Seawolves storm past Legion into Western Conference Final

The Seattle Seawolves stormed past the San Diego Legion by a final score of 43-19 on Sunday evening. A packed house at Starfire Stadium were treated to an entertaining match that saw the home side dominate the set piece, while AJ Alatimu kicked 21 points to lead the way into next Saturday’s Western Conference Final against the SaberCats in Houston.

Barely a minute into the game Nate Augspurger charged down an Alatimu clearance attempt. San Diego won a scrum, and after Ma’a Nonu and Ben Mitchell took on the line Augspurger snuck between two forwards to grab the opening try. Joe Pietersen had no trouble adding the extras.

Seattle fired back with three scores in rapid succession. Duncan Matthews broke through to set up an Alatimu penalty. Discipline then cost the Legion dearly as the Seawolves won a lineout 10 meters out from San Diego’s line. The driving maul went over with Sam Matenga at the back. Alatimu nailed the sideline conversion, and then slotted a long-range effort from a bad angle on the left side.

More misery came for the visitors when Rhyno Herbst stole a throw-in. The Seawolves won a penalty and kicked to the corner. When the drive stalled the ball came to Alatimu, who fired a huge miss-out pass to Matthews in space and the fullback won the race to the corner. Another perfect kick from Alatimu made it 20 unanswered points for the home side.

The Legion finally responded with a break from their own end. Nonu tore away and passed back inside to Bjorn Basson, who in turn found Michael Smith. The Canadian international was stopped just short but Tevita Tameilau powered over on an angled run with Pietersen’s conversion closing the gap to six.

Alatimu landed his third penalty not long into the second half. Riekert Hattingh was then binned for a high shot on Tiaan Loots, but San Diego’s sputtering lineout gave away possession again. The shorthanded Seawolves pack produced a huge driving maul and another three points from Alatimu soon followed.

The decisive score came after Matthews took to the air to catch his own up-and-under. A gap soon opened up the middle and Alatimu nearly made it through himself. The forwards did the rest, with Travis Larsen spinning around the outside of the ruck to ground the ball under the posts.

Five minutes later the Seawolves crossed a fourth time. Matthews attacked the short side from a scrum and drew in Basson to free Ross Neal on the outside. Neal swerved around the the cover and slid over for the try. Alatimu added the conversion, and tacked on his fifth penalty goal as Chris Robshaw was helped from the field with a shoulder injury.

San Diego would at least get the final say before bowing out. Dan Pryor broke from a ruck and fired a back-handed pass to Jason Higgins for the finish. Josh Henderson’s drop-goal conversion missed the target and the clock would tick down on the Legion’s season, this time for good.

 

SCORING

SEATTLE 43
Tries – S. Matenga (11′), D. Matthews (19′), T. Larsen (62′), R. Neal (67′)
Cons – A. Alatimu 3/3 (12′, 20′, 68′), No kick (62′)
Pens – A. Alatimu 5/5 (7′, 14′, 46′, 56′, 74′)
YC – R. Hattingh (50′)

SAN DIEGO 19
Tries – N. Augspurger (2′), T. Tameilau (28′), J. Higgins (77′)
Cons – J. Pietersen 2/2 (3′, 29′), J. Henderson 0/1

 

TEAMS

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Mzamo Majola (17 Kellen Gordon 50′), 2 James Malcolm (16 Mike Brown 77′), 3 Sam Matenga (18 Taniela Tupou 68′), 4 Samu Manoa (20 Tommy Clark 77′), 5 Rhyno Herbst (19 Brad Tucker 70′), 6 Andrew Durutalo, 7 Travis Larsen, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith (21 Reid Watkins 74′), 10 AJ Alatimu, 11 Martin Iosefo, 12 David Busby (22 Lopeti Aisea 74′), 13 Dan Kriel (23 Lauina Futi 68′), 14 Ross Neal, 15 Duncan Matthews

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia (17 Pat Lynott 68′), 2 James Hilterbrand (16 Peter Malcolm 59′), 3 Hencus van Wyk (18 Chris Baumann 63′), 4 Ben Mitchell (19 Jale Railala 63′), 5 Ben Grant, 6 Dan Pryor, 7 Michael Smith, 8 Tevita Tameilau (20 Chris Robshaw 66′ {21 Josh Thiel 72′}), 9 Nate Augspurger (22 Jason Higgins 60′), 10 Josh Henderson, 11 Tomas Aoake, 12 Ma’a Nonu (capt.), 13 Tiaan Loots (23 Ryan Matyas 56′), 14 Bjorn Basson, 15 Joe Pietersen

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (USA) & Lex Weiner (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)