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Week 2 of the new Major League Rugby season starts a little early with a rare Thursday night match on offer in Seattle. The Seawolves welcome the Warriors in a Western Conference rivalry that dates back to the inaugural season in 2018.
It was Calvin Whiting’s conversion of an Olive Kilifi try scored with time expired that gave Utah a one-point win in their second of two meetings last season. Earlier in 2021 it was Seattle who held on for a five-point victory. On both occasions the visitor was successful.
Each team played their opening round match on Sunday, leaving only three days to recover. Despite the short turnaround both sides have retained the bulk of their starters though the bench will be heavily relied upon when legs tire in the final quarter.
In fact Allen Clarke has made just one enforced change to Seattle’s run-on side. Victor Comptat comes in at lock for Brad Tucker, who took a head knock in Sunday’s win over Toronto. Taniela Tupou is poised to make his first regular season appearance as a replacement prop, and back row Tommy Clark fills the vacancy left by Comptat’s promotion.
There is a notable addition of David Busby to the Seawolves reserve list. The Ulsterman returns to action nearly two years since his last MLR appearance after missing the entirety of the 2021 regular season with injury. Lopeti Aisea drops out of the side to make room for Busby.
The disappointment of defeat to San Diego on Sunday was softened by the late surge that saw Utah grab two bonus points at the death. Try-scorer Tuvere Vugakoto comes into the starting lineup with Angus MacLellan replacing fellow USA international Paul Mullen in the No3 shirt. Puna Vuli comes in for the absent Jamie Lane at lock.
Niall Saunders will run out at scrumhalf after making an impact as a replacement against the Legion, and Mika Kruse’s injury opens the door for James Vaifale to start on the left wing. Olive Kilifi and Thomas Tu’avao are called up to the bench to cover loosehead prop and loose forward respectively, with Collegiate Draft pick Connor Burns in line to make his professional debut.
Previous contests between these two have always been hotly contested with home field advantage evidently counting for little. Similar weather conditions to Sunday are on the forecast and the humidity will be a fatiguing factor. The Warriors have a strong group of forwards in reserve, but Seattle were the more impressive side on the weekend. The Seawolves hold the favorites tag by a slim margin.
Kickoff is set for 7:30pm local time, 8:30pm Mountain, 10:30pm Eastern. Local broadcasts will be available on Root Sports in Seattle and both KMYU and the KSL Sports website in Utah. The Rugby Network will stream worldwide.
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Dewald Donald, 2 James Malcolm, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Victor Comptat, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Ben Landry, 7 Nakai Penny, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 AJ Alatimu, 11 Martin Iosefo, 12 Tavite Lopeti, 13 Dan Kriel, 14 Ross Neal, 15 Duncan Matthews
Replacements: 16 Mike Brown, 17 Kellen Gordon, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Tommy Clark, 20 Travis Larsen, 21 Reid Watkins, 22 Kieran Joyce, 23 David Busby
UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg, 2 Tuvere Vugakoto, 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Puna Vuli, 6 Lance Williams, 7 Bailey Wilson (capt.), 8 Jurie van Vuuren, 9 Niall Saunders, 10 Cliven Loubser, 11 James Vaifale, 12 Calvin Whiting, 13 Tyler Fisher, 14 Mike Te’o, 15 Caleb Makene
Replacements: 16 Chad Gough, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Thomas Tu’avao, 20 Mike Gieselman, 21 Danny Christensen, 22 Tomasi Tonga, 23 Connor Burns
Date: Thursday, February 10
Venue: Starfire Stadium, Tukwila
Kickoff: 19:30 local (20:30 Mountain, 22:30 Eastern)
Broadcasts: KMYU, KSL Sports, Root Sports, The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-06-06 – Seattle Seawolves 28, Utah Warriors 29 (Starfire Stadium)
2021-04-10 – Utah Warriors 15, Seattle Seawolves 20 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2020-03-07 – Seattle Seawolves 31, Utah Warriors 33 (Starfire Stadium)
2019-05-26 – Seattle Seawolves 27, Utah Warriors 27 (Starfire Stadium)
2019-04-05 – Utah Warriors 36, Seattle Seawolves 48 (Zions Bank Stadium)
2018-05-21 – Seattle Seawolves 41, Utah Warriors 32 (Starfire Stadium)
