Seawolves stun Raptors to win inaugural MLR title

Recap

The Seattle Seawolves overturned the apple cart with a stunning 23-19 win over the Glendale Raptors at Torero Stadium on Saturday evening. In doing so they have earned the title of champions in the inaugural Major League Rugby season. It’s a remarkable result given that the Raptors had won both regular season matches, the most recent in convincing fashion less than a month ago.

First strike went Peter Smith who, much like his team, had a roller-coaster evening. His penalty sailed true but he would later miss three kicks at goal – his first misses of the season after entering the game a perfect 15-from-15 from the tee.

Glendale replied as they have all season. After moving into scoring position they executed their driving maul to perfection, and appropriately it was Zach Fenoglio who got the touchdown. Will Magie’s extras made it a a full seven and secured a temporary lead for the Raptors.

It lasted all of 10 minutes. Seattle took a page from the Raptors playbook and fashioned their own lineout drive. Ray Barkwill was positioned as his opposite was earlier but instead of staying on the pile he broke to the right and did just enough to squirm out of John Quill’s tackle and touch the ball down for a try.

Mat Turner appeared to have finished off a cracking team try soon after but on referral to the TMO an obstruction was spotted and the score was waved off. At the other end it was Harley Davidson who crossed. This time no TMO was required and the officials ruled a knock-on. The one-point lead held until the break and already the tension was beginning to mount.

The second half did not start according to plan for Seattle. Once again the Fenoglio was driven over the line in a maul. It restored the lead for Glendale and put the Seawolves on high alert.

A wild and bizarre exchange followed. From a turnover Shaun Davies kicked ahead into space. Max de Achaval was first there but missed his fly-hack attempt completely, and when the ball bounced loose Vili Toluta’u awkwardly attempted his own soccer kick instead of diving on the pill. Magie regathered and connected with Mika Kruse who put Bryce Campbell in under the posts. If the alarm bells were ringing before they were deafening now.

Down by 11 points Seattle needed to score next and the did it in sensational fashion. From the restart they regained possession and William Rasileka powered into the corner to lift the spirits.

A moment of genius came next as Riekert Hattingh attacked the line, threw a miss-pass to Peter Tiberio, and then took the inch-perfect return from his winger to race 40 meters and dive into the corner. Smith re-calibrated his radar and nailed the conversion from wide out, adding a penalty shortly after to set up a grandstand finish.

Try as they might, the Raptors simply could not find their way back to through the ‘Seawall.’ As time ticked down their error count rose, culminating in a botched attacking lineout with just a minute left on the clock. Seattle took the gift and ground out the clock to seal the famous victory.

SCORING

GLENDALE 19
Tries – Z. Fenoglio 2 (13’, 50’), B. Campbell (56’)
Cons – W. Magie 2/3 (14’, 57’)

SEATTLE 23
Tries – R. Barkwill (23’), W. Rasileka (58’), R. Hattingh (61’)
Cons – P. Smith 1/3 (62’)
Pens – P. Smith 2/3 (9’, 67’)

TEAMS

GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Blake Rogers (16 Luke White 68’), 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Kelepi Fifita, 4 Kody O’Neil (19 Connor Cook 62’), 5 Ben Landry (20 Grigor Kerdikoshvili 57’), 6 Peter Dahl (18 Dylan Fawsitt 57’), 7 John Quill, 8 Sam Figg, 9 Shaun Davies (capt.), 10 Will Magie, 11 Mika Kruse, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Chad London (22 Ata Malifa 46’), 14 Harley Davidson, 15 Maximo de Achaval

Not used: 17 Nick Kwasniewski, 21 Mickey Bateman, 23 Nick Johnson

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Olive Kilifi (18 Kellen Gordon 57’), 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Mike Shepherd 62’), 3 Tim Metcher (17 John Hayden 59’), 4 Taylor Krumrei (20 Aladdin Schirmer 57’), 5 Cam Polson, 6 Eric Duechle, 7 Vili Toluta’u (19 Cole van Harn 76’), 8 Riekert Hattingh, 9 Phil Mack, 10 Peter Smith, 11 Peter Tiberio, 12 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 13 William Rasileka, 14 Sequoyah Burke-Combs, 15 Mat Turner

Not used: 21 Andre Coquillard, 22 Jeremy Misailegalu, 23 Mozac Samson