Day: April 14, 2024

2024 – RD 7: Rugby FC LA v Seattle Seawolves

The Seattle Seawolves travel down the west coast to face Rugby FC LA at Dignity Health Sports Park in a Western Conference Clash.

Although it took almost 20 minutes, the Seattle Seawolves took the lead through the boot of Sam Windsor and never looked back. Their convincing 5-try, 5-36 victory puts them into first in the Western Conference and top of the entire MLR.

Seawolves Captain Riekert Hattingh scored 2 tries in this game, the 40th and 41st of his MLR career. Hattingh is just the 2nd player in MLR history to pass the 40 tries scored mark, behind Dylan Fawsitt of the Chicago Hounds (on 47 at tiem of writing). Hattingh also gained 83m with ball in hand to take his career MLR total to 5,069m, becoming the 3rd player in MLR history to pass 5,000m gained behind NOLA Gold’s JP du Plessis (5,349m) and San Diego Legion’s Mikey Te’o (5,437m).

2024 – RD 7: San Diego Legion v NOLA Gold

The San Diego Legion travel to the Gold Mine in Louisiana to face the NOLA Gold in a cross-conference clash.

The first half was entirely the hosts’. They ran out to a 17-0 lead over last season’s runners-up, and looked completely in control for the first 40. It’s unclear if the Gold took their foot off the gas, or if Legion coach Danny Lee gave an all-time great half-time speech to his San Diego team, but the 2nd half was almost entirely the visitors.

The Legion held the Gold to just 3pts in the 2nd half while scoring 33 of their own to claim a 20-33 BP victory on the road after a shaky first 40. The Gold will have to wait until either the Championship Final or the 2025 season to have another crack at defeating the Legion, a feat that they have never achieved in now 8 attempts.

2024 – RD 7: Chicago Hounds v Anthem RC

Anthem RC travel to the windy city to face the Chicago Hounds at Seatgeek Stadium in an Eastern Conference clash.

The Hounds started strong and fast, racing out to a 26-0 lead and securing the Try BP just after the 1st half hydration break. This was the exact position that they were in against the Seattle Seawolves a few weeks previous, before the Seawolves fought back to win decicively. This would have no doubt played on the Hounds’ mind as Anthem got themselves into the game with two tries before half-time both heavily involving Te Rangatira Waitokia, a clear standout for the Charlotte outfit. Dylan ‘The Butcher’ Fawsitt struck back on the stroke of HT for a first-half hattrick (the 38th in MLR history, 2nd for the Hounds and, amazingly the first of Fawsitt’s MLR career) to swing the momentum back towards the hosts.

As has been a problem for Anthem so far this season, they began to tail off as the game went on. Jason Higgins scored the 2nd hattrick of his MLR career for the Hounds as they ran rampant in the 2nd half, becoming the first player in MLR history to score hattricks for 2 different teams (San Diego & Chicago)! Anthem did dot down twice more to secure a try BP of their own, but it was the Hounds’ day as they racked up 9 tries in total en route to a 59-26 victory, their first at home in over a year.