Seawolves tiptoe past sleepy SaberCats, clinch Semi spot

The Seattle Seawolves maintained their spot at the top of the Major League Rugby table with an uninspired 20-7 win over the Houston SaberCats on Saturday evening. It was a largely forgettable match on the whole, littered with handling errors and bereft of tension with the combined points the lowest total of the MLR season thus far.

Ironically the tedious contest was an historic achievement for the Seawolves. Their points total of 25 guarantees them a spot in the Semi Finals as no permutation of the remaining three weeks will allow them to be caught by four teams below them. This means they are officially the first team in Major League Rugby history to qualify for a playoff spot.

Only six points were scored in the first half, 40 minutes in desperate need of the fast-forward button. Seattle’s defense was the only thing that impressed, denying Houston any momentum with the SaberCats offense seemingly asleep at the wheel. Two penalty goals from Brock Staller and a huge collision between Vili Toluta’u and Matt Trouville under a high ball were the only notable moments before the break.

Determined to inspire some reasonable rugby, the Seawolves earned an attacking lineout early after the restart. A well-rehearsed training ground move from the resulting maul saw Peter Tiberio coming in off his wing to slice through the middle for the game’s first try.

Phil Mack grabbed the second, pouncing on a loose ball to score in the corner. Staller’s conversion made it 20-0 and with almost an hour on the clock Houston were nowhere to be seen.

A no-arms tackle landed Ray Barkwill in the bin soon after and then Seattle’s discipline stumbled again, with Toluta’u dispatched moments later to reduce the team to only 13 players. Finally the ‘Seawall’ cracked and Charlie Hewitt’s long arm extended through the tackle to find a try for the home side.

Malacchi Esdale looked for all money to be into the corner after regathering a Sam Windsor high ball, but a superb last-ditch tap tackle from Shalom Suniula was just enough to knock the flying winger’s foot into touch. That would be it as Seattle held on to deny any further points through the final whistle.

With the hard yards done the only question for Seattle now is who they will face in the finals. A match against Austin Elite is up first on Friday before a rematch with the Glendale Raptors that could well determine who takes first place overall on the regular season.

Despite their poor record Houston remain mathematically capable of qualifying for the Semi Finals but will need to win each of their next two matches and get some help from other teams to do so. Achieving that is easier said than done with Glendale at Infinity Park up next on Friday evening.

SCORING

HOUSTON 7
Tries – C. Hewitt (62’)
Cons – S. Windsor 1/1 (63’)

SEATTLE 20
Tries – P. Tiberio (44’), P. Mack (52’)
Cons – B. Staller 2/2 (45’, 53’)
Pens – B. Staller 2/4 (26’, 40’)
Yellow cards – R. Barkwill (58’), V. Toluta’u (61’)

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Adam Macklin (17 Jake Turnbull 51’), 2 Lindsey Stevens (16 Diego Maquieira 51’-54’) (18 Jack Riley 75’), 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Robert Meeson (19 Charlie Hewitt 51’), 5 Matt Trouville, 6 Chris Coyle (20 Pago Haini 63’ {16 Diego Maquieira 74’}), 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Kyle Sumsion (capt.), 9 Connor Murphy (21 Chris Slater 74’), 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Josua Vici, 12 Conor Mills (22 Joey Iosefa 63’), 13 Osea Kolinisau, 14 Malacchi Esdale, 15 Zach Pangelinan

Not used: 23 Alex Elkins

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Kellen Gordon (17 Olive Kilifi HT), 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Dan Trierweiler 69’), 3 John Hayden (18 Tim Metcher 54’), 4 Taylor Krumrei (21 Andre Coquillard 79’), 5 Cam Polson (16 Dan Trierweiler 60’-69’), 6 Eric Duechle (19 Cole van Harn 74’), 7 Vili Toluta’u, 8 Aladdin Schirmer (20 Nakai Penny 69’), 9 Phil Mack (23 Sequoyah Burke-Combs 73’), 10 Will Holder, 11 Peter Tiberio, 12 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 13 William Rasileka (22 Mozac Samson 70’), 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Derek Summers (USAR)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (ARU) & Mitch Damm (USAR)