Win or lose, the Seawolves game Saturday against San Diego changed nothing. Seattle is still in the playoffs, and they play San Diego on Sunday, July 21, at 5:30 p.m. at home.
But the 45-33 loss to the Legion Saturday raises this question to another level: Can the Seawolves beat San Diego on July 21 to advance to the second round of the playoffs?
San Diego’s four-try win (they had six) and the five points in the standings were not enough to overtake Seattle, who finished second behind Houston in the Western Conference. For Seattle, you could call it a “meaningless” game. A game to rest players who needed it. A game to hold out some players with injuries. Not a game to display new tactics before the playoffs.
But the way the game played out brought that nagging question from above to center stage for Seawolves supporters.
Seattle dominated the first half hour of the game with tries from Divan Rossouw, Ina Futi and Mahonri Ngakuru, putting the Seawolves ahead 21-3. But before halftime arrived, the Legion had scored two tries off mauls to bring the score to 21-17 “before the teams went into the shed” (love that bit of rugby language).
Still, some halftime chatter would bring the boys back in fine form with nothing to worry about. That happened for a brief shining moment, with the Seawolves edging up to San Diego’s goal line before they lost possession, were called for a penalty and the Legion successfully juggled the ball among three or four players before one of them found themselves in Seattle’s end zone. At two minutes into the second half, the dominance had switched sides. From there, San Diego scored four tries, and 41-year-old Matthew Giteau kicked two penalties. Seattle answered with two tries, from Jeremiah Sio and an after-80-minute quick penalty try from Monate Akuei, who did not look too bad at the No. 8 spot. But the Seawolves could find no way to turn things around, to get the dominance back on their side.
San Diego ends their regular season with wins over the two teams ahead of them in the Western Conference, Houston and now Seattle. That’s gotta feel good.
Seattle ends with a 29-12 win over RFC Los Angeles and a loss to San Diego that raises questions.