Strong Seawall defense helps Seawolves clinch playoff berth with win over Warriors
By Charles Hamaker
Tukwila WA – With a grinding and gritty victory over the Utah Warriors, the last team that gave them a loss this season, the Seattle Seawolves have punched their 2023 postseason ticket with two games left to play. Since the third place Houston SaberCats cannot catch up to Seattle, the Seawolves have clinched a top two spot in the Western Conference and there is still a slim chance that the club could secure the top spot in the West. The Seawolves got off to a strong start to the match offensively, but had to fall back on their Seawall defense to get the victory locked up and ensure their spot in this year's playoff. A physical and bruising match against Utah, the Seawolves may have suffered a few injuries in this match that have not been announced, but are still looking to get captain Riekert Hattingh back soon.
“Do what I can, what I’ve been doing while I’m playing as well you know, trying to assist in coaching a little bit, just keep on helping the guys as much as I can from the box or from the mic. Show them what’s coming and try to prevent stuff from happening and that’s what I can do.”
The Seattle Seawolves come out for player introductions ahead of their June 4th victory over the Utah Warriors (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Utah undeniable into halftime mark
The first half of this match was a tale of two twenty-minute stretches, with the latter stretch in favor of the visiting Utah Warriors. The Seawolves came out strong on the offensive attack, as Wing Ina Futi continued his hot streak with a try in just the fifth minute of the match after Seattle was able to work the ball around. Fellow wing Martin Iosefo was able to get a beautiful pass out to Futi on the right side, before Futi found the hole in Utah’s defense to score. The Warriors were able to respond with a try of their own just ten minutes later as they displayed some quality passing down the field of their own, before the Seawolves made sure to keep things rolling.
The second Seawolves try of the night was a display of the Seattle big men of the first few rows, as Jake Turnbull and Rhyno Herbst battled down towards the try line before finding a streaking Samu “the hitman” Manoa to extend the lead after Utah missed their conversion kick. There were plenty of penalty calls to dole out in the minutes that followed as both teams appeared to be in a stalemate, but it was the Warriors who eventually broke through. A bouncing ball appeared to be going right towards the Seawolves for a turn of possession, but when Seattle failed to corral the ball, Utah was in the right place at the right time to take it all the way on a breakaway for a try. That score sent us into the half with a narrow one-point lead for the Warriors.
Seattle’s Ina Futi and Samu Manoa scored the first tries of the match for the Seawolves (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Strong defensive effort helps Seattle to victory
The majority of the second half saw this match become a defensive battle, as both teams pushed heavily but neither side allowed the other to break through. A Jordan Chait kick in the 44th minute was the only real offense that got things moving on the scoreboard, but there was nothing that affected that scoreboard until the 63rd minute when Chait hit another kick to further the Seattle lead. The Seawolves Seawall defense had to make a few try line stops to make sure that the Warriors weren’t able to tie things up with a try, as Utah pushed and pushed. With a postseason clinch on the line with a victory, Seattle pushed on and big Ben Landry scored the club's third try of the night in the 72nd minute to nearly put things out of reach.
Utah wasn’t going to go down easy, as the Warriors immediately took the ball down field for a try following the Landry score, and while there was the potential for them to get the ball back, they committed a penalty. The Seawolves grinded possession against the Warriors try line once more, and were able to run the time out that way to punch their playoff ticket.
“It’s been a long season; we’ve had our fair share of injuries and ups and downs. I wouldn’t say we’re starting to click on attack, but we’re getting there. We’ve had glimpses throughout the season. We stick together on defense and we fight for each other. That’s the special thing about this group, I think you could see it today. I mean, we tackled, we tackled we tackled, we didn’t have much ball which was a bit frustrating on our side. It’s these games where things don’t quite go your way and you still come out on top that’s important, going into the knockout.”
A physical battle in the second half, the Seawolves Seawall defense held strong (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Seeking a third shield
As they’ve clinched their playoff spot, Seattle will now continue their pursuit of a third MLR Title and are doing so with a better and deeper team than last season when the club made it to the title match. Granted, there were some interesting circumstances that came into play due to violations of rules by Austin and Los Angeles, but nonetheless last year's squad was able to fight its way to New York for another shot at the championship. This year, Seattle is a guaranteed second seed and have more depth than before, but they’ll still need to earn their way throughout the postseason and these two games to close out the regular season.
“100%. I think in this competition with the travel, the weekly games, every team we play is physical and every team we play is tough. It’s not easy, so that’s very important. We’re lucky that we’ve got guys that can fill the shoes when need be and step up. We’ve got guys fighting for positions and who are competitive. There’s a competitiveness in the team that’s awesome to see because it makes us better and as I said, come the knockouts we’re gonna need that depth when it counts.”
“It’s the depth of new faces, obviously the depth that you’re seeing and that’s what’s putting us in a position that we are today. What a go, we’re basically in the same position but we just didn’t have the depth that can pull us through and that showed today with a couple of guys out. The guys are stepping up coming in, it’s basically a flip of the coin you know, from who’s starting and who’s off the bench. That’s what’s delivering the results at the moment.”
What’s next?
Seattle’s road to close out the regular season is arguably the hardest out of the entire MLR, and you could include tonight’s win over Utah in that as well. Those final three games to finish out the 2023 regular season featured a fourth place in the tight Western Conference team in Utah, and now sees Seattle take on the two best teams in Major League Rugby. Next week's opponent for the Seawolves is the Eastern Conference leading New England Free Jacks, with a kickoff time of 7:30PM PST at Starfire Stadium. Following that big battle against New England, Seattle will close out the regular season with a battle against their rival and Western Conference leaders (as well as league leaders), the San Diego Legion. That’ll be a battle down in California, but considering that Seattle has already locked up the two seed and depending on how things going prior to that match, the Seawolves may have nothing to play for.
Scenes at Starfire Stadium, pregame-midgame-postgame, as the Seawolves celebrated pride night in front of a packed crowd (Photos by Liz Wolter)