Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
In what can only be described as a remarkable turn of events the Seattle Seawolves have been forced to make a coaching change just days ahead of their season opener. Anton Moolman was announced in September as the new Head Coach of the defending Major League Rugby champions, but in a situation eerily similar to that of a year ago the South African coach has been unable to obtain a visa to enter the country requiring the Seawolves to come up with an 11th hour replacement.
On Wednesday the team confirmed the appointment of Richie Walker as new Head Coach for the 2019 MLR season. The former USA Women’s Sevens coach had stepped in on short notice just days ago to help the side and has now agreed to take the lead role. With Moolman stranded in South Africa the senior leadership group of player-coach Phil Mack, de facto forwards coach Riekert Hattingh, and team captain Shalom Suniula had been running the team in the interim, as it did last season.
The appointment of Walker will come as a major relief to Mack in particular who now has a senior figure at the team to allow him more time to concentrate on his playing duties with the World Cup in his sights. Walker was an assistant under Pete Steinberg at the 2017 Women’s World Cup and has had a long association with Atavus, the Seattle-based sport development group who partnered with the Seawolves in the off-season. He has also coached prominent San Diego men’s club sides OMBAC and Old Aztecs.
In 2018 Seattle were forced to use Mack as the player-coach for the entire campaign after Canadian coach Tony Healy was forced to return home and denied a visa. Mack took over and led the side to an improbable MLR championship, upsetting the top seeds and favored Glendale Raptors in the Final played at Torero Stadium in early July.
