Tag: Major League Rugby

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?

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!

Hattingh and Windsor in the Top 15

Back when he started in MLR

No surprises for who from the Seattle Seawolves made the Top 15 in Week 7: Riekert Hattingh and Sam Windsor. They have been around the Major League Rugby since it began and they are still turning in tries and scoring kicks.

Here’s what MLR said about them:

No 8., Riekert Hattingh – Seattle Seawolves
  • 2 Tries Scored
  • 83 Meters Gained
  • 14 Ruck Arrivals
Fly-half,  Sam Windsor – Seattle Seawolves
  • 14 Points Scored
  • 104 Meters Gained
  • 168 Kicking Meters Gained

How San Diego stayed in Top 4, and Utah did not

How San Diego (4-1-0) got down 17-0 at the half against New Orleans (3-2-0) seemed unlikely. But they did on Sunday. The Legion was dancing with the threat of falling out of the Top 4 in the Western Conference, where you need to be for getting in the playoffs. Then at 40 minutes, San Diego and New Orleans each received yellow cards, and the Legion found their 14 men were better than NOLA’s.

San Diego scored two converted tries in the first 13 minutes of the second half, allowed a miserable penalty kick to NOLA and then added two tries and a penalty kick to win 33-20. San Diego is at 24 points in the standings, right there with Houston and behind the Seawolves by five points.

NOLA stays at third in the Eastern Conference, behind New England (24 points) and Chicago (18).

The remembered Utah Warriors team is not the one on the field this year. In a game with five lead changes and Utah up by three at 68 minutes, the old Utahans would hang on to win. Not so in the present age as Dallas scored a try in the 80th minute to win, 22-20.

That puts Dallas in fourth place in the Western Conference with 19 points, ahead of Utah’s 14. The Jackals have one more game played than Utah, and the competition for that fourth playoff spot should be worth watching. Would the present No. 1 team in the Western Conference (guess who) rather play Dallas, winning 34-32 previously, or Utah, beating them 23-13.

Chicago 59, Anthem 26: Someone have mercy! (But not the Seawolves.)

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.

Seawolves’ next foe: 4 yellow cards and 1 red

Old Glory DC 22, LA RFC 22: In this tie game, the Los Angeles club, the next one on the Seawolves’ schedule, racked up four yellow cards including a second one against Alex Maughan, which makes that second card turn red. LA opened the scoring but got down 22-10 while playing short-handed. Then in the 66th minute, LA started coming back with two tries and a conversion to tie at 22. Not a team that the Seawolves can let up on for anything short of 80 minutes when they play Sunday, April 14 at 3 p.m. Game will be televised on FS2.

Chicago 38, New Orleans 21; I stopped watching this game at the 45-minute mark when NOLA was ahead 21-12 and well on their way to victory. But Chicago turned to mauls to push over 26 points while keeping New Orleans scoreless. James Scott, a huge lock ran in two tries for Chicago (who needs mauls when the second rows run like backs). Nice to see former Seawolves Ben Landry in his usual white scrum hat out there playing as well as Brad Tucker (wish he’d come back). Larome White, who was a Seawolves in their first year, is also with the Hounds.

New England Free Jacks 25, Miami Sharks 3: Besides an early penalty kick by Felipe Etcheverry, the Miami Sharks did not show up in the scoring column. New England, who lead the Eastern Conference only had three tries, not enough for the extra bonus point. With 15 points for the tries, Jayson Potroz added two penalty kicks and two conversions for 10 points for the 25 total. The Free Jacks stay on top of the Eastern Conference with 19 points, ahead of NOLA with 15.

Utah 44, Anthem 19: Anthem ahead at the half, 19-15, but never scored in the second half while Utah ran in 29 more points.

Dallas player scores 5 tries, but Seattle wins

Good golly, Miss Dallas, you sure like to maul, which helped in Jackals’ hooker Dewald Kotze score five tries against the Seattle Seawolves, who had to wait until the 78th minute for a penalty kick by Mack Mason to win, 34-32.

Kotze scored his tries at the

22nd minute: A maul off a lineout coming from a kick to touch after a Seawolves penalty, and there were many of those. Vaughen Isaacs missed conversion.

34th minute: A maul with the Dallas backs joining in for the pushover try. No Seattle backs joined in the fun. Isaacs conversion bounces off post and over for two.

39th minute: Another maul with the Dallas backs joining in for the push. Seattle backs refused to serve. Isaacs misses conversion

47th minute: Dallas backs once again join in to help Kotze to his fourth try. No conversion.

54th minute: Jackals’ forwards do it alone this time for Kotze’s fifth.

With four (five) tries, Dallas picks up a bonus point and another for a less than seven-point loss.

And while pushover tries are effective, they are also boring to most spectators. Seattle put on a better show.

25th minute: Try by Dan Kriel and a conversion from Mason. Riekert Hattingh picked up the ball from the back of the scrum, out to scrum half Ryan Rees and then on to Kriel to run in for the try.

32nd minute: Seattle shows that they can maul, too, with Pago Haini touching down for the try. Mason converts.

51st minute: Seattle awarded a penalty try after an “unwrapped tackle,” (also known as a chop block, no arms tackle, desperate throwing your body at the legs of a bigger man) on Hattingh. That scored seven automatically and Dallas got a yellow card.

69th minute: Seattle, too, can push over for a try. This one by Dewald Donald. Mason makes the conversion, and the score is 32-31 for Dallas.

78th minute: An offside penalty against Dallas inside the 25-yard line. Mason kicks for the 34-32 Seattle win. Mason added another penalty at the start of the game and made all his conversions.

With the penalty try, Seattle has four tries in the game for the bonus point. That puts them at the top of the Western Conference with 24 points, ahead of Houston’s 23 and San Diego’s 19. Houston and San Diego at off this weekend. So Seattle will be at No. 1 for the next week. Hope they stay there.

Next for Seattle: At Los Angeles on Sunday, April 14, at 3 p.m. PDT. Shown on FS2.

Ouch

3 Seawolves players on Week 5 Top 15

Three Seawolves players named to Major League Rugby’s Top 15 for Week 5. Nice to see Rhyno Herbst in there as a second row, a steady player all year.

J.P. Smith makes the Top 15 again, and Sam Windsor is there as a center — is that a first for him at that position instead of at stand-off or fullback?

Jake Turnbull, a former Seawolves, named as a prop to the Top 15 from the Anthem team.

Bad news for Huw Taylor, Seattle wing forward, who has been suspended for three weeks because of a red card. He will be back for the May 3 game against Anthem.

New Orleans player Jarred Adams has also been suspended for three weeks but will be back in plenty of time for the NOLA-Seattle game on May 11.

Some changes in the Friday night match against Dallas. A chance to see some new faces for Seattle. Hoping this is to rest some of the usual suspects and that this lineup does well against the Dallas Jackals. At Starfire, 7:30 Friday night. See you there.

1 Wenglewski (earlier version from Tribe app showed Orr here)

2 Taufete’e

3 Kilifi

4 Herbst

5 Ngakuru

6 Haini

7 Elton

8 Hattingh

9 Rees

10 Mason

11 Stighling

12 Kuridrani

13 Kriel

14 Futi

15 Rossouw

Finishers:

Perry

Donald

Matenga

Krumrei

Davis

Smith

Windsor

Moneyham