Tag: Duncan Matthews

Correction: Seattle could beat SD to the playoffs

Thank you Steven Vocke for pointing out that Seattle wins all three of their last matches and earn winning bonus points (4+ tries), Seattle gets to 52+ table points, which is more than San Diego can hope to achieve in their two remaining matches.

I overlooked that SD only had two games remaining. So . . .

I’d say that a Seattle win and a LA loss would still be a winning thing for Seattle.

What must happen in the three games left in the regular season is Seawolves win and LA loses for the surest way to the playoffs. If Seattle beats Houston Friday night at 7:30 in Starfire Stadium and LA loses to the Miami Sharks on Sunday, May 25, Seattle would step ahead (with two games remaining). Don’t quote me, but this could come down to the last round of the season on June 7 and 8 when Seattle plays the Miami Sharks and LA faces the Warriors in Utah.

And we will be watching San Diego’s two remaining games.

The wins this past weekends for Seattle and LA were like doppelgangers. Both needed 80th minute tries to seal the win. The scores were similar: Seattle beat San Diego 29-25; LA over Chicago 26-24. Four-try wins for both; each team went up five points in the standings, now LA 40, Seattle 38.

I “watched” both games via the Tribe app on my cell phone, once during a celebratory graduation dinner and the LA game in an airport lounge with no TVs. At the dinner, it seemed the least noticeable way to keep track of the game. Tribe alerts viewers with a line of type for tries, conversions (made and missed), penalty kicks (made and missed) yellow and red cards. Saturday’s game looked like this:

When following on Tribe, you are left to wonder about many things. How could Dan Kriel and Duncan Matthews, two of the most orderly players in the league, get yellow cards? Where were the balls touched down for tries by Divan Rossouw, Riekert Hattingh and Duncan Matthews? Where were the two conversions and a successful penalty kicks by Rodney Iona placed on the field. But the worst is the agonizing wait between when R. James scored a try followed by a missed conversion at the 70th minute and what would come next. A news flash on a Legion victory, 25-22, or something else? Like a try by O. Noa. I tried to disguise my shout of “Hooray” as a cheer for the graduate, but that one was for Olajuwon.
Same with the LA game against the Hounds of Chicago. At the 69th minute, Chicago gets a penalty try to go up 24-21. What would be next? Nothing to help the Seawolves as LA scores a try to win 26-24.
 

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.

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.