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It’s only Week 2 of the inaugural Major League Rugby season and fans are already being treated to heavyweight title belt. After their scrum drove the Legion back to San Diego with their tails between their legs, the Seattle Seawolves will face a step up in competition on Saturday evening when the Glendale Raptors arrive at Starfire Stadium.
After the impressive opener there are minimal changes with injuries instigating three alterations for the Seawolves. Kellen Gordon, Riekert Hattingh, and Jeremy Misailegalu are ruled out but the gaps have been filled with highly qualified replacements.
Olive Kilifi carried on where Gordon left off against the San Diego scrum. He’ll start at loosehead prop with the rest of the impressive tight five intact. Hattingh’s head knock means that Vili Toluta’u continues on the flank, with Aladdin Schirmer starting at No8. The only change in the backs sees ‘The Missile’ miss out so it’s Saracens speed merchant Dion Crowder who gets the call on the left wing.
On the bench there are three newcomers. John Hayden will cover loosehead this week with LaRome White covering the right side of the front row. New signing Andre Coquillard joins Eric Duechle as back row backup and 20-year-old Canadian international George Barton could make his MLR debut if called upon.
Glendale somehow conspired to end their game against Austin with only 12 players on the pitch. That lack of discipline has cost them two standout players in Eagles lock Ben Landry and dynamic flanker Connor Cook, both suspended three weeks for dangerous tackles.
With some preferred alternatives unavailable it’ll be an unusual situation with Luke White moving from prop to lock and Blake Rogers slotting into the loosehead position. Peter Dahl moves to the blindside with Australia Sevens rep Sam Figg the square peg at No8. Former OSU flanker Kody O’Neil is drafted to the bench along with James Del Bozque who provides front row cover.
Only one change is found in the backs. Chad London is back to full fitness and resumes his partnership with fellow Eagle Bryce Campbell in the midfield. Promising teenager Mika Kruse is named as a reserve this week.
A preseason poll would likely have resulted in Glendale being overwhelming favorites. Their slightly lukewarm performance last week, the loss of two key players, and Seattle’s convincing effort against the Legion have turned the tides dramatically.
Also shifting the scales towards the home side are more than 3,000 partisan fans who have already bought tickets to another sold-out game. A light drizzle is par for the course in the North West and won’t be enough to keep any locked indoors. It also suggests that scrums will be plentiful, an area that Seattle have shown themselves to be quite adept.
This is a close call, the most difficult match thus far to assign a handicap. If this were at Infinity Park the nod would likely go to Glendale, but at Starfire Stadium the same benefit must go to the home side. Take Seattle by a nose in a coin-toss decision.
Kickoff is set for 7:30pm local time, 8:30pm Mountain, 10:30pm Eastern. Fans in North America will be limited to watching on the CBS Sports Network. All other international viewers can access a live stream on the MLR Facebook page.
EDIT: A late change for Glendale sees Devin Vaughter replacing John Quill.
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Olive Kilifi, 2 Ray Barkwill, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Jérémy Lenaerts, 5 Taylor Krumrei, 6 Cam Polson, 7 Vili Toluta’u, 8 Aladdin Schirmer, 9 Phil Mack, 10 Will Holder, 11 Dion Crowder, 12 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 13 William Rasileka, 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner
Replacements: 16 Mike Shepherd, 17 John Hayden, 18 LaRome White, 19 Eric Duechle, 20 Andre Coquillard, 21 Dion Crowder, 22 Mike Garrity, 23 George Barton
GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Blake Rogers, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Kelepi Fifita, 4 Casey Rock, 5 Luke White, 6 Devin Vaughter, 7 Peter Dahl, 8 Sam Figg, 9 Shaun Davies (capt.), 10 Will Magie, 11 Seth Halliman, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Chad London, 14 Harley Davidson, 15 Maximo de Achaval
Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Nick Kwasniewski, 18 James Del Bozque, 19 Kody O’Neil, 20 Brian Wanless, 21 Jake Christmann, 22 Mika Kruse, 23 Ata Malifa
Date: Saturday, April 28
Venue: Starfire Stadium, Seattle
Kickoff: 19:30 local (20:30 Mountain, 22:30 Eastern)
Referee: Scott Green (USAR)
Assistants: John Houston (USAR) & Lee Bryant (USAR)
Broadcasts: CBS Sports Network, Facebook
