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The San Diego Legion held on to defeat the Seattle Seawolves 17-13 in the driving rain at Torero Stadium on Saturday. A late surge by the defending champions nearly saw them make up a 14-point deficit but the home side had just enough resolution to see the win through.
For the second round in the a row every match of the Major League Rugby weekend was decided by a single-digit margin. Points were particularly hard to come by in San Diego as the rain pounded into the ground from start to finish and wind made tactical kicking close to a lottery.
The Legion suffered an early blow as their captain Joe Pietersen was forced off just shy of the 20-minute mark after taking a head knock. He would be fit enough to conduct a half-time interview but did not return to the match with the versatile Tai Enosa called in to finish the game at flyhalf.
Paddy Ryan took over the captaincy and the former Wallabies prop was a standout in the San Diego pack. After driving Seattle deep into their own territory, the pressure saw Phil Mack commit a professional foul and the scrumhalf was sent to the bin. The Legion called for the scrum and in an ironic twist of fate it was the Seawolves scrum that cracked under the weight of Ryan & Co., leaving the referee no option but to award the penalty try.
Brock Staller landed a penalty goal but the first half would belong in virtually its entirety to the Legion. A quick throw-in to Ryan caught the Seattle forwards unawares and he fired the return pass to Mike Te’o, the Eagles winger scorching down the pitch to score a try in his first game since April of last year.
With Pietersen off the kicking duties were handed to Nick Boyer, and the scrumhalf chipped over the conversion and the first points after the break. The penalty goal made the score 17-3 and Seattle were on the brink of conceding.
After the clock rolled past the hour mark a switch play in the midfield between George Barton and William Rasileka saw the powerful Fijian punch through four defenders to touch down under the sticks. Staller added the extras to bring the team to within a converted try.
A second Staller penalty closed the gap to four when Seattle were struck by injury. Star flanker Vili Toluta’u was carted off the field with his leg in an air cast though a post-game update suggested it may not be as serious as it looked. When play resumed the Seawolves made some headway but it was only in vain as the clock ran out before more points would come.
Both teams will be in action again next weekend. San Diego will stay at home where they will play the Houston SaberCats on Saturday. Seattle have a long road trip ahead as they travel to New Orleans to play the Gold on Sunday.
SCORING
SAN DIEGO 17
Tries – Penalty try (27’), M. Te’o (37’)
Cons – N. Boyer 1/1 (38’)
Pens – N. Boyer 1/2 (50’)
SEATTLE 13
Tries – W. Rasileka (66’)
Cons – B. Staller 1/1 (67’)
Pens – B. Staller 2/2 (35’, 70’)
Yellow cards – P. Mack (25’)
TEAMS
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Nathan Sylvia (17 Faka’osi Pifeleti 51’), 2 Dean Muir (16 Kapeli Pifeleti 60’), 3 Paddy Ryan, 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Chris Turori, 7 Devin Short, 8 Drew Gaffney, 9 Nick Boyer, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.) (21 Tai Enosa 18’), 11 Marcus Tupuola (22 Nate Augspurger 60’), 12 JP du Plessis, 13 Jasa Veremalua, 14 Mike Te’o, 15 Kyle Rogers
Not used: 18 Aaron Mitchell, 19 Sione Tu’ihalamaka, 20 Alec Barton, 23 Save Totovosau
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Olive Kilifi (17 Kellen Gordon 53’), 2 Stephan Coetzee, 3 Tim Metcher (18 John Hayden 53’), 4 Taylor Krumrei (21 Cole van Harn 51’), 5 Api Naikatini (20 Eric Duechle 57’), 6 Brad Tucker (19 Jérémy Lenaerts 68’), 7 Vili Toluta’u (16 Mike Shepherd 72’), 8 Riekert Hattingh, 9 Phil Mack (22 JP Smith 57’), 10 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 11 Peter Tiberio, 12 George Barton, 13 William Rasileka, 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner (23 Scott Dean 68’)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Scott Green (USAR)
Assistants: Paul-Henri Courbier (USAR) & Austin Reed (USAR)
