Category: Rugby

Looking for another rematch against Houston

The Seattle Seawolves will have another go at the Sabercats. The best way for that to happen is for Seattle to win three games: against Los Angeles on June 22, against San Diego on June 29 in San Diego, and then again against San Diego in the playoffs on Sunday, July 21. And then the Seawolves return to Houston for the Western Conference finals on Sunday, July 28.

The must-win game in that scenario is the playoff match on July 21. Lose that game and the season is over without the rematch against Houston, which beat Seattle Saturday, 28-25, at Sabercats Stadium.

Three of Houston’s tries started from mistakes the Seawolves made: an overthrown lineout toss, a rare knock-on by Divan Rossouw at fullback and a quick penalty that caught the Seawall defense still in neutral. Houston’s fourth and “you can’t blame me” try came with wing forward Keni Nasoqeqe busting through Seattle’s back line.

Seattle’s offense relied heavily on Mack Mason’s foot. Not just for the conversion and two penalty kicks he made, but for his kicks ahead that resulted in tries for Toni Pulu (who outran the Houston winger to touch down in the corner) and Jade Stighling, who gathered in Mason’s kick right at the try line. Even with the Seawolves at 14 men after a high tackle yellow card on Rhyno Herbst, the Seawolves found a way to keep scoring.

The other Seattle try came from a heads-up play by Sam Matenga, who regained his feet at a goal line ruck, saw the ball in front of him, picked it up and dived over for the score.

That totals 25 points. Houston had 28, winning by a penalty kick that can be blamed on A.J. Alatimu, a former Seawolves, who had two of them in the game.

The surest way to a rematch with Houston is for the Seawolves to win, win, win. That will give the Seawolves the hometown advantage in the first playoff game before heading to Houston for the conference final. Assumption here is that Seattle will play San Diego in the playoffs, which is how the standings now line up. But that could change in the last two weeks of the regular season. Looking ahead:

San Diego plays Chicago Hounds on Monday night, June 17, then Houston on June 23 and Seattle (in San Diego) on June 29.

Besides the Legion on June 29, Seattle plays Los Angeles on June 22 in Seattle.

Besides the San Diego game, Houston plays Dallas, now in the fourth spot in the standings, on June 29.

Besides the Houston match, Dallas plays Utah on June 22.

Utah has to win today against New England and then finish their season at home with wins against Dallas and LA. That would give Utah 12 points in the standings (with no bonus points). If Dallas loses against Houston and Utah and picks up no bonus points, the Warriors would be in the playoffs, outranking Dallas in the standings, 40 points to Dallas’ 39.

Rather be Seattle.

What, me worry after 10-try win . . . not so fast

Jade Stighling going in for one of his four tries against Utah. Photo by Punkus Arnett

Punkus Arnett, probably noticing that madcapschemes.com needed desperate help in the photography department, volunteered to let us use his photos. This is a big improvement to this blog. Thank you, Punkus.

What was the worry two weeks ago about the Seattle Seawolves being deprived of six players out for the season because of injuries? That the Seawolves might not be able to beat Utah, might not win any more regular season games and miss the playoffs?

Given the 68-29 win over Utah on Sunday night, it seems that Seattle coach Allen Clarke has met those worries and made them go away – at least for now.

It helped that Joe Taufete’e and Sam Matenga came back from injuries. But it was a smart move to start Huw Taylor at No. 8. And mixing in Devin Short, Tavite Lopeti and Andrew Durutalo bolstered the lineup. And this “new” team played remarkably well.

No stopping Andrew Durutalo when he is headed for the tryline. Photo by Punkus Arnett

Let’s start with Jade Stighling, who should get his own bonus point for scoring four tries, two of them by intercepting Utah passes. Taufete’e scored two tries off the PKTTLMGT treatment (penalty, kick to touch, lineout, maul, guaranteed try), a tactic never to be criticized in these quarters again. Lauina Futi, another two-fer, was set up by Lopeti after some razzle-dazzle passing for one try, but Futi stole the show for his next one: two fakes, a wiggle and then touching down at the feet of four would-be Utah tacklers.

Futi dives in for the try. Photo by Punkus Arnett

The Seawolves scored 10 tries (is that a record?) for 50 points, two were under the posts for four more points and Mack Mason converted seven of them for 14 points.

The Seawolves, with three regular season games left to play, have earned a playoff spot.

If there was any disappointment in Sunday’s game it would be those 29 points Utah scored, including a penalty try after Seattle collapsed a maul. That resulted in the second yellow card of the game. Utah received one in the first half for what the TV announcers called a “head-butt tackle,” one more name for a dangerous tackle, a shoulder tackle, a no-arms tackle, a high tackle, etc. In reality, it was no tackle as the Utah player was flattened and the Seawolves’ player continued on, moving the ball to spring Stighling for his first ry.

Including the penalty try, Utah had four tries, enough for a bonus point. The Warriors scored off the side of a ruck in the first half, and midway through the second half, their backs made good use of what looked like broken plays until they weren’t.

When your team is ahead by 40 points, allowing the opponents to score 29 is no big deal. But with the Seawolves playing Western Conference leading Houston at Sabercats Stadium at 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, maybe this is something Allen Clarke should worry about.

Four Seawolves converge to bring down a Utah player. More defense should be on order for this coming Saturday against Houston. Photo by Punkus Arnett

6 players out for season, what’s the coach to do?

What will Allen Clarke do? With a bye this weekend, the Seawolves coach has some time to figure out how to meet, and beat, the Utah Warriors on June 9 at Starfire Stadium. He could depend on his injury-thinned ranks to put together a winning team. Or, he could go in search of new signings to fill the gaps left by players out with season-ending injuries.

With Olive Kilifi hurt in the 26-24 win over Old Glory DC, that makes six players done for the season.

Tevita Kuridrani should be back in time for the playoffs (weekends of July 20-21 and July 27-28 with the championship on August 4 in San Diego). Joe Taufete’e and Sam Matenga should be back before the end of the regular season. Those returning should help Clarke weather the storm with the players presently in the locker room.

But if Clarke could add another player like Monate Akuei Gai, more power to him. Akuei was quick around the field in the DC game, a fearless tackler. With Akuei, the Seattle Seawolves may have the only player in Major League Rugby who was born in South Sudan. (South Sudan separated from Sudan in 2011, and those two countries constitute the most ignored humanitarian crisis in a world full of humanitarian crises).

Akuei’s family left South Sudan as refugees, landing in Kenya. Akuei played rugby in Kenya and followed it to the United States and now, the Seawolves.

Best wishes to Olive and Tevita

Olivie Kilifi receives best wishes from J.P. Smith

Never like to see a gurney on the field. And last night there were two of them, one for Olive Kilifii and one for Tevita Kuridrani. Hoping for the best for the two of them.

I have not met Tevita but have been following Kilifi since 2013 when he wore an Old Puget Sound Beach jersey. Then on to England in 2015 when he played for the Eagles in the Rugby World Cup. He played for the Eagles in Japan in 2019, but we did not make the trip. He has been with the Seawolves since the beginning, then played for Utah and when his steady play left Utah for Seattle that contributed to the Warrirors becoming the squirrely-butted team they are today.

In England, 2015

Both injured players helped in the Seawolves’ 26-24 win over Old Glory DC on Friday night. Hoping they are not added to the season -ending injuries that were posted on the Seattle Seawolves website. Those are captain Riekert Hattingh, vice captain Charles Elton, Mason Pedersen, Pete Malcolm, and Kara Pryor.

Kilifi passing on Friday night.
Tevita (No. 13) about to level an Old Glory player.

Revenge against Dallas? Maybe in playoffs

It was hot. 90 degrees.

It was ugly. Five yellow cards. Four on Dallas Jackals. One for Seattle.

It was a loss. 14-7 against Seattle.

It was a double loss. Riekert Hattingh out injured.

If the season ended now, Seattle would play Dallas in the playoffs. Could Seattle get revenge? It would take some work.

But there are five more games for the Seawolves (8-3) to play in the regular season. Seattle is now seven points behind leading Houston (10-1) in the Western Conference standings. Catching the Sabercats probably means a loss on their part, which could come when the teams meet on June 15 in Houston.

Left on the Seawolves schedule are Old Glory DC (4-4-2, a team you never know what they will show up with), Utah (4-7, who knows what mood they will be in?), Houston (we know), RFCLA (3-6-1, we think we know), San Diego (6-4, they don’t like losing to Seattle).

The battle for the fourth spot in the Western Conference and a playoff spot is a one-point affair between Dallas (32 points) and San Diego (31 points). If that held through June 29, the Seawolves may have to wait until July to get their revenge against Dallas in the first round of the playoffs.

To get it, they will have to play better than they did on Sunday. Even before Hattingh left the game on crutches at 31 minutes, things seemed to be going downhill with mishandles, high tackles, lineouts not straight and two ties and conversions from the Jackals’ backs. At the half, the Seawolves were lucky to only be down 0-14.

At 67th minutes, Seattle’s backs put together a fine display of nice offloads and good running to put Divan Rossouw over for the try. With the conversion, it looked like a comeback could be in order. But the Seawall defense appeared to have been transferred to the Dallas Jackals after that. Despite many efforts to push over a try by Seattle, the Jackals held them out of the try zone. At one point in the game, the Jackals were playing with 13 men, but Seattle could not score.

Can Coach Allen Clarke get things back on track for the game this Friday at Starfire against Old Glory DC? Hope so.

The game is at 7:30 p.m. Be there.

Another rule World Rugby should review

What is a poor rugger to do if an opponent throws a pass that lands in our player’s outstretched hands? Try to intercept the pass and run down the field for a try, one of the most exciting events in rugby? Or, pull his arms into the alligator position and watch your opponents’ outside backs ramble in for a try?

If our back, like J.P. Smith in last week’s 32-31 loss to New Orleans, tries to intercept, but the ball is just too far out there to make a clean catch and fumbles away in front of Smith, what does he get for trying? A yellow card. Not understanding that.

When Smith’s knock on happened, the announcers on The Rugby Network sang out, “That’s intentional!” What was intentional? Smith intended to intercept the pass? Or did he intend to stop NOLA’s forward progress in a premeditated murder of the game ball? Smith alone knows what his intentions were (and as he immediately started walking to the sideline before the ref had pulled the card from his socks, Smith seemed to know that under today’s laws, a yellow card would be coming).

Smith goes off the field. Seattle is playing with 14, and NOLA collects a penalty kick, a try and a conversion, enough to eke out a 32-31 win over Seattle.

If Smith had spiked the ball, batted it to the sideline or prevented a try (not so, as there were other defenders outside of him), then that is worthy of a penalty and a yellow card for unprofessional play. That kind of play is not adding to the excitement or entertainment value of the game, which is what World Rugby in rule changes coming July 1 says it is trying to do.

But for a failed attempt at an intercepted pass? That’s a knock on. Scrum, and play on.

Eric Fleming, in a FB post to madcapschemes.com, explained it well:

“As a center ref I was always told we cannot officiate intention just the outcome. I think this is the only law that has the word intention in it. How can a ref determine intention? Is it worthy of a penalty, for sure, a yellow card, I’m not so sure it does in every instance. It’s listed in the laws as unfair play, not dangerous play but two of these in a match could have your watching the match from the sideline. Yellow should be reserved for a knock on that prevents a clear try. Yellow for a fumbled interception attempt causing a team to be at 14 players could result in a 14 point punishment. In 7s I believe it would occur more often and certainly lose your team the match. I don’t see in the laws where it necessitates a YC so maybe the game management guidelines on this need a review.”

We’re all with Eric on a review of this law.

Going forward: Seawolves at Dallas on Sunday at 4 p.m. PDT. On TV at ROOT Sports and The Rugby Network.

Watch party at Trenchers Kitchen and Tap, 822 N. 10th Place, Renton.

Anyone know of a watch party in the North End? Kangaroo and Kiwi?

World Rugby changing rules; let’s help them

World Rugby announced last week rule changes that will begin on July 1, 2024, along with some trial runs of other alterations in the game.

Critics, well represented by South Africans, say this is the world body getting rid of scrums, perhaps because the Springboks, a great scrummaging team, have won the last two World Cups. Others say these frequent rule changes will make it even harder for a new fan to understand and follow the game.

The rugby governing body says that this will open up the game, make it more entertaining and add to player safety.

Briefly, the changes are: choosing a scrum after a free kick has been eliminated; changes in offside rules on kicks that could stop “tennis” kicking; and a penalty for “crocodile rolls” – twisting a tackled player, still on his feet, in the “tackle area,” whatever that is.

The trial runs include a “shot clock” on scrums and lineouts; a 20-minute red card sin bin; and this limit on mauls: The ball must be played after the maul has been stopped once, not twice.

Here at madcapschemes.com, we want players to be safe, we don’t like “tennis” rugby, we like open, running rugby but still admire good scrummaging and we hate mauls.

World Rugby should have gone further in changing the rules on mauls. Especially mauls that come off a lineout resulting from a penalty kick to the sidelines, made more frequent by the last changes rugby made to kicks after a penalty is awarded.

One change could be to reestablish the rules on open field kicks to penalty kicks: If the penalty kicker is behind the 22-meter line, he/she can kick the ball straight out. If the penalty kicker is in front of the 22 and trying to kick the ball out of bounds, it must land in bounds before it goes out. The defending team would have a better chance at fielding the ball. This could add to tennis rugby, but it could mean more running attacks.

The scores from these mauls, which a TV announcer this last weekend termed “guaranteed tries,” are too numerous, too hard to defend and too boring.

Take Saturday’s Seattle Seawolves’ 32-31 loss to New Orleans. Seattle got one “guaranteed try” – thank you Huw Taylor and the rest of the pack and the backs who joined in. But NOLA had three of them.

The way the Seawolves scored was more exciting, the kind of entertaining rugby World Rugby is looking for. Mack Mason’s kick ahead, fielded and tapped down by Divan Rossouw for a try. J.P. Smith finding a gap in NOLA’s back line and racing in for a try. Another scurry through NOLA’s defense by Rossouw for a try that left the Seawolves one point shy of winning.

As exciting as it may have been, it didn’t win the game under today’s rules. The Seawolves must figure out how to defend against the maul. They have to stop collapsing or obstructing the other team’s mauls, collecting more penalties. And they have to stop the original penalties that brought them to within five meters of their own goal line.

That’s if they want to get back to winning when they meet the Jackals in Dallas on Sunday, May 19, at 4 p.m. The game will be shown on Root Sports and The Rugby Network.

And we’re not done advising World Rugby on changing rules. Next post: Why does a failed pass interception deserve a yellow card?

This is not the way to catch Houston

The Seattle Seawolves, previously 8-1, losing to New Orleans Gold, previously 4-4, on Saturday in a one-point game, 32-31, was not the way to get closer to Houston, the leader in the Western Conference of Major League Rugby. But the prospect of becoming No. 1 again is not out of the question.

The Seawolves, now 8-2, trail the Saborcats, 9-1, by four points, 44-40 in the standings. Both teams picked up bonus points for scoring four tries. Seattle was within seven of the winner for another bonus point. But Houston won, and Seattle lost.

Setting aside Houston’s 38-15 turn on the winless Anthem, the biggest margin in this weekend’s five games was three points, RFC Los Angles win over the Dallas Jackals, 29-26 (a surprise).

The rest of the games were one-point affairs: The previously mentioned NOLA win over Seawolves, 32-31 (a surprise); Old Glory DC’s 22-21 win over Chicago Hounds (another surprise); and Miami Sharks’ win over Utah 20-19 (one more surprise).

Close games usually mean a well-balanced state of competition, which seems true in the Eastern Conference where the top four teams and present playoff contenders are within six points of each other from No. 1 New England (30 points) to No. 4 Old Glory (24). The close-game model does not hold up in the Western Conference with the No. 1 and No. 2 teams 10 points ahead of the other playoff contenders: Houston 44, Seattle 40, San Diego 30 and Dallas 28.

Can Seattle make up the four-point deficit behind Houston before they meet again on June 15 in Sabercat Stadium? Before then, both teams have a bye in the coming five weeks. Seattle faces Dallas, Old Glory and Utah, all except Utah in the playoff race. Tough games. Houston meets Chicago, NOLA and LA. Two playoff contenders (and LA).

Looking at those schedules, it seems that the Western Conference lead going into the final month of the season could be decided on June 15.

More about the Seattle-New Orleans game and further complaints about rugby rules and tactics in a coming post. Off to a Mother’s Day brinner (brunch and dinner),

Seawolves a point behind Houston, despite win

Seattle Seawolves looked like they would be the ones to show winless Anthem some mercy Friday night, especially with the halftime score at 10-8 for the Seawolves. But a strong second half got the Seattle team a four-try win, 29-13, but still not enough to outpace Houston in the standings.

Houston, after beating Utah, 29-24 on Saturday, leads Western Conference with 39 points, compared to Seattle’s 38. Houston has a chance to stack up points this coming week in their game against Anthem, now 0-9. Seattle travels to Louisiana to take on the New Orleans Gold.

NOLA took their turn on Anthem two weeks ago, winning 40-5, before a week off. New Orleans is third (with 21 points) in the Eastern Conference, far behind New England (with 30) and Chicago (27) and one point ahead of Old Glory DC.

The biggest surprise in the past weekend’s competition was Chicago Hounds’ 26-20 win over New England, a team someone once said was too big to fail. Maybe the Free Jacks (6-3) have not recovered from the 29-21 defeat at the hands of the Seawolves on April 24. The Free Jacks were tied twice in the first half against Chicago and behind 13-8 at the half. They fell 13 points behind the Hounds and depended on a late try and conversion to get one bonus point for being within seven of the winner.

Looking at Utah’s past two wins (31-24 over Old Glory DC and 33-32 over San Diego), it looked as though they had a chance of a win over Houston on Saturday, but not to be. A.J. Alatimu kicked nine of Houston’s 29 points. Utah fell behind 10-3 at the half and never had the lead despite Houston drawing two yellow cards within three minutes in the second half. Final score: 29-24. Utah is two points behind Dallas (26 to 24) in the standings, out of fourth place and a playoff spot.

The Jackals lost to San Diego, 30-24, on Sunday. A remarkable turnaround of the Legion, who could not find the try zone in Week 9 against Houston, losing 33-0. If San Diego had to pass through the try zone to leave the Houston stadium, they might still be there. The Sabercats scored five tries in that game, converted four of them, including a penalty try with the conversion included. Even with a red card given to Houston at the 39th minute, San Diego could not score a try in the 20 minutes while the Houston hooker was in the sin bin. What did they produce? A yellow card, which got the teams even with 14 men each.

But enough of that. Let’s talk about the Seawolves win over Anthem. It started with a try from a maul coming off a line out. Try by Duquan Perry, conversion by Sam Windsor.

Windsor added a penalty kick for 10 at the half, and Anthem had a penalty kick and scored a try with good running and passing. Seawall defense looked good; offense needed a boost.

It took 13 minutes into the second half for the boost to come with another maul off a lineout. Try by Joe Taufete’e.

Then came a kick ahead and a try by Windsor, who also converted. How many positions did Sam play in that game?

Huw Taylor, back after a suspension, got a try at the 67th minute, converted by Windsor.

There were two yellow cards against the Seawolves, one that came at the 80th minute, which Anthem needed to score one more try against the 14-man Seawolves. When and where does that time in the sin bin get served?

Next up for Seawolves: May 11, 12:00PM PDT (YURVIEW, ROOT SPORTS, THE RUGBY NETWORK)

Saturday: A day to root for San Diego

A four-try Houston win over San Diego this coming weekend would put the Sabercats back on top of the Western Conference, giving them 34 points over the 33 for Seattle, who has a bye this week.

Houston had a decisive 38-17 win last week over Old Glory DC, a team that beat Eastern Conference leader New England Free Jacks early in the season and hasn’t done much since.

Can San Diego defeat Houston on Saturday – or keep them from scoring four tries and the accompanying bonus point? Not based on last week’s surprising performance when they fell to Utah, 33-32. When it was about time to leave Utah out of the playoff picture, they hung on and relied on a 78th minute penalty kick for the one-point win. This sounds more like the Utah of old. They play DC this coming weekend, and a win there could get them to fourth place in Western Conference over Dallas, if the Jackals lose to Miami.

However, another surprise from last weekend was Miami’s 42-27 victory over New Orleans. The Sharks (2-5) are fifth in the Eastern Conference, four points behind NOLA’s 16 points in the standings. New Orleans (3-4) should have an easy game against Anthem this week, but even a four-try win won’t advance them in the standings as they are seven points behind Chicago, who is off this week.

Despite their loss to the Seawolves last week, New England remains on top of the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Chicago, who trounced LA last week, 54-31.

Seattle’s 29-21 win over New England was rewarded by four Seawolves named to the week’s Top 15, all forwards (what about Mack Mason, Dan Kriel and Divan Rossouw?). Here’s what the Major League Rugby said about the Seawolves on the Top 15:

Hooker, Joe Taufete’e – Seattle Seawolves 

38 Meters Gained

17 Tackles Made

15 Ruck Arrivals

Left Lock, Rhyno Herbst – Seattle Seawolves

    12 Tackles Made

    25 Ruck Arrivals

    Five Lineout Takes

Openside Flanker,  Charles Elton – Seattle Seawolves

    77 Meters Gained

    20 Ruck Arrivals

    18 Tackles Made

No 8, Riekert Hattingh – Seattle Seawolves

    One Try Scored

    68 Meters Gained

    14 Tackles Made

Can Seawolves’ fans root for San Diego? Maybe at 5 p.m. this Saturday. Looks like The Rugby Network may be the only choice for seeing the Houston-San Diego game. Go Legion!