The Seattle Seawolves travel down the I-5 to face Rugby FC LA in a Western Conference clash at Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles. The Seawolves are flying high after a last-gasp Coffee Cup victory over the New England Free Jacks, while RFCLA are still looking for their first victory of the season after falling to their California rivals in the Cali Cup. These teams have met twice in the past with Seattle holding a 2-0 series lead. The most recent meeting was a 29-12 bonus point victory for the Seawolves in Round 17 of the 2024 season. Can a new-look LA team start to even the series with a win in this one?

Rugby FC LA continue their 2025-opening home stand by hosting the Houston SaberCats in a Western Conference clash at Wallis Annenberg Stadium. Both LA and Houston are coming off losses in Round 1, and will be looking to bounce back in this one.

This is the 3rd meeting between these two sides, with the Houston SaberCats taking the season sweep in 2024. The last time these sides met was in Houston during Round 15 of 2024, with the SaberCats taking a 29-12 victory. Despite all the change to Rugby FC LA over the off-season, the margin of victory would remain at 17pts and, despite having home field advantage, LA would fall to 0-2 on the season, while the Houston SaberCats made up for last weeks defeat with a 28-45 bonus point victory in Round 2 against their Western Conference rivals.

The Reigning Champions kick off their 2nd title defence in a row on the road against Rugby FC LA at their new home at the Wallis Annenberg Stadium, within UCLA. With only 1 team in the Western Conference missing out on the post-season, LA will be looking to ensure they’re not the odd ones out.

A new-look, Giltinis tinted RFCLA team did their best to take it to the reigning champs, and had vastly more territory and possession than the Free Jacks, but didn’t account for New England’s defensive talent. The Free Jacks were the only team to complete over 120 tackles in Round 1 and in fact, completed almost double that, with 227. They had 5 players with more tackles than anyone else in Round 1, including the only 3 players with over 20 (see below). The reigning champs got their title defence off to a great start with 2024 Finals MVP Jed Melvin snagging an interception early on for his, and New England’s, first of 2025. 2024 Player of the Year Wayne van der Bank and Fijian flyer Paula Balekana would add scores for the Free Jacks, who claimed a try BP thanks to a penalty try. Melvin would make headlines again towards the end of the game, but for the wrong reasons. He was handed a red card in the closing minutes that might rule him out for their next game.

Rugby FC LA would strike back through their superstar half back combo, as Gonzalo Bertranou and Christian Leali’ifano would score tries, but the Free Jacks defence was too strong to mount a successful comeback. LA salvage a losing BP, and move on to next week.