Hounds Domesticate Seawolves in Chicago with 57-17 Beatdown
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

Hounds Domesticate Seawolves in Chicago with 57-17 Beatdown

With the Seawolves taking on the undefeated Chicago Hounds on Sunday, there were only two ways the game was going to go. Either the Seawolves would hand the best team in the MLR a complete stunner on their own turf, or the Hounds would take care of business in front of their own fans and go to 8-0 on the 10-game season.

The clearly more likely outcome was the one that wound up happening. Although the Seawolves put in admirable effort and relatively limited their mistakes (especially in the first half), the same energy deficit that sunk them quickly at home against the Hounds sunk them on the road against that same team, only a little slower, steadier, and without a red card on Seattle.

When Seattle had the ball, things looked a little bit more even. Progress was slow but clear, but they pushed forward slowly and grinded out the occasional holes. The backfield especially had moments of electricity, while Ezekiel Lindenmuth’s return from red card suspension went well in the front row.

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Seawolves Take Down Old Glory in Second Half, Move Up Table with Second Straight Road Win
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

Seawolves Take Down Old Glory in Second Half, Move Up Table with Second Straight Road Win

The magnitude of the Seawolves’ 30-25 win on Mother’s Day afternoon might not have been immediately obvious. A three-game rut against Anthem, the Legion, and the Hounds early in the 10-game season meant that the team, just as in 2025, needed to put together a massive run to get back in the hunt. 

Now, the situations weren’t identical. While Seattle needed to go on a big run just to make it back into a playoff spot by the end of the season in last year’s powerhouse Western Conference, the league’s contractions have resulted in a six-team MLR with four teams bound for the playoffs.’

The big prize, then - though a playoff spot can never be taken for granted - is the guarantee of a home playoff game. The Chicago Hounds, who won their sixth game of six on Sunday, are virtually guaranteed to be the top seed in the MLR, with 30 points in the table.

California is in second with 18 points. And after the Seawolves’ windy, rainy win against Old Glory DC on Sunday afternoon, they have 16. A home semifinal is well within reach.

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Seawolves Bounce Back Against Free Jacks, Become All-Time Winningest MLR Team
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

Seawolves Bounce Back Against Free Jacks, Become All-Time Winningest MLR Team

Sometimes, as it turns out, the fifth time is the charm. While the Seawolves had gotten a grand total of six points over their first four games, a Coffee Cup match against the Free Jacks in New England. But despite being down 11-5 at half, Seattle roared back for 22 unanswered points in the final 40 minutes to take a 27-11 victory and get back into the playoff hunt. And with the 73rd win in franchise history, they officially passed the San Diego Legion with the most in the history of the MLR.

While the Seawolves went into Quincy, Massachusetts off a brutal defeat to the MLR-leading Chicago Hounds, the need for a bounce back game was shared by a set of opponents who also entered the match in a rough rut of early form. Both teams were 1-3 over their first four games. Though New England had a worse -52 point differential as opposed to Seattle’s -36, the Free Jacks had managed one extra bonus point, though both sides sat in the cellar.

Seattle had to mix and match their lineup going into the game, with flyhalf Davy Coetzer out of commission, loosehead prop Ezekiel Lindenmuth suspended following a red card against the Hounds, and injuries in the forwards meant that plenty of the pack would have to go deep into the game while André Warner took up the flyhalf duties on the field and Divan Rossouw took the conversions.

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Seawolves Pounded by Hounds at Home, Face Uphill Climb in Remaining Six Matches
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

Seawolves Pounded by Hounds at Home, Face Uphill Climb in Remaining Six Matches

TUKWILA, Wash. - The Chicago Hounds came to Starfire on Friday night and did to the Seawolves what they have done to every team they have faced so far in 2026: chew them up like an old toy, this time racking up a 59-22 score. It hasn’t mattered whether the MLR favorites have been at home, on the road, or at a neutral site in Nashville, they have won their games against Anthem, the Legion, the Free Jacks, and now the Seawolves by wide tallies.

The game got away from the Seawolves quickly. Unlike the team’s two previous losses, there weren’t specific inflection points late in the second half where the game went the wrong way or a particular mistake the Seawolves made that was the dividing line between a win and a loss. Instead, it was a grueling barrage of overpowering Chicago force, with the biggest inflection point being starting Seattle loosehead Ezekiel Lindenmuth’s red card - though it may have only marked the line between a respectable loss and a blowout.

While many of the Hounds’ 59 points came courtesy of their backfield, it was in truth the forward pack that did the bulk of the job. When Chicago had the ball - especially when they had the ball in Seattle territory - their advances were something close to the platonic ideal of death by a thousand cuts. Some of the names stood out, such as Brock Webster with his hat trick and Mason Flesch with his brace, but like all massive margins in professional rugby, it was due to the efforts of all 23 rostered players that the Hounds racked up as big of a win as they did.

And the Seawolves, for their part, did not make things easy on themselves, getting dinged for 14 penalties that gave the Hounds plenty of possession and lots more meters. Some of the teams in this league wouldn’t have had the wherewithal to take those 14 penalties and turn them into a nailed and buried coffin, but the Hounds are the league’s best for a reason.

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Preview: Seawolves Host Undefeated Chicago Hounds, Need Old Mate Upset to Avoid Early-Season Hole
Preview Callaghan Bluechel Preview Callaghan Bluechel
Preview

Preview: Seawolves Host Undefeated Chicago Hounds, Need Old Mate Upset to Avoid Early-Season Hole

If there is any team that is an early favorite to win the 2026 MLR title, it is the Chicago Hounds. Over their first three matches, they have scored 131 points and given up 69 on their way to three convincing victories, and they’re the only team to get all five possible points out of each of their initial matches. The California Legion, who broke through an injury-knocked Seawolves side in the final minutes of the match last Sunday, found themselves out of their depth in their own road match against the Hounds. Seattle has the advantage of being the hosts, but it is still a tall task to take down what has clearly been the best team in the league during the first third and change of the 10-match MLR season.

Also on the line for the two teams is the Old Mate, officially known as the MLR Supporters Challenge Cup. The Old Mate comes from the very first MLR game ever played between the Houston SaberCats and NOLA Gold on April 21, 2018, and was taken by the Gold in their victory that game but then lost to the Austin Elite in the Gold’s following match. From then on, in an unbroken line of victors to the present, the Old Mate has gone from team to team in the manner of a boxing world title. While originally an unofficial title like the Raeburn Shield, the MLR formalized it before the 2026 season as the Supporters Challenge Cup.

According to the North American Rugby Database (NARDb), the Seawolves have held the Old Mate 20 times, with seven successful challenges against a Mate holder and 13 successful defenses of the Mate. The Seawolves last won the Mate with their Week 15 victory over the SaberCats last year, but were unable to defend the Mate against the Free Jacks in their following game.

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Seawolves Break Century Mark Hosting Hartford Harpooners in Preseason
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

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.

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Seawolves Players, Coaches Discuss American Rugby at Preseason Town Hall
News, Features Callaghan Bluechel News, Features Callaghan Bluechel

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.

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Seawolves Announce Full 2026 Roster; How Does Depth Chart Look Going Into Season?
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

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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Seawolves Offseason Tracker: Keep Up to Date with Arrivals and Departures for 2026 MLR Season
Offseason Tracker Callaghan Bluechel Offseason Tracker Callaghan Bluechel

Seawolves Offseason Tracker: Keep Up to Date with Arrivals and Departures for 2026 MLR Season

Despite an offseason to be forgotten around Major League Rugby, with the league shrinking from 11 teams to six, there is still a 10-game season ahead of the Seattle Seawolves and the five other remaining sides for 2026. Domestic talent has consolidated around MLR from the contractions as well as a new seven-player gameday limit for international players, though the decision - controversial, to put it mildly - to exclude Canadian players from domestic status has decreased that pool of players.

Seattle has a total of 30 confirmed signings for the 2026 season, 11 international and 19 domestic. 11 are returning players from last year’s Seawolves team while 19 are new additions, mostly from now-defunct MLR clubs.

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Seawolves Score Nine Tries in 60-19 Carolina Barbecue
Callaghan Bluechel Callaghan Bluechel

Seawolves Score Nine Tries in 60-19 Carolina Barbecue

The Seattle Seawolves had a thundering victory on April 24 against Anthem Rugby Carolina, the first road win of the 2025 season for Seattle. However, there are rotation questions for their upcoming Sunday match.

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Seawolves Grind Out 25-17 Win Against Anthem
Callaghan Bluechel Callaghan Bluechel

Seawolves Grind Out 25-17 Win Against Anthem

The Seawolves struggled out of the gate on Saturday against a winless opponent, but the team fought back and put enough together to win the match and score four tries to get all five possible table points.

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