San Diego dominate Seattle to book final berth

The San Diego Legion are heading to their second Championship Final after dominating the Seattle Seawolves 32-10 at Snapdragon Stadium on Sunday. A stifling defense left the visitors frustrated while the home side punished every mistake by their guests.

Both teams threw themselves into the collisions with reckless abandon. Sama Malolo thumped his chest after a crunching hit on his opposite number in the early exchanges. Rhyno Herbst was an early casualty, replaced by Ronan Foley are limping off with what looked like a knee injury.

Ma’a Nonu began to make his presence felt, first with a line break then a grubber that put the defense on the back foot. With the Legion on advantage the former All Black landed a snap drop goal to open the scoring. He then delivered a raking 50-22 though the Seawolves would temporarily clear their lines.

On the other side of the hydration break Will Hooley slotted a penalty goal to stretch the lead. From the restart Tevita Tameilau made ground in heavy traffic and the Faka’osi Pifeleti broke into Seawolves territory. A few short phases later Tameilau again crashed into the line, offloading from the deck to Pifeleti who crashed in for a try.

Seattle finally got on the board a minute before halftime, with Jordan Chait knocking over a three-pointer. Early in the second half the Seawolves were parked inside San Diego territory but couldn’t finish the job as the Legion held out and cleared their lines.

Once San Diego regained possession they made quick work of the tiring Seattle defense. Marcel Brache slipped through a gap and found Michael Smith on his outside. The flanker cut back inside to commit two defenders but left the ball behind for Aoake to burst onto and dive into the corner. Hooley nailed the conversion from wide out to make it 20-3 in favor of the home side.

It was Brache who put the result beyond doubt just after the hour mark. The Seawolves dropped the ball on halfway and Smith hoofed it down the pitch. Brache won the race, reaching out to ground the ball just before it went dead for an automatic seven.

The Seawolves got a try from Ben Landry seconds after Nate Sylvia was binned for not rolling clear from a ruck. Chait’s conversion rang off the upright and over, but that would be as close as Seattle would get. On the ensuing restart Foley misjudged the kick and it landed straight in the hands of Aoake, who had the simplest of finishes. The final minutes ticked off the board with no further scoring.

It’s off to Chicago for the Legion, who will face off against the New England Free Jacks at SeatGeek Stadium next Saturday. The Seawolves head home after another solid campaign but one that didn’t quite go their way in the end.

 

SCORING

SAN DIEGO 32
Tries (4) – F. Pifeleti (25′), T. Aoake 2 (57′, 67′), M. Brache (62′)
Cons (3) – W. Hooley 2/3 (26′, 58′), No kick (62′)
Pens (1) – W. Hooley 1/1 (23′)
DG (1) – M. Nonu 1/1 (11′)
YC (1) – N. Sylvia (65′)

SEATTLE 10
Tries (1) – B. Landry (65′)
Cons (1) – J. Chait 1/1 (66′)
Pens (1) – J. Chait 1/1 (39′)

 

TEAMS

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Nathan Sylvia 56′), 2 Sama Malolo (16 Shilo Klein 52′), 3 Luke Green (18 Chris Baumann 68′), 4 Ben Grant (19 Chris Turori 75′), 5 Tom Franklin (20 Isaac Ross 62′), 6 Christian Poidevin (1 Faka’osi Pifeleti 72′-75′), 7 Tupou Afungia (21 Michael Smith 56′), 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Richard Judd (23 Ryan Matyas 68′), 10 Will Hooley, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Ma’a Nonu (22 Josh Henderson 72′), 13 Marcel Brache (capt.), 14 Tomas Aoake, 15 Mikey Te’o

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Mzamo Majola (17 Jake Turnbull 53′), 2 Peter Malcolm (16 James Malcolm 49′), 3 Sam Matenga (18 Mason Pedersen 56′), 4 Samu Manoa (20 Nakai Penny 53′), 5 Rhyno Herbst (19 Ronan Foley 8′), 6 Ben Landry, 7 Charles Elton, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 Jordan Chait, 11 Martin Iosefo (23 Jeremiah Sio 62′), 12 AJ Alatimu (22 Tavite Lopeti 60′), 13 Dan Kriel, 14 Lauina Futi, 15 Adriaan Carelse (21 Devereaux Ferris 72′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Cam Stone (New Zealand)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (USA) & Kahlil Harrison (USA)
TMO: Chris Assmus (Canada)