Seawolves Sweep Coffee Cup, Overcome Mistakes in 36-28 Win against Free Jacks
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

Seawolves Sweep Coffee Cup, Overcome Mistakes in 36-28 Win against Free Jacks

TUKWILA, Wash. - There was no doubt who would be hoisting the Coffee Cup when 80 minutes expired on Sunday. The visitors may have been the defending MLR champions three times over, but their down year combined with a late Seawolves surge led to Seattle sweeping the trophy.

It was a game that didn’t necessarily look great for either side; in the end, it was a determination of which team would get in their own way less than the other. But the Seawolves emerged victorious in their 36-28 battle against the New England Free Jacks and put themselves in a winner-gets-home-field game against the California Legion.

With the Legion having won their penultimate game against Anthem 55-26, the Seawolves needed a win to keep open the possibility of getting the second seed and a home playoff match. And with the five-point showing they put together on Sunday night, there are a lot of winning scenarios against California that put Seattle into that seed. 

Despite being the three-time defending MLR champions, the Free Jacks came into Sunday night’s game in quite a beatable shape. New England had just 16 points with a 5-3-0 record, fifth in the table ahead of only Anthem Rugby Carolina. But the middle of the table remained tight going into the second-to-last week; New England could tie things up with Seattle by getting all five points and keeping the Seawolves to none.

Seattle’s lineup was almost identical to their match in Chicago the previous week, though with Charlie Walsh and Michael Hand in the reserves instead of Dewald Donald and Nolan Tuamoheloa. 

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Coetzer Shines as Seawolves Wallop Anthem 57-21, Move into Second Place
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

Coetzer Shines as Seawolves Wallop Anthem 57-21, Move into Second Place

TUKWILA, Wash. - Despite all the injuries and the early season losses, the Seawolves currently sit in a home playoff spot with three games remaining in the 2026 MLR season. Perhaps it goes to show that, even in a 10-match season, an early slump isn’t the be-all, end-all; perhaps it also shows that the five teams not named the Chicago Hounds have quite the dogfight to see who gets the second place home playoff game, who gets the other two playoff spots, and which two teams are left out in the cold.

Seattle’s 57-21 victory against Anthem Rugby Carolina was their most emphatic yet, building on a season-saving win against the Free Jacks and a second half comeback against Old Glory, both badly needed road wins before their triumphant (yet incomplete) homecoming.

Sunday afternoon marked the return of Davy Coetzer and Marno Redelinghuys to the starting XV, with André Warner playing at scrumhalf and JP Smith originally slated to play on the wing before being scratched late. Dorian Jones also returned from injury, ending up coming off the bench in the final quarter of the game.

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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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Fateful Forward Pack Errors Accumulate for Seawolves in 34-25 Road Loss to Anthem
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

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 Agustín 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.

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Davy Coetzer, Seawolves Overcome Late Front Row Red in 33-16 Win over Old Glory
News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel News, Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

Davy Coetzer, Seawolves Overcome Late Front Row Red in 33-16 Win over Old Glory

TUKWILA, Wash. - Before the 2026 season began, it wasn’t clear at all how the Seawolves stacked up against their five opponents. All the teams in the MLR consolidated talent from the folded teams, but as to the strength of each team as compared to each other, there wasn’t a whole lot to go off of besides conjecture. It was clear Anthem were majorly improved while the defending champion Free Jacks lost a grand total of 13 Canadian-eligible players and had a heap of general turnover. But with all the chaos, last year’s point totals, win totals, and point differentials weren’t the biggest thing weighing in the preseason projections.

In the first week, however, the team with a positive-38 point differential last year beat the team with a minus-40. Both sides had to work past some early season jitters, but with a new elite flyhalf in tow and the home turf grit to battle past a late red, the Seawolves logged the opening win under the Friday night Starfire lights.

Davy Coetzer had an excellent first match with the Seawolves, scoring 18 of Seattle’s 33 points.

A couple of Old Glory penalties in the early minutes led to offseason-acquired flyhalf Davy Coetzer’s first penalty kick of the season in the fourth minute. It was a relatively easy shot in windless conditions, but Coetzer shanked it a bit to the left and it bounced off the post into the visitors’ hands. That, along with a couple half-fumbles, was the only real mistake Coetzer made all match.

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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 Take On Utah In Western Semifinal
Analysis Callaghan Bluechel Analysis Callaghan Bluechel

Seawolves Take On Utah In Western Semifinal

It’s officially win or go home for the Seattle Seawolves, on the road against the Utah Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinal. This battle shapes up to be one of the toughest yet for a Seawolves team that roared back into competition over the last few games of the season.

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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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Adjusted Seawolves Notch 28-22 Win Against Hounds
Callaghan Bluechel Callaghan Bluechel

Adjusted Seawolves Notch 28-22 Win Against Hounds

With a revamped offense and new owner Marshawn Lynch in attendance, the Seawolves made a statement win against the MLR-leading Chicago Hounds on Friday, showing signs of life after a slow start to the season.

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Bad Day in DC: Seawolves Fall 29-12 to Old Glory
Callaghan Bluechel Callaghan Bluechel

Bad Day in DC: Seawolves Fall 29-12 to Old Glory

Squarely beaten on a Saturday east coast road trip, Old Glory DC used their quicker offense and stouter defense to best the Seawolves 29-12. The match is another rough chapter in a season that is quickly falling through Seattle’s fingers.

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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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