Seawolves hold on to edge Warriors in Seattle

A late surge from the Utah Warriors wasn’t enough as the Seattle Seawolves held on to win a 20-17 result at Starfire Stadium on Thursday evening. It was an exciting match from start to finish that featured twists and turns throughout, and sees the resurgent Seawolves improving to 2-0 to start the new season.

The visitors came out of the gates fastest and put Seawolves back on their heels, with the Warriors scrum claiming early dominance. Seattle lost loosehead prop Dewald Donald in the 7th minute to injury, replaced by Kellen Gordon, but somehow the defense held out and a lineout steal allowed the men in blue to clear their lines.

Now with possession, the attack went to work and after multiple phases it was now Utah who were pushed to the shadow of their own posts. The pressure stayed on from the pack and captain Riekert Hattingh went low and hard under the defense to score the first try. AJ Alatimu’s conversion went over for the extra two.

Seattle looked to the well on their way for another score soon after but a Jurie van Vuuren turnover and then a Seattle knock-on gave the ball to the Warriors. A scrum penalty won field position and an offside handed Cliven Loubser a shot at the uprights, the Namibian on target to close the gap.

With halftime approaching a kick ahead looked to have put Duncan Matthews under pressure, but the Seattle fullback instead faked a kick and offloaded to Martin Iosefo cutting back across the grain. Two offloads later and the Seawolves were knocking on the door. Tavite Lopeti’s cut-out pass found Nakai Penny in space and the flanker stepped on the gas to score a sensational team try. Alatimu landed the extras from near the sideline.

Hatting was nearly in for a double with time up in the half but the defense just managed to prevent the big No8 from grounding the ball. On the other side of the intermission it was the Warriors who looked to be in after a massive kick by Cliven Loubser from inside his own 22m line won an attacking throw-in just meters out from Seattle’s line. Tuvere Vugakoto went over the line but the Seawolves held him up.

Seattle’s scrum continued to creak and it turned into a major problem when first Kellen Gordon was yellow carded for repeat collapses, and then Taniela Tupou was forced to leave the field with injury. It meant the scrum had to be uncontested for a short period and left the Seawolves temporarily down to only 13 men.

Despite being short-handed they won a penalty which Alatimu kicked for three points, but the Warriors came roaring back. Franco van den Berg broke clean through the line and soon after Bailey Wilson barged over from close range to make it a one-score game.

Alatimu knocked over a second penalty to restore the double-digit gap, but still the Warriors kept coming. This time is was a bit of individual magic from Chad Gough, the hooker loitering with intent on the wing and dancing his way through three would-be tacklers to score in the corner. Loubser’s kick was spot on to set up a grandstand finish.

Utah’s attack began in their own end and they managed to push their way just beyond half way. It was slow going, however, with the Seawolves defense meeting them at the gainline and eventually the ball was spilled in contact, turning over possession. Seattle won the scrum and JP Smith kicked the ball into touch to end the game.

Both sides will now enjoy a rest after playing two games in five days before preparing for next weekend’s action. Utah returns on Saturday with a road game against the Austin Gilgronis. Seattle will play their first road match of the season in San Diego on Sunday.

 

SCORING

SEATTLE 20
Tries – R. Hattingh (14′), N. Penny (35′)
Cons – A. Alatimu 2/2 (15′, 36′)
Pens – A. Alatimu 2/2 (67′, 74′)
YC – K. Gordon (59′)

UTAH 17
Tries – B. Wilson (69′), C Gough (77′)
Cons – C. Loubser 2/2 (70′, 78′)
Pens – C. Loubser 1/1 (27′)

 

TEAMS

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Dewald Donald (17 Kellen Gordon 7′), 2 James Malcolm, 3 Tim Metcher (18 Taniela Tupou 49′ {16 Mike Brown 62′-69′} {3 Tim Metcher 69′}), 4 Victor Comptat* (19 Tommy Clark 75′), 5 Rhyno Herbst, 6 Ben Landry, 7 Nakai Penny (3 Tim Metcher 59′-69′) (20 Travis Larsen 69′), 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 AJ Alatimu, 11 Martin Iosefo (23 David Busby 16′-23′), 12 Tavite Lopeti (22 Kieran Joyce 78′), 13 Dan Kriel (23 David Busby 54′), 14 Ross Neal, 15 Duncan Matthews

Not used: 21 Reid Watkins

*4 Victor Comptat had to leave the field from 64′ to 69′ due to uncontested scrums being called

UTAH WARRIORS
1 Franco van den Berg (17 Olive Kilifi 47′-66′), 2 Tuvere Vugakoto (16 Chad Gough 62′), 3 Angus MacLellan (18 Paul Mullen 47′), 4 Saia Uhila, 5 Puna Vuli, 6 Lance Williams (19 Thomas Tu’avao 70′), 7 Bailey Wilson (capt.) (20 Mike Gieselman 70′), 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

Not used: 21 Danny Christensen, 22 Tomasi Tonga, 23 Connor Burns

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)
Assistants: Chris Assmus (Canada) & Denny Russell (USA)
TMO: Shanda Assmus (Canada)