Preview: Seawolves Seek Rebound Match against Merged Legion in San Diego
The very first game in Seattle Seawolves history was a battle in Starfire Sports against the San Diego Legion, kicking off the club’s oldest rivalry. Through the 2018 semifinal, the 2019 final, the 2022 quarterfinal, the 2023 Western Conference final, and the 2024 Western Conference semifinal, the two sides rumbled in elimination matches year-in and year-out. Seattle held the distinct edge in those matches, winning all but the 2023 Western Conference final.
The story of the San Diego Legion might be one of the more melancholy tales in MLR history, though its saddest notes came not on the pitch but in the MLR’s trip through Tartarus during last year’s offseason. The Legion merged with Rugby Football Club Los Angeles - a very bitter pill to swallow for San Diegans who have lost multiple pro sports teams to LA - and while the team adopted the Legion branding and went with a circuit of home matches around Southern California, the retention of mostly RFCLA players alongside continued RFCLA ownership made clear who the senior partner was.
And yet the Legion marches on. Over their first three games of the 2026 season, the merged California Legion have scored 93 points and given up 92, going 1-2 against Anthem, the New England Free Jacks, and the Chicago Hounds. But despite the razor-thin point differential, the Legion have yet to play a particularly close match. Anthem and Chicago both logged solid victories against the Legion, who in turn pounded the Free Jacks 43-5 at home.
Fateful Forward Pack Errors Accumulate for Seawolves in 34-25 Road Loss to Anthem
Things didn’t go according to Seattle’s plan in Charlotte. While the Seawolves’ ability to create threats on offense was clear, an uncharacteristically bad day for the forward pack and some mistakes by Rhyno Herbst set them back points, meters, and eventually led to the visitors dropping the whole game without a single extra point in the table.
The final score of 34-25 was just too great a gap for the Seawolves to earn that bonus point for being within seven, but not great enough for all the mistakes they made to not have been the difference. In truth, both sides looked like they had quite a bit to work on despite their evident talent.
Anthem Rugby Carolina entered the match having gone 1-33 in their entire history, having given up 1305 points while scoring just 663 points in those games per the North American Rugby Database (NARDb).
And yet they were not to be underestimated. With AgustÃn Cavalieri at the helm, the team brought on some MLR heavy-hitters and notched its first win in team history, 39-26 over the California Legion to begin the 2026 MLR season.
Seawolves Break Century Mark Hosting Hartford Harpooners in Preseason
TUKWILA, Wash. - Before Major League Rugby, post-collegiate American rugby was a patchwork game. It still is, at least beyond the six teams that now make up the top echelon of the sport.
The Seattle Seawolves played host to a part of that patchwork on Saturday afternoon. The Hartford Harpooners, an amateur team from the other side of the country, flew over to Seattle for a preseason match as the Seawolves gear up for the 10-game regular season. This wasn't the Seawolves' first rodeo either of the preseason - they played the Stormers' second team in Cape Town on Sunday - or with the Harpooners, who they previously hosted in 2022.
Back then, with a more diffuse talent pool in the MLR, the Seawolves came out ahead 50-0 over their amateur opponents. Perhaps in a display of MLR’s talent jump since, Seattle won 111-3. Or maybe, as I’ll explain, it might have been 113-3.
Seawolves Players, Coaches Discuss American Rugby at Preseason Town Hall
SEATTLE, Wash. - One of rugby's most enduring traditions is that, when all is said and done and the 80 minutes are played, the sides mingle with each other over beer and pizza. The Seawolves' usual post-match stomping ground is Watershed FC, a pizza bar within the Starfire Sports complex where players can be found after a match, win or loss, chatting with each other and with the fans.
That same kind of environment existed in the Hall on Occidental on Wednesday evening as the Seawolves hosted their season ticket member town hall. Doors opened at 6:00 pm and it was not long before the fans began to stream through into bench seats beside wooden tables. The chats were cordial as always between the Seawolves and their fans to begin the evening as they waited for the main festivities to begin - those being, of course, a series of Q&A sessions emceed by Seawolves chief operating officer Drew Dambreville and some surrounding announcements.
Among all the festivities ran a through-line: that of developing the game of rugby in the United States.
Seawolves Announce Full 2026 Roster; How Does Depth Chart Look Going Into Season?
The Seattle Seawolves announced their full roster on Monday, March 2, with a total of 31 players set to compete in 10 matches across the 2026 Major League Rugby season. Of these 31 players, 12 are returners from the 2025 roster while 19 are newcomers from elsewhere in the rugby-playing world, both from other MLR teams and clubs around the world.
Some of these players figured out a deal with Seattle soon after the offseason started, while others were reportedly more last-minute. But with the number of sides and games reduced from 2025, so too is the number of players reduced, down from 38 to begin the 2025 season and 39 once the mid-season signing of Nick Boyer is taken into account. This new sizing is consistent with other rosters around the MLR this year, and these players have the benefit of greater protections thanks to the MLR’s first collective bargaining agreement being signed earlier this offseason between the MLR Player’s Association and the MLR.
With all that in mind, who are all the players that will don green and blue in Starfire Sports this season, and how might the Seawolves be looking at utilizing them?
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