Month: March 2025

Esdale’s try keeps Seattle from sinking further

Malacchi Esdale

The game’s not over until Seattle winger Malacchi Esdale scores. Saturday night against Anthem Rugby Club that did not happen until 73 minutes into the match. Esdale’s try was the fourth for the Seawolves, giving them a bonus point plus the four for the 25-17 win.

The four-try win keeps Seattle from falling further behind the RFCLA team, which beat Old Glory DC, 54-44, in a game with six yellow cards and a red. That game finished before Seattle and Anthem kicked off at Starfire Stadium, and any Seattle fan who knew of LA’s four-try win – no, make that eight – must have felt uncomfortable with Seattle’s first half when Rodney Iona’s lone penalty kick put them behind, 7-3, at halftime.

Sinking deeper in the standings of Major League Rugby’s Western Conference looked like a very real possibility until Toni Pulu found open space on the wing for a try at 50 minutes and Iona connected on the only conversion of the night for Seattle. Game tied 10-10.

Toni Pulu

Then Divan Rossouw had his five minutes of fame, scoring two tries between the 60th and 65th minutes for a 20-10 Seattle lead. Three tries, one penalty kick and one conversion. Not enough to keep from falling further behind LA, who stood at 18 in the standings.

Divan Rossouw

Esdale had not scored; the game could not be over. In the past two games, he scored the try that beat New England and helped Seattle to stay within seven points against LA a week ago, a bonus point that left the Seawolves three points behind LA. A fourth try would keep them there. That came with seven minutes left in the game when a long pass out to the wing put Esdale over for the fourth try.

Seattle is still out of the running for the playoffs, fifth in the Western Conference standings, behind 3-3 LA, 18-15. Four teams advance, vying to play in the championship. One team stays home when the season ends in June.

The Anthem team is 0-6, well out of the playoff chase in the Eastern Conference. But on Saturday night, Anthem fielded a team with all American players, a first for the MLR.

Next Saturday, Seattle plays 3-3 Old Glory in Maryland while LA faces 5-1 Houston Sabercats. If LA can beat Old Glory, 54-44, can Seattle, now 2-4, do something similar to keep pace with LA? Or, maybe put LA back in the cellar?

These 4 mins X 20 could get Seattle to playoffs

“You don’t have to outrun the bear, just outrun the slowest person.”

One half was not enough to stay out of the bear’s mouth. The Seattle Seawolves are the slowest runners trying to escape the grizzly bear that eats away the playoff hopes for the fifth-place holder in the Western Conference of Major League Rugby. The 30-27 loss to Utah Saturday night at Starfire Stadium dropped the Seawolves into the cellar below the former basement dweller RFCLA, who had a four-try win over NOLA Gold on Saturday, earning them five points in the standings. That brought LA to 13 points. Seattle would need a four-try win against Utah to stay one point ahead of LA (previous 9 + 5 = 14) and still be in the running to represent the conference in the MLR championship. That did not happen for the now 1-4 Seawolves, who earned one bonus point for being within seven of the winner. They are at 10 points in the standings, three behind LA.

Even though there are games and time ahead before the playoffs start, it’s never too soon to start the climb out of this black-gummed cavity. Like maybe this coming Saturday at 6 p.m. against the 0-5 Anthem Rugby Club at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila. LA, now 2-3, will be up against 3-2 Old Glory in Los Angeles.

Eduard Fouche watches his penalty kick go through the uprights.

But it will take more than one half. Let’s skip over the first half against Utah where the Seawolves scoring has reduced to two penalty kicks by Eduard Fouche while Joel Hodgson ran in two tries for Utah. D’Angelo Leuila connected on both conversions, giving the Warriors a 14-6 halftime lead.

It got worse.

With 54 minutes gone in the game, Seattle was down 27-6. Liam Coltman scored a try for Utah. Leuila added two penalty kicks and a conversion.

A half not good enough? How about a quarter, from the last hydration break to the end of the game? Or how about four minutes?

Captain Riekert Hattingh talks to the team before the start of the Utah game.

Between the 59th minute of the game and the 63rd, Seattle scored two tries, by Captain Riekert Hattingh and the game’s-not-over-until Malacchii Esdale scores. Fouche added two conversions. Now 27-20, Seattle could tie with a converted try. Could until Hodgson showed that he can kick as well as run and dodge, hitting a penalty kick with eight minutes left in the game and Seattle down, 30-20.

Two minutes later, the Seawolves were awarded a penalty try after an intentional knock-on by Spencer Jones prevented a Seattle overload from scoring.

Six minutes left in the game, Utah down to 14 men because of the Jones’ yellow card, could the Seawolves score? No. Mishandling the ball prevented that. Sort of a return to that unfortunate first half, one the Seawolves don’t want to see again if they are to crawl out of this bear’s mouth.

Bring back those four minutes in the second half times 20 for a full 80 minutes of “we’re headed to the playoffs” rugby.

Seawolves still in the playoffs – bearly

“You don’t have to outrun the bear,  just outrun the slowest  person.”

To stay in the Major League Rugby playoffs, all the Western Conference teams have to do is beat the No. 5 team in the five-team division. Right now, the Seawolves have done that  — by one point in the standings.  Despite the loss Saturday, Seattle has nine points in the standings compared to eight for Rugby Football Club Los Angeles.

Fall to No. 5 in the standings, and the grizzly bear is gobbling down your aspirations to go on to the MLR championship game.

Saturday, the Seawolves fell 35-29 to LA. But they scored four tries, worth one bonus point in the standings, and came within seven points of the winner, worth another bonus point. Add those two points to the seven points Seattle had coming in to the game and they stand at nine. LA had three points before the game and added four for the win and one for scoring four tries for a bear-eating eight points.

The Seawolves once again called on Malacchi Esdale, whose late try won the last game against New England, for a try at the 80-minute mark to come with in seven of LA and the fourth try. Add to that tries by Duncan Matthews, Riekert Hattingh and Divan Rossouw plus a penalty kick and two conversions by Eduard Fouche and one conversion kick by Rodney Iona for 29 points.

To stay out of the ursine depths of the Western Division, Seattle needs a win against Utah on Saturday, March 22, at 7 p.m. at Starfire Stadium. Utah is 3-1 with a 36-19 win Saturday against the Miami Sharks, who are 2-3.

Without wishing bad luck on another team, but a toothsome treat for the Seawolves could come if LA did not do so well against NOLA Gold on Saturday. NOLA lost, 35-31, against New England last Saturday and are in the mouth of the bear in the Eastern Conference with a 1-3 record.

This bears watching.

Too soon to talk playoffs? Seawolves are in

With 13 season games to go and a long way until the last of them on June 8, talk of playoffs may seem premature. But right now, the Seawolves are in.

Major League Rugby is using the same playoff format as in 2024. Top four teams in each division are in the playoffs. The No. 1 team plays the No. 4 team. No. 2 vs. No. 3. The No. 5 and 6 in the Eastern Conference and the No. 5 team in the Western Conference are eaten by the Bear, as in  . . . when running away from a hungry grizzly it’s not as important to outrun the Bear as it is to outrun the slowest person trying to escape the jaws and claws of Mr. Griz.

Right now, Mr. Bear’s Happy Meal is the Rugby Football Club of Los Angeles in the Western Conference. Seawolves (seven points) are ahead of RFCLA (three points) by four points in the standings. This is setting a low bear for the season, and I doubt coach Allen Clarke is promoting it.

But the Seawolves will have a chance to push RFCLA farther down Mr. Bear’s throat when Seattle visits the Southern California club at 7 p.m. this coming Saturday, March 15.

Right now, Coach Clarke should be feeling happy about having captain Riekert Hattingh, out for a year with a torn Achilles tendon, back on the playing field and about the team finding the right moment to take the lead in the March 8 game against New England, and the right man to do it.

That moment did not come at the start of the game against the Free Jacks, the team that beat the Seawolves in the 2024 MLR’s championships. By 11 minutes from the opening whistle, Seattle was down, 0-14.

Cam Orr tried to be that man who could gain the lead, scoring two tries, but missed conversions left Seattle down, 10-14. Three minutes after Orr’s last try, the Free Jacks were up another three points on a penalty kick by Jayson Potroz, who returns to the Free Jacks for the first time this season. Half an hour into the game and a try by Divan Rossouw had Seattle within two of New England. A conversion would have tied it, but it was not the right moment.

The kickoff back to the Seawolves after Rossouw’s try was a lesson in why a kick should be caught and not left to dribble, tempting someone to try to grub it through the oncoming defenders. Which is what happened. That ricochet ended up in the hands of a New Englander who cruised on for another try, topped by another conversion by Potroz. Anything set on a tee, Potroz can kick it through the uprights: three conversions and one penalty kick for a halftime score of 24-15.

But that was it for New England. The return of the Seawall defense kept the Free Jacks from scoring in the second half, which included a rare missed penalty kick by Potroz.

A try by Mikaele Kruse and a conversion kick by Rodney Iona (yes!) came close to a lead, 22-24. A Seattle penalty kick would have meant a one-point win. It went wide.

The right moment and the right man came with less than two minutes left in the game when sub Malacchi Esdale rumbled down the sideline for a try (no conversion), the only Seawolves’ lead of the game, a win (27-24) and we’re on the way to the playoffs.

Seattle scored five tries (worth one bonus point in the standings) and one conversion.

Take the points. Go for the tie. Get the win later.

Seventy-five minutes into the Seattle game against the Houston Sabercats, the Seawolves are awarded a penalty just five meters outside the 22-meter line. The Seawolves are playing with only 14 players because of a red card against Pago Haini. With five minutes left in the game, the Seawolves kick to touch, hoping for a lineout-maul-try to win the game 26-24, or maybe even 28-24 as Eduard Fouche has already kicked three conversions.

The lineout was successful. The ball came out from the maul under control, but then a knockout torpedoed the winning try, and Houston goes on to win, 24-21.

If on that penalty, Fouche had kicked for three points and a tie, 21-21, could they have gone on for the win? They would have received the ball back on the next kickoff and at least had a winning chance. But we’ll never know since no one followed my advice to always take the points, especially when you are down a man. (Also noting here, that no one has ever asked for my advice.)

Red cards: Looking back on the red card to Haini, it appears that he stumbled into the Houston ball carrier. The refs ruled that Pago was targeting a knee, a high danger play. It was a no-wrap tackle, but it looked like he was trying to regain his feet when he collided with a Houston knee. Are intentions regarded? If so, maybe a yellow car instead, although the Seawolves would have played out the game one man down as a 10-minute sin bin would have gone past 80 minutes.

Or two men down as on the fatal knock-on play, Njabulo “Juice” Gumede received a red card. He came in from the side of a ruck and his elbow hit the head of a Houston player. Definitely a red card.

A hometown win at Starfire Stadium on Saturday, March 8, at 7 p.m. against the New England Free Jacks, the team that beat them last year in the Major League Rugby championship game, would go a long ways to getting this season back on track. The Free Jacks lost 36-7 against the Chicago Hounds on Sunday. What happened to them?