Seawolves make hard work of improved Arrows

The Toronto Arrows showed improvement from their nightmare against New England, but it wasn’t enough as the Seawolves secured a 36-27 result at York Lions Stadium on Sunday. While the target of a bonus point victory was achieved, Seattle coach Allen Clarke will not have been satisfied with the performance that was lackadaisical at times from the Western Conference contenders.

It took all of three minutes for the Seawolves to find the scoreboard. AJ Alatimu chipped over the line for Dan Kriel to regather. The two-on-one was executed to perfection with Martin Iosefo sliding in for the first try. Alatimu slotted the extras to make it a full seven.

Seattle went on the attack again but a knock-on spilled possession. Shane O’Leary opted to run from his own end, with hands down the line to Mitch Richardson. He broke a tackle and passed to Mason Flesch who ran out to halfway. Ross Braude sent up a box kick which was handled easily by Alatimu, but a turnover at the breakdown gave Shane O’Leary a chance for three points and he duly obliged to get the Arrows on the board.

Soon after Braude spotted a patch of grass and put boot to ball. Conner Mooneyham was in position but couldn’t handle the bounce, with Richardson instead snatching back possession. Braude appeared in support and aimed for the corner, with D’Shawn Bowen cutting back inside. The winger was over the line but a desperate last-gasp tackle from James Malcolm dislodged the ball. Seattle couldn’t get out of their end and O’Leary soon landed his second penalty goal from just over 40 meters.

A bit of ingenuity from Braude led to a try for the Arrows. The scrumhalf broke from the short side of a ruck and chipped ahead. Alatimu made a hash of it and the ball bounced free, with Braude there first to claim the grounding. O’Leary’s conversion made it 13-7 to the home side.

The reply was near-instant from the visitors. A penalty set up a driving maul and Malcolm was on the end to get his name on the score sheet. Alatimu was on target from wide out with the extras. O’Leary missed a penalty attempt at the other end and Seattle came looking for more, but Ben Mitchell lost possession as he attempted to bowl over Richardson while crossing the line.

A sloppy attack from the Seawolves was penalised for obstruction, giving Toronto an opportunity just ahead of halftime. They took it with both hands as Mitch Eadie broke up the middle from an unguarded ruck. Braude was there with him to take the two-on-one pass and race clear to touch down under the posts and make it 20-14 to the Arrows at the break.

The second half started similar to the first. Ben Landry made ground in heavy traffic and soon after Riekert Hattingh was free on the outside to score just two minutes in. Alatimu couldn’t convert and the Arrows held on to a slender one-point lead.

Another assault ended with Mooneyham tackled into touch by Dawson Fatoric, but Kobe Faust was shown yellow for a lifting tackle on Adriaan Carelse. No points were accrued when the fullback was in the bin but when he returned, Faust’s late hit on JP Smith gave Alatimu a chance to take three and the Seawolves were back in the lead just after the hour mark.

A scrum penalty gave Alatimu another shot but he shanked the kick from straight in front. Toronto couldn’t clear their lines, however, and Kriel found a gap on an arcing run to the outside. Hattingh was there with him to cut back inside and race in from the 22 for his double.

The result was put beyond doubt when Ronan Foley broke two tackles to score against his former team. There was enough time for the Arrows to get a consolation try on full-time. Seattle emptied the bench and when replacement lock Isaia Lotawa collapsed a lineout drive the referee brandished a yellow and went under the sticks to award the penalty try.

It’s a short turnaround for the Seawolves who return home to play the Dallas Jackals on Friday night. Toronto are back on the road to play the Gold in New Orleans on Sunday.

 

SCORING

TORONTO 27
Tries (3) – R. Braude 2 (22′, 40′), Penalty try (80’+1′)
Cons (3) – S. O’Leary 1/1 (23′), No kick 2 (40′, 80’+1′)
Pens (2) – S. O’Leary 2/3 (14′, 20′)
YC (1) – K. Faust (48′)

SEATTLE 36
Tries (5) – M. Iosefo (3′), J. Malcolm (26′), R. Hattingh 2 (42′, 68′), R. Foley (72′)
Cons (4) – A. Alatimu 4/5 (4′, 27′, 69′, 73′)
Pens (1) – A. Alatimu 1/2 (62′)
YC (1) – I. Lotawa (80’+1′)

 

TEAMS

TORONTO ARROWS
1 Lolani Faleiva, 2 Gene Syminton (16 Tyler Wong 73′), 3 Isaac Salmon (18 Tyler Rowland 62′), 4 Adrian Wadden (19 Mike Sheppard 62′ {23 James O’Neill 70′}), 5 Shay Kerry, 6 Mason Flesch, 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.) (20 Owain Ruttan 77′), 8 Mitch Eadie, 9 Ross Braude (21 Will Grant 73′), 10 Shane O’Leary, 11 Dawson Fatoric, 12 Mitch Richardson, 13 Fabian Goodall, 14 D’Shawn Bowen, 15 Kobe Faust

Not used: 17 Nik Hildebrand, 22 Cole Brown

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Jake Turnbull (17 Mzamo Majola 57′), 2 James Malcolm (16 Peter Malcolm 57′), 3 Sam Matenga (18 Mason Pedersen 52′), 4 Ben Landry, 5 Ben Mitchell (20 Ronan Foley 57′), 6 Charles Elton, 7 Nakai Penny (19 Isaia Lotawa 74′), 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith (21 Karl Keane 77′), 10 AJ Alatimu, 11 Lauina Futi, 12 Dan Kriel, 13 Martin Iosefo, 14 Conner Mooneyham (23 Cole Zarcone 73′), 15 Adriaan Carelse (22 Mat Turner 62′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luke Rogan (USA)
Assistants: Peter Pender (Canada) & Clint Lemkus (Canada)
TMO: Andrew Hosie (Canada)