Tag: Pago Haini

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?

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.

Seattle 44, LA 12: A score that might have been

Mooneyham on an “almost” try. Photo by Punkus Arnett

These names would of, should of, could of been added to the list below: Ina Futi, Jackson Zabierek and Conner Mooneyham (twice over).

And the list below — Dan Kriel, Pago Haini and Cameron Orr – are the Seattle Seawolves who scored tries in the 29-12 victory over Los Angeles Sunday at Starfire Stadium.

The list above are the hard-luck Seawolves who crossed the LA goal line before something bad happened. Futi didn’t quite control the ball as he dived over and tried to touch down for the try. Zabeirek because his score became a penalty try when Reegan O’Gorman, who might have thought he held up Zabierek’s try, found out he had collapsed the maul and received a yellow card. In the last three minutes of the game, Mooneyham had two tries disallowed. He chased down his own kick ahead as it skittered to the back of the LA try zone. Did he touch it down before it got there? He thought so. The ref did not. A scrum to La, then a ruck and the LA’s passes had the ball wobbling over the LA back line until Mooneyham reached up for what looks like an interception. But the ball dribbled down his leg and maybe off his foot for a kick, which he fields and runs to score in the corner. The ref rules it a knock on. No try.

Futi’s almost try opened what looked like another 10-try victory similar to the one against Utah two weeks ago. Especially since Kriel scored his try 30 seconds later on LA’s goal line drop out after Futi’s near miss. Monate Akuei sprung Kriel with a great no-look, across-the-chest off load.

Then things slowed down. Half ended 10-5 with a Mack Mason penalty kick for the Seawolves and an unconverted try for LA off a maul

Seattle’s penalty try came at the 46th minute, and LA answered with a try twenty minutes later. It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes of the game that the Seawolves got serious about going after bonus points with a four-try win. Haini benefited with a try after a strong maul off a lineout (with the backs Kriel and Mooneyham joining in), and Orr did as well after a quick penalty at the 78th minute. Minute later, the game ended, 29-12 for Seattle.

This one by Cameron Orr counted. Photo by Punkus Arnett

You wonder what the score would have been without the TMO, the television monitor official. Would Futi and Mooneyham’s tries have counted? (Zabierek’s counted as a penalty try without Z getting credit for it.)

Overall, we’re in favor of the TMO reviews, but it has changed the game from when a single ref helped out by Just Anyone who volunteered to run touch controlled the game. What will happen when real live tracking is added to the game, where a microchip is attached to the rugby ball? Could the ball become the referee? With an added live streaming to announce the decision? “Mooneyham was outside the try zone. Sorry, no try.” Would William Webb Ellis recognize that game?

We may be ahead of ourselves here.

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