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Austin Elite played arguably their best rugby of the season in the first half but couldn’t keep the pace for 80 minutes as the Seattle Seawolves took a 29-17 victory at Dell Diamond on Saturday evening. The four-tries-to-two victory gives the defending champions five vital points, at the same time leaving Austin winless through seven games.
A mistake from the Seawolves cost them points almost immediately. JP Aguirre plugged the corner with a grubber kick. It was Seattle’s throw-in but the ball bounced straight from Riekert Hattingh’s fingertips to Tiaan Erasmus peeling around the end for the simplest of tries.
Aguirre’s dream start continued some minutes later when he sliced through a gap and nearly scored himself, instead handing the ball off to Soheyl Jaoudat for the finish as JP Smith fastened on to Aguirre’s leg. Seattle looked stunned as Mickaël Romera landed his second conversion to make it 14-nil.
The Seawolves looked to have scored when a long pass from Tim Metcher found Sequoyah Burke-Combs and the winger put his head down and crashed into the corner. Neither of the officials could confirm the grounding, however, and instead a 5 meter scrum was awarded. Hattingh tore off the back and straight to the line leaving no doubts this time.
Erasmus got himself in trouble for a tip-tackle that landed him in the bin. Seattle’s inaccuracy cost them again, however, and first they conceded a scrum and then a penalty, giving an easy three points to Romera to stretch the lead to 10 points.
Seattle made amends soon after. George Barton bumped off Ben Mitchell and set Eric Duechle away but he was felled with a high shot from Peni Tagive. From the ensuing lineout drive, Dan Trierweiler snuck straight through the middle and dove in for the score. Brock Staller added the extras, his penalty goal drawing the scores level on the stroke of halftime.
The pendulum swung narrowly for a good 20 minutes until Seattle broke the deadlock. Austin’s discipline started to slip and when the lineout drive stalled, Stephan Coetzee went to a poorly guarded blindside and popped to Brad Tucker for a try.
With Austin’s energy tanks visibly draining Moe Abdelmonem killed the ball with Seattle in scoring position and earned a yellow card for his efforts. The Seawolves took the scrum and the Elite’s only escape was when Hattingh broke off and scored from a meter out to secure the bonus point.
Seattle enjoy a bye week before hosting the San Diego Legion on March 31. Austin say goodbye to Dell Diamond with their next match on the road against the NOLA Gold next Saturday.
SCORING
AUSTIN 17
Tries – T. Erasmus (3’), S. Jaoudat (12’)
Cons – M. Romera 2/2 (4’, 13’)
Pens – M. Romera 1/1 (27’)
Yellow cards – T. Erasmus (26’), M. Abdelmonem (72’)
SEATTLE 29
Tries – R. Hattingh 2 (20’, 75’), D. Trierweiler (34’), B. Tucker (65’)
Cons – B. Staller 3/4 (21’, 35’, 76’)
Pens – B. Staller 1/1 (40’)
TEAMS
AUSTIN ELITE
1 Chris Schade (17 LaRome White 47’), 2 Tiaan Erasmus (18 Brendan Rams 68’), 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Rikus Zwart (18 Brendan Rams 27’-36’) (20 Kyle Breytenbach 57’), 7 Moe Abdelmonem, 8 Travis Larsen, 9 Mickaël Romera, 10 Rodrigo Silva, 11 Peni Tagive (22 Reece Czarnecki 64’), 12 JP Aguirre, 13 Sione Fangaiuiha, 14 Alex Faison-Donahoe (23 Aidan McMullan 58’), 15 Soheyl Jaoudat
Not used: 16 Dom Bailey, 19 Dylan Pieterse, 21 Marcelo Torrealba
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Kellen Gordon (17 Olive Kilifi 47’), 2 Dan Trierweiler (16 Stephan Coetzee HT), 3 Tim Metcher (18 John Hayden 47’), 4 Taylor Krumrei (19 Jérémy Lenaerts 57’), 5 Brad Tucker, 6 Eric Duechle, 7 Aladdin Schirmer (20 Nakai Penny 65’), 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith (21 Phil Mack 47’), 10 Ben Cima, 11 Sequoyah Burke-Combs, 12 George Barton (22 Roland Suniula 47’), 13 William Rasileka, 14 Brock Staller, 15 Peter Tiberio
Not used: 23 Dion Crowder
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Luke Rogan (USAR)
Assistants: Scott Green (USAR) & Butch Neuenschwander (USAR)
Attendance: 604
