Mika Kruse, Brock Gallagher Return in Crucial Rivalry Game Rematch for Seawolves

The Seattle Seawolves and San Diego Legion battle it out in San Diego on February 16, 2025. Seattle lost that game 40-26 but is looking to reverse the score at home today. Credit: John Matthew Harrison/San Diego Legion.

The last time the San Diego Legion played the Seattle Seawolves, it was the first game of 2025. The year’s rollercoaster started on an up note for the Legion and a down one for the Seawolves – San Diego ran up a 28-0 beatdown in the first half and rode it out to a 40-26 victory in front of the Legion faithful in Torero Stadium.

It was the first of two matches this year in a storied rivalry that stretches back to the first ever MLR final on June 30, 2018 – when Seattle scored four straight second half tries to claim the inaugural MLR title 38-24. 

The two teams have played eighteen matches over the past eight years and the results have split 50/50 – nine victories for Seattle, nine for San Diego. 

But when the chips are down, the Seawolves have often had the edge. The 2019 Final was a rematch of the previous year, and while the Legion had won both regular season contests and were up 20-14 after 70 minutes, Seattle landed two tries – one in the 72nd by legendary eightman Riekert Hattingh, the other in the 80th minute by hooker Dan Trierweiler, who had subbed on just five minutes before – and edged out a 26-23 repeat championship.

The next time the two sides met in the playoffs, it was the 2022 Western Conference Eliminator. Neither team was originally slated to make it to the postseason, but the disqualification of both of Adam Gilchrist’s sides (LA Giltinis and Austin Gilgronis) for salary cap violations sent the two rivals to the first round. Seattle had won both regular season contests and continued their dominance in the Eliminator, tearing the Legion apart 43-19 in Starfire on the back of a 21-point showing from flyhalf AJ Alatimu. 

2023 was a different story. Alatimu had left the team and Jordan Chait was the new number 10. The first matchup between the teams was an April game in Starfire, where Chait scored 13 points in the first 60 minutes and brought the team to a 20-11 lead – but two late tries from Legion wing Nate Augspurger flipped the score and gave San Diego a 23-20 win. The Legion crushed Seattle in the last game of the regular season by a 40-19 tally and the sides met two weeks later in the Western Conference Final. San Diego finally won in the postseason versus the Seawolves, with a 32-10 win sending the Legion to face New England in the final.

After splitting the two regular season matches in 2024 (each side winning at home), the rivals had a playoff rematch for the third straight year, this time in the Western Conference Semifinal. It was a close match, but Seattle pulled away in the late minutes and weathered a post-80 try by San Diego to win 30-28. 

In 2025, both rivals have seen ups and downs. Early in the season, San Diego looked unstoppable. None of their first five games was within seven points as the Legion took down Seattle, Anthem, Old Glory, RFCLA, and Miami by a combined score of 185-81. 

But then the Legion went on a four game losing streak, dropping matches to the SaberCats, Hounds, Free Jacks, and Warriors. The team looked significantly less invincible against those four top sides and stirring questions of whether the team was falling apart just as quickly as it had risen.

San Diego broke their skid with a nail-biting win over RFCLA on April 26 and have since then treaded water – losing to Utah, winning against the NOLA Gold, and losing to Houston. 

Now the Legion are at 7-6-0 with 39 points in the table, third in the West – six points above fifth-place Seattle.

Although the visitors will see some rotation in their lineup, much of that is in the backfield. The starting loosehead will be Payton Telea-Ilalio, a 5-11, 245-pound American in his second year with San Diego. The tighthead will be 6-2, 250-pound Australian Darcy Breen. The hooker will be 5-11, 238-pound capped Eagle Shilo Klein, who has so far scored nine tries (tied for second in MLR) in thirteen appearances. All three front row men have over 100 tackles on the year, with Telea-Ilalio at 108 and Klein and Breen both at 107.

At lock will be Jed Holloway – a 6-8, 260-pound Waratahs near-centurion with four tries and 90 tackles in twelve games in his first MLR season. His engine room counterpart will be 6-4, 235-pound Vili Helu, a six-year MLR veteran getting his 74th MLR cap.

The back row will see 6-2, 230-pound blindside flanker Brad Wilkin – whose 169 tackles is second only to Frank Lochore in MLR – paired with 5-10, 235-pound opensider Hugh Roach, who has four tries and 107 tackles so far in his fifth MLR season. The eightman for San Diego will be Jimmy Hokafonu, a 6-2, 275-pound Australian in his first year with MLR and the Legion.

The scrumhalf will be Connor Tupai, who spent three years in the English RFU Championship and one in the Australian Shute Shield before joining San Diego for the 2025 season, where he has mostly been an impact player. The flyhalf will be Steffan Crimp, who has played in four games this year.

At inside center will be Cassh Maluia, an ex-NFLer who is in his second year with MLR and first in San Diego. The outside center, Tavite Lopeti, spent three years as a key Seawolf before heading to the Legion for the 2025 season, where he has two tries, two try assists, and 86 tackles.

The Legion’s left wing is Ryan James, who currently has four tries, 719 meters, and an incredible 10.1 meters/carry in 2025, his best year since his 2021 Giltinis campaign. His counterpart on the right is Thomas Aoake, who is getting his 50th Legion cap in his fourth season in San Diego. Aoake is just 49 meters away from reaching 3000 in his career. Finishing out the starting fifteen for San Diego is fullback Ethan Grayson, who worked his way up the English rugby system before joining the Legion for the 2024 season. Grayson has a one try, 615 meters, and 5.8 meters/carry in the 2025 season.

San Diego’s impact players will be hooker Liki Chan-Tung (#16), props Djustice Sears-Duru (#17) and Oliver Kane (#18), lock James Rivers (#19), back row man Tevita Tameilau (#20), halfback Lincoln McClutchie (#21), outside back Marcel Brache (#22), and fullback Rhian Stowers (#23).

There is a decent amount of rotation in the backfield, with both halfbacks not being the usual starters for the Legion. The usual scrumhalf, Richard Judd, will be unavailable, while McClutchie is getting the flyhalf job as an impact player rather than his usual starting role. Tiaan Loots, a center with 10 caps on the year, is also absent from the lineup.

Seattle is seeing some backfield rotation as well, given recent injuries to wings Toni Pulu and Ina Futi. Returning from injury is wing Mika Kruse, who has not played since March 29 against Anthem. Brock Gallagher, out for a game due to a knock, is also returning though as the impact scrumhalf behind Nick Boyer, who is getting his second Seawolves start.

The rest of the backfield sees Rodney Iona at flyhalf, Dan Kriel at inside center, Divan Rossouw at outside center, Malacchi Esdale at right wing, and Duncan Matthews at fullback.

The starting Seawolf forward pack is unchanged from last week: loosehead Cam Orr, hooker Dewald Kotze, and tighthead Juan Pablo Zeiss are the front row, while the engine room will be Malembe Mpofu and Rhyno Herbst. Riekert Hattingh and Charles Elton are the flankers while OJ Noa will be the eightman.

Seattle’s substitute hooker will be Jesse Mackail (#16), while the impact props are Chance Wenglewski (#17) and Mason Pedersen (#18). Rounding out the forward subs are lock CC Mahoni (#19) and flanker Devin Short (#20).

Aside from the aforementioned Gallagher (#21), the two other bench players in the backfield are flyhalf Eddie Fouché (#22) and wing Jade Stighling (#23).

The Seawolves, unlike last game, have a slightly heavier forward pack (1990 pounds/903 kilograms over the Legion’s 1968 pounds/893 kilos). Given Seattle’s slight spottiness in the scrum versus Utah, they might have a chance to exert more forward dominance. But they should not expect their opponents to give them lots of chances to move past the gainline – the Legion pack is filled with prolific tacklers.

Seattle is looking to build on their exhilarating victory over Utah on Monday, while the Legion are looking to keep their spot in the West. Both teams will also be scoreboard-watching the game this Monday between the Chicago Hounds and RFCLA.

The match starts at 6:00 PM Pacific and can be viewed on ESPN+ and Fox13+.