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The defending Major League Rugby champion Seattle Seawolves will open their preseason campaign against the Vancouver Island Crimson Tide on Saturday afternoon. Rugby Canada’s high performance home of Westhills Stadium in Langford will be the venue, perhaps appropriate given the presence of five Canadians on the Seawolves roster.
It’s an historic match in some ways for the Seattle. Not only is it the first match for with new coach Anton Moolman in charge, it’s also the first ever exhibition match played by the club open to the public. The only warm-up played prior to the 2018 season was a closed scrimmage against the Prairie Wolf Pack.
Taking the field on Saturday will be 14 of the match day 23 that suited up against the Glendale Raptors in the inaugural MLR Final. All eight starting forwards were dressed that day, with George Barton and Brock Staller the only exceptions in the starting backline.
There are two interesting notes in the Seattle roster. The first is the back row trio, where Aladdin Schirmer is named in the No6 shirt, Eric Duechle at No7, and Vili Toluta’u at No8. The latter broke through as the league’s outstanding openside flanker during the season while Duechle established himself as first choice blindside. This may be an indication that Moolman will use the traditional South African convention of having the blindside flanker wearing No7 rather than than No6.
EDIT: We are now told that this was, in fact, an error, and the correct back row configuration is 6 Duechle, 7 Toluta’u, and 8 Schirmer.
Shalom Suniula partners Phil Mack in the halfbacks. Suniula played almost exclusively at inside center while captaining the side in 2018. It’s Barton, the 21-year-old Canadian, who lines up at No12 in a very imposing midfield combination with William Rasileka.
New signings Brad Tucker, Roland Suniula, and Ben Cima are set to make their first appearances on the bench. There are also five Seattle Saracens called up to get a look. Loose forwards Eric Soto and Matt Brennan are joined by scrumhalf Jope Motokana, flyhalf Scott Dean, and outside back Moses Lalasava.
Curiously there is only one front row forward on the bench – hooker Dan Trierweiler – though starting No2 Mike Shepherd has played prop before and Toluta’u has limited experience at hooker. Oli Kilifi, Tim Metcher, new signing Stephan Coetzee, and yet-to-be-unveiled DJ Sears-Duru are notable absentees.
The Crimson Tide counter with a decent forward pack largely composed of BC Bears representatives. Nova Scotian flanker Kelton Dawe is an exception with age-grade rep Foster DeWitt yet to make his senior BC debut. Luke Campbell captains the side, the only capped international in the team.
Cam Hall starts at flyhalf having played fullback for the Wolf Pack in the Canadian Rugby Championship. The versatile Brandon Schellenberger, a scrumhalf with the Canada u20 side, will start in the midfield. Tom Burton is another talented youngster from James Bay who was part of the traveling team that played the Houston SaberCats in the spring.
Canada’s World Rugby u20 Trophy captain James O’Neill settles for a spot on the bench. A standout with the Wolf Pack in the senior CRC, O’Neill is rated by many as the top openside prospect in Canadian rugby. Isaac Gonevou can play across the backline and returns from a stint in Australia after playing for Canada u18 in 2017.
Kickoff is set for 4pm local time, 7pm Eastern. A live stream will be available on Facebook.
CRIMSON TIDE
1 John Braddock, 2 Foster DeWitt, 3 Blake van Heyningen, 4 Mike Finnemore, 5 Shea Wakefield, 6 Nathan Stewart, 7 Kelton Dawe, 8 Luke Campbell (capt.), 9 Sam Fowler, 10 Cam Hall, 11 Crosby Stewart, 12 Brandon Schellenberger, 13 Jared Stephens, 14 Nathan Tough, 15 Tom Burton
Replacements: 16 Andrew McPherson, 17 Antonio Corbin, 18 Clayton Thornber, 19 Haydn Evans, 20 James O’Neill, 21 Matt Weir, 22 Zephyr Melnyk, 23 Owen Wood, 24 Nabeel Imtiaz, 25 Isaac Gonevou, 26 Baluci Kegode, 27 Jordan Tait, 28 Mitch Sora, 29 Shane Dagg
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Kellen Gordon, 2 Mike Shepherd, 3 John Hayden, 4 Taylor Krumrei, 5 Jérémy Lenaerts, 6 Eric Duechle, 7 Vili Toluta’u, 8 Aladdin Schirmer, 9 Phil Mack, 10 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 11 Peter Tiberio, 12 George Barton, 13 William Rasileka, 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner
Replacements: 16 Dan Trierweiler, 17 Cam Polson, 18 Brad Tucker, 19 Nakai Penny, 20 Cole van Harn, 21 Scott Dean, 22 Roland Suniula, 23 Ben Cima, 24 Moses Lalasava, 25 Eric Soto, 26 Jope Motokana, 27 Matt Brennan
Date: Saturday, Dec 22
Venue: Westhills Stadium, Langford
Kickoff: 16:00 local (19:00 Eastern)
Referee: Chris Assmus (RC)
Assistants: Kevin Smith (RC) & Latoya Blackwood (RC)
Broadcasts: Facebook
