2019 – Championship Final: San Diego Legion v Seattle Seawolves

23 v 26

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The 2019 Major League Rugby Final took place on June 16th, 2019 at Torero Stadium, where the #1 seeded San Diego Legion had home advantage to face the visiting Seattle Seawolves, the reigning MLR Champions and #2 seed. These two sides had faced each other in a semifinal game in 2018, with Seattle the victors on the way to the first MLR Championship.

It was a back and forth game that San Diego looked to have secured, leading 20-14 with 10 minutes to go before Seattle showed real fight with a 71st minute try taking the score to 20-19, but missing the conversion! San Diego fly-half Joe Pietersen slotted a drop goal in the 78th minute to extend the Legion’s lead to 23-19 lead and surely securing the Championship. The Seawolves had next to no time and needed a try to claim the shield, and this is exactly what they got on the last play of the game, with Brad Tucker barrelling over to give the Seawolves a 23-24 lead.
Brock Staller nailed the conversion to put the icing on the cake, with the final score 23-26 to Seattle, who claimed back-to-back championships in 2018 & 2019. At the conclusion of the 2022 season, Seattle Seawolves remain the only team to successfully defend their title.

Details

Date	Time	League	Season
June 16, 2019	4:00 pm	Major League Rugby	MLR 2019

Results

Team	Tries	Conversions	Penalty Kick	TB	LB	Points
Legion	2	2/2	2/2	0	1	23
Seawolves	4	3/4	0/0	1	0	26

Legion

#	Player	Position	T	C	P	DG	MG	Tackles	KS/KA	Pts
1	Faka’osi Pifeleti 17	Hooker	0	0	0	0	22	4	0	0
2	Kapeli Pifeleti 16	Hooker	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0
3	Paddy Ryan 18	Prop	0	0	0	0	64	6	0	0
4	Louis Stanfill 19	Lock	0	0	0	0	31	4	0	0
5	Joshua Furno	Lock	0	0	0	0	23	9	0	0
6	Jasa Veremalua 20	Flanker	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0
7	Psalm Wooching	Flanker	0	0	0	0	31	8	0	0
8	Jordan Manihera	Number 8	1	0	0	0	68	7	0	5
9	Nate Augspurger	Scrum-half	0	0	0	0	5	11	0	0
10	Joe Pietersen	Fly-half	0	2	2	1	49	2	5/6	13
11	Nick Boyer	Scrum-half	1	0	0	0	64	5	0	5
12	JP du Plessis	Center	0	0	0	0	56	14	0	0
13	Ryan Matyas	Center	0	0	0	0	59	8	0	0
14	Conor Kearns	Fullback	0	0	0	0	18	5	0	0
15	Tai Enosa 23	Fly-half	0	0	0	0	4	4	0	0
16	Dean Muir 2	Hooker	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0
17	Nathan Sylvia 1	Prop	0	0	0	0	10	3	0	0
18	Dino Waldren 3	Prop	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
19	Siaosi Mahoni 4	Lock	0	0	0	0	23	3	0	0
20	Pat Blair 6	Flanker	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
21	Kyle Rogers	Fullback	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	Save Totovosau	Wing	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Will Holder 15	Fly-half	0	0	0	0	11	3	0	0
	Total		2	2	2	1	541	117	5/6	23

Seawolves

#	Player	Position	T	C	MG	Tackles	KS/KA	Pts
1	Djustice Sears-Duru 17	Prop	0	0	14	3	0	0
2	Stephan Coetzee 16	Hooker	1	0	44	12	0	5
3	Tim Metcher 18	Prop	0	0	0	3	0	0
4	Apisai Naikatini 19	Lock	0	0	31	8	0	0
5	Brad Tucker	Lock	1	0	40	16	0	5
6	Samu Manoa 23	Flanker	0	0	15	10	0	0
7	Nakai Penny 20	Flanker	0	0	10	8	0	0
8	Riekert Hattingh	Number 8	1	0	40	16	0	5
9	JP Smith	Scrum-half	1	0	26	9	0	5
10	Ben Cima 21	Fly-half	0	0	0	5	0	0
11	Jeff Hassler	Wing	0	0	45	6	0	0
12	Shalom Suniula	Center	0	0	28	9	0	0
13	George Barton 22	Center	0	0	78	8	0	0
14	Brock Staller	Wing	0	3	46	1	3/4	6
15	Mat Turner	Fullback	0	0	36	7	0	0
16	Dan Trierweiler 2	Hooker	0	0	0	2	0	0
17	Kellen Gordon 1	Prop	0	0	4	0	0	0
18	Jake Ilnicki 3	Prop	0	0	4	6	0	0
19	Jeremy Lenaerts 4	Lock	0	0	6	5	0	0
20	Eric Duechle 7	Flanker	0	0	0	2	0	0
21	Phil Mack 10	Scrum-half	0	0	9	1	0	0
22	Roland Suniula 13	Center	0	0	21	2	0	0
23	Vili Toluta’u 6	Flanker	0	0	7	4	0	0
	Total		4	3	504	143	3/4	26