Tag: Divan Rossouw

Seawolves in playoff fight round for round

Even a win against RFCLA on Friday night would not guarantee a spot in the Major League Rugby playoffs. A tie? Definitely not. The resulting 26-26 score leaves the Seattle Seawolves where they were before Friday’s game: two points behind LA and in fifth place in the standings. The top four go to the playoffs.

The Seawolves are now on something of a breather this week with no games for 10 days until Monday night when they are at Utah. Given the number of Seawolves who were replaced in Friday’s game, this rest is much needed. Three players at scrum half? Wow! And Riekert Hattingh left the game early? That hardly ever happens. Word is that he had been sick. Get well, Riekert, and all the other Seawolves.

Both teams on Friday night had four tries, accounting for one bonus point in the standings. Seattle’s tries were scored by Duncan Matthews, Dewald Kotze, Malacchi Esdale and Divan Rossouw.

The tie awards each team two points in the standings, with the fourth-place team, LA, at 30, and the fifth-place team, Seattle, at 28.

The head-to-head match did not decide the argument on who ought to be in the Western Conference playoffs. That will have to be decided in the next five games Seattle and LA have left in the regular season, a round-to-round campaign to the playoffs. Here they are:

Round 1

Saturday, May 10, LA at home against Anthem

Monday, May 12, Seawolves at Utah

Round 2

Saturday, May 17, Seattle at home against San Diego Legion

Monday, May 19, LA at Chicago Hounds

Round 3

Friday, May 23, Seattle at home against Houston Sabercats

Sunday, May 25, Miami Sharks at LA

Round 4

Saturday, May 31, LA at Old Glory DC

Sunday, June 1, Seattle at New England

Round 5

Saturday, June 7, LA at Utah

Sunday, June 8, Seattle at home against Miami Sharks.

Time for Seawolves to show who’s boss

The Seawolves’ loss to NOLA Gold on Sunday sets up a mano a mano fight for fourth place in Major League Rugby’s Western Conference. That will come Friday night at 7:30 at Starfire Stadium when LARFC, now in fourth place, comes to visit Tukwila. With six weeks to go in the regular season, this match-up between the fourth and fifth place holders might not be a win-and-you’re-in to see who goes into the playoffs, but a victory Friday night would advance the argument for who ought to be there.

Both LA and Seattle lost this past round, LA to San Diego, 38-36. They were down 31-17 at 60 minutes into the game when the Legion got their second yellow card in 10 minutes. With SD down to 13 players, LA rattled off 14 points to tie at 31-31. SD scored again, then La scored and a successful conversion kick would have tied it with a minute left in the game. The kick went wide, but LA still got two bonus points in the standings: four tries and finishing within seven of the winner. That boosted them to 27 points in the standings.

Seattle had what it takes to win a game against NOLA: tries by Jade Stighling, J.P. Smith, Lauina Futi, Eduard Fouche, Divan Rossouw and Devin Short.

They also had what it takes to lose a game, as they did, 44-36: Seattle had 11 penalties in the first half when I stopped counting; NOLA had one. Three yellow cards against the Seawolves that half. Playing with 14 against 15, then 13 against 15. Three missed conversion kicks. Some untimely mishandling and not being able to stop NOLA from scoring more points that the Seawolves did.

Seattle picked up one bonus point for scoring four tries, but if one of those missed conversions had sailed between the posts, Seattle would have been within seven for another bonus point. That would have kept Seattle at the bottom of the Western Conference but only one point away from LA. Alas, none of those kicks split the uprights and Seattle goes into Friday’s match two points down from LA.

Time to advance your argument, Seawolves.

Start Lynch, Peters for more media coverage

“The Seattle Seawolves (3-5) beat visiting Chicago 28-22.”

That was The Seattle Times print-edition coverage on Saturday morning of the Seawolves’ game Friday night.

One sentence. Six words. Four numbers, two hyphens and two parentheses.

They could have said a lot more, as perhaps the Seawolves staffer who supplied the information had done.

  • J.P. Smith earned his 100th caps, only the second to do so in Major League Rugby.
  • Seattle, who sits at the bottom of the Western Conference standings in Major League Rugby, beat the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference.
  • That Seattle got on the scoreboard first as Rodney Iona slotted a penalty kick, the first of his 13 points he added in conversions and penalty kicks to the Seawolves’ total score.
  • That Divan Rossouw, Riekert Hattingh and Lauina Futi scored tries, all of which keeps the Seawolves closer to getting into the playoffs this coming summer.

There is a way to get more than six words in the local newspaper: Take this man off the sidelines and into the lineup. Marshawn Lynch at stand-off, at No. 8, on the wing, in the centers for a half, or until the first hydration break. Or let Marcus Peters play some defense. The crowd of reporters, columnists and photographers would strain the attendants at the entry gate.

This has been suggested to the Seawolves previously by an unnamed source. And big names, especially American football names, get coverage. Read it here: Marshawn Lynch, Marcus Peters join ownership group for Seawolves.

And read it online, where the readership is tallied to see which sports capture the most eyeballs.

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?

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.

Fans had to wait to celebrate Seattle Seawolves

       The Seawolves fans had to hold off their celebration until 10 minutes into the second half when Seattle took the lead for the first time, 21-20, in the Western Conference finals against Dallas. It was a short celebration as the Jackals regained the lead 20 minutes later, 25-21.

       It wasn’t until the 79th minute – the last in an 80-minute match – that the real celebration began. That’s when Seawolves fullback Divan Rossouw broke through the Dallas backline, raced toward the try line, only one tackler ahead of him when his long, accurately thrown pass connected with scrum half Ryan Rees, running in support, who touched down for the try. Conversion by Sam Windsor got Seattle back in the lead for good, 28-25.

Seawolves players and fans celebrate after winning Western Conference title. Video by Kathleen Saul

       The Seawolves, the winner of the Western Conference, will play the Eastern Conference winner, the New England Free Jacks, in San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium on Sunday, August 4, at 1 p.m. PDT to determine Major League Rugby’s 2024 champions.

       The Free Jacks, the MLR champs in 2023, beat Old Glory DC, 33-29, and the Chicago Hounds, 23-17, in their playoff matches.

       The Dallas Jackals, 6-10 in the regular season, seemed like they might continue their “coming together at just the right time” roll through the playoffs. They beat the best in the league, Houston at 14-2, last week and stacked up a 20-14 halftime lead in Sunday’s game against Seattle. That despite being down to 13 men on the field after a double yellow card. Wing Nick Benn scored two tries, a one-handed cartwheel try in the eleventh minute and a race to finish off an overload over Seattle at 31 minutes. Both were scored in the corner, but Juan-Dee Oliver converted both and added two penalty kicks for 20 Dallas points.

       Seattle’s first score came as a penalty try after Dallas collapsed a scrum chugging toward the try line. Score: 7-10. Then a Dallas penalty kick and Benn’s second try, and the Seawolves were back down 7-20. Joe Taufete’e restored some hope for Seattle fans when he dived off a ruck to score a try under the posts. Halftime score: 14-20.

       Did the second half seem like Dallas had the ball 90 percent of the 40 minutes? And when Seattle had the ball, there were some dropped passes or ones that went behind the intended receiver or some that dribbled back to be picked up in a scramble? Seattle had two tries called back. One in the first half for a forward pass and another in the second half for a knock-on in the end zone (also known as a ball dropped when trying to touch the ball to the ground, which scores a try).

       But when things went right for Seattle, it was highlight films: JP Smith’s show and go off a ruck at the Dallas try line to plunge over for a try (now forgiving that earlier dropped ball in the try zone) and then Mack Mason’s conversion giving Seattle their first lead, 21-20, at the 50th minute.

       Dallas missed a penalty kick at the 67th minute but scored a try on a maul off their lineout. The conversion kick bounced off the upright, but Dallas had a four-point lead, 25-21, with eight minutes left in the match.

       Another upset by Dallas? Not according to Rossouw and Rees.

No penalty tries against Dallas, please

Never a question that the Seawolves would beat San Diego Legion in the first round of Major League Rugby’s Western Conference playoffs.

Seattle scored four tries (one of them a penalty try), Mack Mason connected on two penalty kicks and a conversion for 30 total team points. San Diego led early with penalty kicks by Matt Giteau, first 3-0 and then 6-3, but another PK was all the Legion could score in the first half. They never led again after that 6-3 score at 11 minutes.

Loved Seattle’s kicks ahead through the San Diego back line. First by Divan Rossouw that resulted in Duncan Matthews touching down at 13 minutes (leaving San Diego behind forever), and then another by Mason that ended in the penalty try.

Rhyno Herbst dives over for a try. Punkus Arnett photo

Smart plays by Rhyno Herbst as he dived over (some would say “like a back”) for a try at 28 minutes and the pickup by Pago Haini at the back of a ruck at 74 minutes to land a try, bringing Seattle to 30 points.

Pago Haini makes it 30. Punkus Arnett photo

Allow one question, please: What was going on at the 80th minute? A yellow card against Seattle (Seawolves had two, the Legion one) and a penalty try for San Diego, leaving them two points shy of a victory. Giteau missed a penalty kick and a conversion. Add in those lost points, and the Legion wins 33-30.

That’s the kind of gift Seattle can’t afford against Dallas, the next playoff foe (Sunday, July 28 at 1 p.m. at Starfire Stadium). The surprise of the past weekend starred the Dallas Jackals, 6-10 in the regular season, traveling to the home grounds of Houston Sabercats, with the best record in the league at 14-2, and coming away with a 34-22 win. The Texas teams played a scrappy game won by the one that could scrape together something that led to a try. Dallas did that more than Houston.

On Sunday, the Seawolves should expect a strong Dallas defense, one that mostly smothered Houston’s back line. The Dallas forwards found their way to Houston’s try zone with persistence rucking deep in Sabercats’ territory. Three of the Jackals’ five tries came off rucks within 10 yards of the goal line.

Strong forward play, Seawall defense at its best, varied back line play, no yellow cards and NO penalty tries. A Seawolves’ win against Dallas sends Seattle on to the MLR championship on Aug. 4 in San Diego.

Without a question.

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.

Can Seawall defense be Man of the Match?

Can 15 men be named Man of the Match? Or 23? If so, then the Seawall defense was the Man of the Match in the Seawolves 29-21 win over the New England Free Jacks on Saturday.

You could look at New England’s 21 points and ask how that justifies praising the Seawolves defense. But those points included a penalty try and another try scored when the Seawolves were down to 14 men after a yellow card was given to Seattle for collapsing a maul (the penalty try). That happened at the 67th minute of the match. The Free Jacks scored a try and conversion four minutes later. Take away those scores and we’re back to 26-7 where the game stood at the 56th minute mark.

Mack Mason helped the Seawolves build those points with three penalty kicks in the first half. Two minutes before the half, Conner Mooneyham, who’s been on the sidelines since last year, reminded New England of how fast he is and why he shouldn’t be left alone out on the wing. A 40-yard run by Mooneyham, a ruck cleared by Riekert Hattingh and the ball out to Mason, then to Jean Droste (love second rows in the back line!) and then an offload to Dan Kriel, who used his right shoulder to floor New England fullback Reece MacDonald while plunking down the ball with his left hand for the try. At the half, Seattle led 14-7.

Twelve minutes into the second half, after more than a dozen rucks near the New England try line, Kara Pryor dived over for a Seattle try.

Hattingh, not to be outdone by Droste filling where a center should be, lined himself up at wing  and the overload gave him a green-grass path for an untouched run for a try.       

There the game stood at 26-7 before New England collected their yellow card advantage. Mason added another penalty kick with 10 minutes left in the game, contributing 14 points to the Seawolves 29-point total.

Back to the defense. New England scored seven tries when they defeated Houston; three against Seattle including a penalty try. Wayne Van der Bank scored three tries against Houston; one against the Seawolves. Jayson Potroz scored 17 points against Houston, four against Seattle. The Seawall defense was up quickly on the New England backline, giving them no room to spring their fast backs. And the defense kept New England eight points back, no bonus for being within seven.

Best Seattle defense: Divan Rossouw’s try-saving tackle on the try line.

Seattle has collected 33 points in the Western Conference standings, four up over second-place Houston. New England has a one point lead over Chicago in the Eastern Conference, 24-23.

Seattle gets a week off and returns to Starfire on Friday night, May 3, at 7:30 against the Anthem. Not a time for mercy.

Seawolves win, Houston loses, Seattle on top

Welcome to the Windsor and Hattingh show with supporting cast of Rossouw and Pulu. The stars of the show scored 24 of the points in the 36-5 win over Los Angeles on Sunday.

Riekert Hattingh and Sam Windsor accounted for all Seattle’s 17 points in the first half. It wasn’t until the 58th minute that Divan Rossouw entered the scoring stage with a try when Seattle’s backs overloaded the LA defense. Toni Pulu had to wait until the 80th minute before he did his own do-it-yourself try by intercepting an LA pass and trotting in (75 yard) for an under-the-post try (did LA pursue at all?).

Windsor converted his own try at the 32nd minute after the ball came out from the ruck at the LA goal line, pass to Windsor, a show and go, breaks a tackle and scores.

Hattingh had another try at the 68th minute on a play from behind a set scrum: scrum half goes right, probably for a pass from No. 8, but Hattingh, the No. 8, fakes a pass, goes left, breaks through tackles and scores.

Besides his try, Windsor kicked one penalty kick and converted three tries for 14 points in the game.

The Seawall defense let LA buffalo in a try off a lineout maul at the 45th minute. LA only had one yellow card, down from four in their last game (and a red card).

With five tries in the match, the Seawolves picked up a bonus point and top the Western Conference with 29 points. San Diego and the Houston Sabercats follow with 24 points apiece. Dallas is fourth, where they will need to stay to get into the playoffs.

About Houston. There is no longer an undefeated team in Major League Rugby. The New England Free Jacks took care of that on Saturday when they defeated the Sabercats, 47-35. It was quite a game. Thirteen tries were scored, six by Houston, seven by New England. Wayne Van der Bank scored three of them after receiving a yellow card at the 25th minute in the game. Jayson Potroz converted six tries, including one of his own for 17 points.

Houston started the scoring with a try in the first five minutes of the game but fell behind by 10 points at the half, 28-18. At 52 minutes, Houston was further down, 40-18, before they came alive and caught up to 40-35 with five minutes left in the game. A try would tie, a conversion would win. But it was the Free Jacks who scored, finishing 47-35.

Davy Coetzer scored two tries for the Sabercats and kicked a penalty. But he missed five conversions before they let former Seawolves AJ Alatimu kick the last conversion that brought them to within five points.

Next for Seawolves: A preview of my predicted MLR championship: Seattle vs. New England on Saturday, April 20. See it on NBC Sports Boston, FOX13 or The Rugby Network. Game starts at 11 a.m. PDT.

Seattle played on Sunday, then will play again on Saturday, An away game in Quincy after a short week for them. New England played Saturday and have been resting ever since.

Making no predictions.