Seawolves hold on to beat Arrows into Final

The Seattle Seawolves held off a surging Toronto Arrows to claim a 30-17 victory in the second Major League Rugby Semi Final on Sunday. An engaged Starfire Stadium crowd were treated to an absorbing match that saw the Arrows claw back from a 23-0 deficit to get within one score in the final hour.

Toronto will be left to reflect on a miserable first half with only a late try to show for after falling well behind. The Arrows defense held the first Seattle offensive out, with Brock Staller instead settling for three points. A cheeky kick from Ben Cima in behind the defense followed straight after and the bounce came good for Mat Turner, with Shalom Suniula getting a touch before JP Smith finished off the try.

Mistakes were creeping into the Arrows attack with several knock-ons hampering progress. Causing further distress was a series of crunching hits from the Seattle defense. Api Naikatini and Samu Manoa each picked off Sam Malcolm, with another clattering Naikatini challenge sending Luke Campbell from the field with a shoulder injury.

Sandwiched between two more Staller penalties was a try for Jeff Hassler. Nakai Penny looped around the back of a lineout to put the Arrows on the back foot. Cima took on the line and the defense was too slow to close the inside gap as Hassler screamed through to reach paydirt untouched.

All looked lost until Toronto finally managed to get over the line just a minute before halftime. Dan Moor charged down Cima’s clearance attempt and the Seawolves were caught offside. From the lineout the Arrows went through several phases, finally working an overlap on the left side where Gastón Mieres was free. Malcolm slotted the sideline conversion to make it 23-7 at the break.

A different Toronto side came out in the second half, at least in attitude. They piled into Seattle but couldn’t quite breach the ‘Seawall’. At last a bit of fortune went their way as Mike Sheppard picked off Smith’s pass and just had enough legs to beat Riekert Hattingh to the line.

The pressure stayed on and Malcolm opted for three more points just after the hour mark. It was Staller’s chance next but his attempt drifted wide. Another penalty gave the Seawolves a kick for the corner and an attacking lineout. The drive came on and Peter Milazzo was judged to have taken the maul down intentionally, the referee awarding a yellow card and penalty try.

Despite being a man down the Arrows moved back into Seattle territory and Sheppard looked to have scored his second try from close range. A call went to the TMO, and the decision came down that the ball had not gone 5 meters from the original throw-in. With the free kick, the Seawolves cleared and time would run out on the Arrows.

It’s a familiar scene for Seattle, who won the inaugural MLR Championship Final against the Glendale Raptors at Torero Stadium a year ago. This time the venue is not neutral with the San Diego Legion awaiting the defending champions.  Appropriately it’s the top two seeds who will go head-to-head to determine the best of 2019.

 

SCORING

SEATTLE 30
Tries – J. Smith (6’), J. Hassler (26’), Penalty try (68’)
Cons – B. Staller 2/2 (7’, 27’)
Pens – B. Staller 3/5 (5’, 16’, 34’)

TORONTO 17
Tries – G. Mieres (39’), M. Sheppard (49’)
Cons – S. Malcolm 2/2 (40’, 50’)
Pens – S. Malcolm 1/1 (62’)
Yellow cards – P. Milazzo (68’)

 

TEAMS

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Kellen Gordon 51’), 2 Stephan Coetzee (16 Dan Trierweiler 71’), 3 Tim Metcher (18 Jake Ilnicki 51’), 4 Api Naikatini (19 Jérémy Lenaerts 56’), 5 Brad Tucker, 6 Samu Manoa (23 Vili Toluta’u 51’), 7 Nakai Penny (20 Eric Duechle 66’), 8 Riekert Hattingh, 9 JP Smith, 10 Ben Cima (21 Phil Mack 60’), 11 Jeff Hassler, 12 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 13 George Barton (22 Roland Suniula 60’), 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner

TORONTO ARROWS
1 Rob Brouwer (17 Pat Lynott 66’), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Steven Ng 66’), 3 Morgan Mitchell (18 Cole Keith 52’), 4 Mike Sheppard, 5 Paul Ciulini, 6 Marcello Wainwright (19 Tom van Horne 78’), 7 Peter Milazzo, 8 Luke Campbell (20 Kolby Francis 12’), 9 Andrew Ferguson (21 Jamie Mackenzie 52’), 10 Sam Malcolm, 11 Leandro Leivas (23 Kainoa Lloyd 66’), 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Spencer Jones, 14 Dan Moor (capt.), 15 Gastón Mieres (22 Patrick Parfrey 62’)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Scott Green (USAR)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (USAR) & Derek Summers (USAR)
TMO: Davey Ardrey (USAR)