Seawolves starved as ATL takes five from Seattle

Rugby ATL took five points away from their trip to Seattle as they beat their hosts 25-6 at Starfire Stadium on Sunday. The Seawolves were held try-less by a staunch Ratler defense with no points scored at all in the final hour of the match.

An early penalty from AJ Alatimu gave the home fans something to cheer about but the good feelings wouldn’t last long. ATL fired back with a flowing move that ended with a try to Bautista Ezcurra, the Argentine center bursting on to a short pass from Canadian lock Conor Keys to score under the posts.

Alatimu replied with the boot but again the visitors were a step ahead. This time it was Adriaan Carelse who broke through, with his one-handed offload sending Johan Momsen in for a second try. A third came before halftime through Marko Janse van Rensburg on the end of a driving maul.

Carelse wasn’t as sharp off the kicking tee. After missing both conversion attempts, a penalty attempt was skewed badly early in the second half. He would have another crack two minutes later and this time made good to stretch the lead to two converted tries.

The Seawolves seemed to find some spark and were parked for what seemed like an eternity in ATL territory. Ross Deacon was binned for collapsing a maul, and when he returned Robbie Petzer was similarly dispatched for an offside. Despite playing 20 minutes with a man advantage Seattle couldn’t conjure a score.

A turnover gave ATL possession and with Seattle’s energy reserves now spent there was no stopping the counter-attack. Carelse put a neat grubber in behind the line and it bounced perfectly for Ezcurra to casually place the ball in-goal. He couldn’t convert his own but the result was now beyond doubt.

The Ratlers are now two points clear at the top of East Conference and in second overall. They head home to face first overall LA Giltinis at The Snake Pit on Saturday evening. It’s a bye week for Seawolves, who will look to regroup before hosting the Utah Warriors on Sunday, June 6.

 

SCORING

SEATTLE 6
Pens – A. Alatimu 2/2 (9’, 19’)

ATL 25
Tries – B. Ezcurra 2 (14’, 75’), J. Momsen (21’), M. Janse van Rensburg (35’)
Cons – No kick (14’), A. Carelse 0/2, B. Ezcurra 0/1
Pens – A. Carelse 1/2 (44’)
Yellow cards – R. Deacon (54’), R. Petzer (66’)

 

TEAMS

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa (17 Djustice Sears-Duru HT), 2 James Malcolm (16 Mike Shepherd 16’-24’, 72’), 3 Tim Metcher (18 Jake Ilnicki 53’), 4 Rhyno Herbst, 5 Ben Landry (20 Brad Tucker 49’-55’), 6 Naulia Dawai (20 Brad Tucker 55’) (19 Conor McGill 72’), 7 Andrew Durutalo, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith (21 Devereaux Ferris 69’), 10 AJ Alatimu, 11 Ross Neal, 12 Kieran Joyce (22 George Barton HT), 13 Seta Tuilevuka (23 Aaron Matthews 53’), 14 Suliasi Tamaivena, 15 Juan Pablo Aguirre

RUGBY ATL
1 Chance Wenglewski (17 Alex Maughan 60’), 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg (16 Neethling Gericke 60’), 3 Wikus Groenewald (18 Manasa Saulo 60’), 4 Johan Momsen, 5 Conor Keys (19 Vili Helu 60’), 6 Marno Redelinghuys, 7 Matt Heaton (capt.), 8 Ross Deacon (20 Jason Damm 68’), 9 Rowan Gouws (21 Duncan van Schalkwyk HT), 10 Adriaan Carelse, 11 Austin White (23 Sean Coughlan 72’), 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 13 Mark O’Keeffe, 14 Jeremy Misailegalu (22 Robbie Petzer 60’), 15 Te Rangatira Waitokia

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Jack Gohl (Australia)
Assistants: Denny Russell (USA) & Brett Johnson (USA)