North American Rugby Database

Report

The Seattle Seawolves (#2) host the San Diego Legion (#3) in the Western Conference Final in the latest chapter of MLR’s most storied rivalry, for a spot in the Western Conference Final. This game marks the SEVENTEENTH meeting between the two original teams, and the 5th in the MLR Playoffs. The Legion held a 7-5 record in regular season meetings, but the Seattle Seawolves had the upper hand in the post season, with a 3-1 record heading into this game.

The early game scoring was an exchange of penalties, with Matt Giteau nailing two penalties, sandwiching a Mack Mason kick to give the Legion a 3-6 lead before Duncan Matthews got on the end of a kick through to give the hosts the first try of the game and an 8-6 lead. Marcel Brache was handed a yellow card for a challenge in the air just before the first water break, and Mason extended Seattle’s lead to 11-6. The Legion managed to hold off the Seawolves with a man down, but Rhyno Herbst broke through just as it expired to further extend the lead to 18-6 following the conversion. The Legion didn’t look like breaching the famous ‘Sea Wall’ at all in the first half, but Giteau added another 3 to close the gap to 9pts at the half-time whistle following around 12 minutes of bruising play from both sides.

The Second half started as the first ended. bruising plays and each team trying to get the upper hand, with both defences holding firm. A deliberate knock-on from Seattle sent Tavite Lopeti to the bin for 10 minutes at the 2nd water break, and the Legion capitalised with a rolling maul try shortly after. The hosts hit back following a great run out wide from Toni Pulu, who kicked it through for Tomas Aoake to gather which he did so illegally so the ref had no choice but to award a penalty try to Seattle and send Aoake to the bin for 10. The Legion returned to the Seawolves half after the restart and after throwing it wide, a clear and obvious deliberate knock-on was missed by both the officials and the TMO allowing Seattle to gather possession and clear their lines, with which they flipped the field and Pago Haini added a 4th for the hosts to all but finish the game, now leading 30-14 with 5 minutes to go. Aoake would redeem his earlier mistake with a great finish in the corner in the 78th minute, and with the clock in the red the Legion would score again with a penalty try of their own, but it was too little too late for San Diego.

The Seattle Seawolves advance to face the Dallas Jackals in the Western Conference Final with a spot in the MLR Championship final up for grabs. The final score of 30-28 flatters the San Diego Legion, who didn’t look like they would break the Seattle Defence for the vast majority of this game, but having faced more turnaround in their squad during the offseason than any other team in MLR, they can be happy with a successful season, as much as they would’ve liked to finish it with a Shield.