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The first half of the Major League Rugby regular season will officially come to a close when the Seattle Seawolves host the Utah Warriors at Starfire Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Seattle are coming off a hard-fought win over the NOLA Gold last weekend while Utah dominated Austin to grab their first win.
Returning for the Seawolves after three weeks out with concussion is captain Riekert Hattingh. He takes his preferred spot at No8 with Aladdin Schirmer switching to the flank. Seattle Saracens hooker Dan Trierweiler is called up to start in the absence of regulars Ray Barkwill and Mike Shepherd.
Shalom Suniula is missing from the back division but is replaced by powerful Canadian center George Barton. His country-mate Brock Staller is named on the right wing with Peter Tiberio on the left and Mat Turner shifted to fullback. Sequoyah Burke-Combs is set to make his MLR debut as a replacement.
The Warriors have made three changes to their run-on side. Saia Uhila steps in for Kory Olsen in the second row and Fetu’u Vainikolo is recalled at outside center. Don Pati is back from suspension to start at fullback in place of the injured Jared Whippy.
There are four MLR debutantes named on the bench. Tino Mafi and Maka Tameilau join from Life West to provide cover at hooker and loosehead prop respectively while rugby league international Les Soloai can play lock or loose forward. Fijian fullback Kisa Kalougata gets his first shot at a regular season appearance having played against the Ontario Arrows in preseason action.
Utah got rid of the zero in their win column with an impressive performance last weekend but now have to take their show on the road. Seattle meanwhile struggled in the humidity in New Orleans and will be thrilled to be at their new fortress in front of a sellout crowd.
With big bodies in Barton and William Rasileka in the midfield they are unlikely to be intimidated by the heavyweight Warriors runners. Look for Seattle’s scrum to have the upper hand and the return of Hattingh to provide a further boost to the home team.
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Olive Kilifi, 2 Dan Trierweiler, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Taylor Krumrei, 5 Cam Polson, 6 Aladdin Schirmer, 7 Vili Toluta’u, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 Phil Mack, 10 Peter Smith, 11 Peter Tiberio, 12 George Barton, 13 William Rasileka, 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner
Replacements: 16 LaRome White, 17 Kellen Gordon, 18 John Hayden, 19 Eric Duechle, 20 Cole van Harn, 21 Will Holder, 22 Jeremy Misailegalu, 23 Sequoyah Burke-Combs
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Alex Tucci, 2 Lote Tu’ipulotu, 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Matt Jensen, 5 Saia Uhila, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Ara Elkington, 8 David Tameilau, 9 Joseph Nicholls, 10 Kurt Morath, 11 Tonata Lauti, 12 Paul Lasike (capt.), 13 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 14 Josh Anderson, 15 Don Pati
Replacements: 16 Tino Mafi, 17 Maka Tameilau, 18 Les Soloai, 19 Maika Hafoka, 20 John Cullen, 21 Kisa Kalougata, 22 Paki Afu, 23 Ben Nicholls
Date: Sunday, May 20
Venue: Starfire Stadium, Seattle
Kickoff: 17:30 local (20:30 Eastern)
Referee: Luke Rogan (ARU)
Assistants: Chris Assmus (RC) & Denny Russell (USAR)
Broadcasts: AT&T SportsNet, Root Sports, ESPN+, Facebook
