks by one point earlier in the season. They went scoreless in the second half.
After three games without scoring four tries and the extra bonus points in the standings, the Seattle Seawolves racked up four tries Friday night.
So did thier opponents, the Houston Sabercats.
Besides the four tries (20), the Seawolves added two more tries (10), two penalty kicks (6) and two conversions (4) for 40 points on the scoreboard.
The Sabercats (is that a cartoon character?) added a penalty try (7), three penalty kicks (9) and three conversions (6) for 42 points. All those kicks came from our old friend AJ Alatimu, who departed for Houston after two years in Seattle.
Seawolves come away with two bonus points for four tries and for being within seven points of the winner. Houston gets four points for the win and a bonus point for four tries. That puts them on top of the Western Conference with 18 points.
San Diego’s 27-11 victory Saturday over Old Glory DC gives them five points (four for the win, one for four tries scored) and a second place in the standings with 15 points.
Seattle is third with 14 points.
Look for the top two teams in the Western Conference to pick up more four-try bonus points this next weekend with Houston at Dallas on Friday night, March 29 at 5:30 PDT, and San Diego at Miami on Sunday, March 31 at 3 PDT.
Seattle plays Chicago there on Saturday at 3 PDT. A win and four tries in the Seawolves’ Easter basket? That would be nice.
Up front and on the wing, the Seawolves made the top 15 for Week 3 with Joe Taufete’e named as hooker and Jade Stighling as a wing. Here’s what Major League Rugby said about the Seattle players:
Hooker, Joe Taufete’e – Seattle Seawolves
One Try Scored
59 Meters Gained
SixTackles Made
Left Wing, Jade Stighling – Seattle Seawolves
One Try Scored
134 Meters Gained
Five Tackles Made
Also listed are some of the players who kept MLR teams in last week’s games. Axel Muller scored two of Old Glory DC’s three tries in the tie with Chicago Hounds.
And Lincoln McClutchie kicked four penalty goals and a conversion to help in San Diego’s one point win over LA, 19-18. (Previous post said McClutchie kicked three PKs. He accounted for 14 of San Diego’s 19 points.)
It’s worth going back and watching the replay of the New England and New Orleans game to see the magnificent try by Reece McDonald for the Free Jacks. It’s at 1:04 in The Rugby Network’s Every Try Week 3.
Right Wing, AXEL Muller – Old GLory DC
12 Points Scored
103 Meters Gained
Nine Tackles Made
Fly-half, Lincoln MCcLutchie – San Diego Legion
14 Points Scored
58 Meters Gained
Six Tackles Made
Fullback, Reece MacDonald – New England Free Jacks
Never thought beating Utah would be easy, a feeling that swelled at 57 seconds into the game when Captain Riekert Hattingh was walked off the field injured. Hattingh took the opening kickoff, ran forward and hit his head on the right arm of a Utah forward, who fell backwards but had ripped the ball from the Seawolves’ Number 8.
(My totally unprofessional diagnosis is head injury assessment. Hope Riekert gets better and rejoins Seawolves on the pitch soon.)
But sing praises for Pago Haini and Reid Davis who took over the No. 8 duties for the rest of the game, which the Seawolves won, 23-13.
Seattle forwards dominated the Utah pack with a low front row (Orr, Taufete’e and Matenga), huge push from the second row (Herbst and Droste) and smart play by the back row. Mack Mason missed his first kick of the season on a conversion after a try by Toni Pulu in the corner. But by then Mason had added two penalty kicks and the Seawolves led, 11-3.
Forward domination? Further proof of that at 29 minutes into the game when Joe Taufete’e’s peeled off a maul after a lineout to overpower Utah’s scrum half. That lineout near the Utah goal line resulted from a booming kick from Divan Rossouw on a penalty choice.
Utah knocked the ball on when receiving the second half kickoff. After a scrum, several rucks and some well-connected passes by Seattle’s backs Jade Stighling added another try. One more try would earn the Seawolves a bonus point for scoring four tries in a game. But it was not to be. Instead, the rest of the second half scoring came with 81:42 left on the clock when the Warriors found an overlap and scored a try – not enough to pick up the bonus point for coming within seven of the winner as Seattle won, 23-13.
There are two unbeaten teams in the Major League Rugby, and they will meet at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila on Friday night, March 22, at 7:30 when the Seawolves take on the Houston Sabercats, who lead the Western Conference with 13 points. Seattle, with no four-try games, has 12.
Other games:
Houston Sabercats 28, Miami Sharks 19: Maybe Houston thought the Sharks would be easy to overcome, but they were not. Houston was ahead 15-12 at the half and had to pick up their fourth try of the game with 80:37 left on the clock. Houston wins 28-19. Expect to see the return of AJ Alatimu, who now plays fly half for Houston, next week when the Sabercats come to Starfire.
New Orleans Gold was my only choice to beat the New England Free Jacks in the Eastern Conference. That was wrong as Old Glory DC won over the Free Jacks last week, and NOLA was lucky to get within seven points of New England with a try at 82:22 left on the clock. New England wins, 27-21, and leads the Eastern Conference with 11 points over New Orleans’ 10.
Old Glory DC and Chicago Hounds also missed out on bonus points with three tries a piece and enough penalty or conversion kicks to end in a tie at 22 points. They each get 2 points in the standings for drawing a match.
San Diego 19, Los Angeles 18: Could this develop into a California rivalry? Right now, it looks like evenly matched teams. The scores went like this through the match:
0-3 LA
0-8 LA
7-8 LA
7-11 LA
10-11 LA
Then San Diego depended on three penalty kicks to get a 19-11 lead before LA scored a try and conversion to close to
19-18 in favor of San Diego.
They meet again on May 26.
Dallas 68, Anthem 28: Ugh. It got worse for the Carolina team. Anthem captain and former Seawolves Jake Turnbull scored a try in this lopsided game.
Looks like the forwards cornered all the Seawolves’ Top 15 for the second week in Major League Rugby. Here’s what they said about Sam Matenga and Jean Droste:
Tighthead Prop, Sam Matenga – Seattle Seawolves
21 Meters Gained
15 Ruck Arrivals
Four Tackles Made
Right Lock, Jean Droste – Seattle Seawolves
30 Meters Run
19 Ruck Arrivals
Five Lineout Takes
I was happy to see that Martin Vaca made the list. How could he not? He was a huge factor in Old Glory DC overcoming the New England Free Jacks, a team I predicted would not be beat by anyone in the Eastern Conference, except for maybe the New Orleans Gold. And that match is on at 11 a.m. PDT on The Rugby Network. New Orleans will be without Olajuwon Noa, who received a red card and is suspended for four weeks. He won’t be back until April 20 against the Miami Sharks.
After the Seawolves beat the Miami Sharks, 29-18, a Seattle fan passing in front of me on the way out of the Starfire Stadium, remarked, “That wasn’t as easy as I expected.”
True that.
If the Miami kickers had made all their kicks, the Sharks would have pulled within three points of Seattle. Think if Mack Mason were playing for them.
Fortunately, Mason plays for the Seawolves, who depended on him for 17 of Seattle’s 29 points.
Mason’s four penalty kicks and a dashing, under-the-posts try by Jade Stighling accounted for Seattle’s 19-3 halftime lead.
Miami had an unusual try two minutes into the second half. A cross kick by Miami’s Uruguayan fly half Felipe Etcheverry bounced in the try zone. The Argentine wing forward Benjamin Bonasso tipped the ball higher but then grabbed it and touched down for a try just inside the dead ball line. A missed conversion. Score is 19-8, still Seawolves.
A successful penalty kick by Miami. 19-11, still Seawolves.
Mason kicked another penalty with 60 minutes gone in the game.
It’s nice to have Olive Kilifi back home again,
Then it was time for the replacements to show their stuff. Daquan Perry, from Philadelphia, USA, threw the ball in for a Seattle lineout, raced around the back of the formation and drove toward the Miami goal. Then Olive Kilifi, Seattle’s own replacement prop, secured the ball in a ruck. One more ruck and the ball comes out to Mason for a skip pass to sub Sam Windsor, an Australian who has been in the MLR since the beginning, who dodges, gets his shirt tail caught from behind but not before a pass to Jeremiah Sio, a Rainier Beach grad, who touches down in the corner for a try.
The game ended on a bad note with a yellow card against Seattle and one more late try for Miami, ending the game 29-18.
Still no four-try games, which Seattle will need those bonus points to keep up with the Houston Sabercats. More tries, fewer penalties will make me and that passing fan happier.
The Seawolves are off to Utah next Saturday for a 6 p.m. game that will be shown on Fox 13 and The Rugby Network.
J.P. Smith admitted this wasn’t his best look. Will he ever play fullback again?
Other games:
Houston 27, Los Angeles 12. I thought this game would have been closer. The score was Houston 14, LA 12 at half. But then the Sabercats got control of the game in the last half. It would have been closer if two of LA’s tries had not been disallowed because the scorers started from an offside position. And is LA playing their games in a high school football field? Looks that way.
Update: Grant and Jordan pointed out that there were four disallowed tries in the Houston-LA game, two for each team. I knew about one of the whistled try for Houston but missed the other one. So in the end, that probably means Houston is 15 points better than LA.
And yes, I know that LA plays at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA., but the field still looks small to me. But Grant points out, “That field was recently re-built specifically for the LA Galaxy II USL team Some of the money from the rebuild came from WR so the goalpost sleeves could be built into the field for the USA to host WR XVs Series matches (an annual women’s test series). RFCLA benefits from a low cost, ~2,000 seat stadium that has lighting, access control, plenty of parking, and other typical, professionally managed stadium features.”
San Diego 30, Dallas 23. Dallas was ahead 13-11 at the half but 14 minutes later, San Diego was up 25-13. Then a San Diego Legion received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle. A chance for Dallas to come back. Could they? No. Dallas scored a try with 84 minutes gone for get a bonus point for pulling within seven points of the winner, which was San Diego, 30-23.
Utah 29, Chicago 15. Chicago Hounds scored first with a try, added a penalty kick and one more try. But the Utah backsare a dangerous bunch, too hard for the Hounds to collar. Keep that in mind, Seawolves, next week.
New Orleans 34, Anthem 19. About what I expected, but best luck to former Seawolves Jake Turnbull and Shane Barry, who scored a try on Saturday, in making this team competitive.
I was wrong, wrong, wrong on the New England Free Jacks. No one in the Eastern Conference of the Major League Rugby could beat them, I predicted. They would surely be in the July championships against the Seattle Seawolves. And if beaten in regular season play it would come from Western Conference teams, and maybe, just maybe, from the New Orleans Gold in the East.
Then on Saturday, the Old Glory from Washington, D.C., beat them, 35 to 34.
The first half hour went as I expected: Free Jacks dominant and ahead 17-0 with a try from Fijian winger Paula Balekana, a penalty kick from New Zealander Jayson Potroz and then a heads-up retrieval by another New Zealander, fullback Reece MacDonald, off a high kick from Potroz.
After that, it became obvious that the Free Jacks did not know how to stop a maul, or how to stop Martin Vaca, a 22-year-old Argentine hooker, who scored three tries in various fashions: filling a spot in the back line, from a maul and then off a ruck at goal line.
Four minutes into the second half, New England had regained a 10-point lead (watch the highlights of the game on The Rugby Network at that point to see some excellent back plan and amazing offloads).
Jason Robertson, another New Zealander playing scrum half for Old Glory, reaches backhanded into the try zone to bring the score to 29-21.
More great back play at 53 minutes brings the Free Jacks to a 15-point lead.
But at 61 minutes, Vaca gets his try off the back of the rugby right next to the post. The conversion is good, and Old Glory is within a converted try to win the game, 34-28.
That try doesn’t come until 83:13 on the clock, another pushover maul (this time with Vaca out of the game – he could have had four tries!). At 84:222 on the clock, Robertson kicks the conversion, and Old Glory wins, 35-34, and my previous predictions look like yesterday’s whine.
