JP Smith to Earn 100th MLR Cap as Seawolves Take On Hounds
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Seattle Seawolves outside back Divan Rossouw lands the try on March 29, 2025 in a match against Anthem Rugby Carolina. Credit: Punkus Arnett/Seattle Seawolves [/caption]
Today’s game will see the Seattle Seawolves return to town for a 7:30 PM match at Starfire – and the 100th cap for scrumhalf JP Smith – but will it see the team return to form? Coming off the bye week, it is potential do-or-die territory for the Seawolves, who sit at 2-5-0 with 15 points on the table, last in the Western Conference and nine points behind the fourth-place RFC Los Angeles.
Before the bye was a sound beating on the road at the hands of Old Glory DC, who completely blocked Seattle on attempted breakthroughs in the middle, won turnovers on errant Seawolf passes and penalization issues, and wore down the Seawall by pushing minute after minute at the Seattle posts.
Against the Seawolves this week are the Chicago Hounds, who stand atop the Eastern Conference with a 7-1-0 record and 32 points in the table. Chicago is coming off a 28-20 win over Anthem Rugby Carolina on April 12 and has won six in a row. However, the Hounds – who started play in the 2023 season – have never yet bested the Seawolves. The two sides have three previous matchups, ending 27-5, 35-13, and 34-26, all in favor of Seattle. Today’s game is also a quick turnaround for the Hounds, who will be on five days rest and without seven key players in the match.
Dylan Fawsitt, the Hounds’ starting hooker with 61 tries (five of them this season) over 105 career appearances (93 starts) will be absent from the available 23, only his second absence of 2025. Two other forwards with five tries on the year – lock Mason Flesch and flanker Maclean Jones – will also be unavailable for the Hounds. Flesch, a powerful Canadian in his fifth MLR season and second with the Hounds, also has 86 tackles on the season – more than any Seawolf. Jones, an Australian also in his fifth year in MLR, has even more tackles at 96.
While the biggest absence for the Hounds will be their forward pack Cerberus, Chicago’s backs will also be shorthanded. Mitch Short, a scrumhalf who currently has the second-most passes in MLR at 611 as well as a try and two try assists over his eight starts, is not on the matchday 23. Neither is flyhalf and fullback Adriaan Carelse, a journeyman South African with four conversions and four penalty goals in 421 minutes in 2025. Ollie Devoto, who started all of Chicago’s first eight matches at inside center with two tries, 279 meters, and 79 tackles, is absent, as is Nate Augspurger, a longtime Legion wing with 4445 meters and 31 tries over his eight-year career.
While the lack of these powerhouse players certainly means Chicago will not be as strong as previous weeks, the Hounds will still be formidable opponents. The visitors will start a 2045-pound (928-kilo) forward pack with the two best tacklers still on the starting roster – a big challenge with Seattle’s struggles in breaking through.
The loosehead prop will be Faka’osi Pifeleti, a veteran of the MLR who started in the inaugural 2018 season with the San Diego Legion. Though he spent one season with the Austin Gilgronis in 2022, he rejoined the Legion for their 15-1-0 campaign in 2023 before joining Chicago for the 2025 season. His counterpart at tighthead will be Charlie Abel, who is in his fifth year in MLR and his third year on the Hounds. While he is not as much of a meter-maker as in previous years, he has still played solidly for the Chicago side in his 254 minutes on the pitch in 2025.
The Hounds’ engine room is headlined by James Scott, a 6-6, 260-pound Englishman who had a stellar MLR rookie year in 2024 with four tries, 264 meters gained, and 153 tackles in 17 starts for Chicago, making the All-MLR Second XV for the year. So far in 2025, he has 98 tackles, on pace to crack 200 if his team makes the playoffs. His counterpart will be Hamish Bain, a 6-7, 255-pound Scot who is in his first year with Chicago after three seasons in European rugby.
The Hounds’ back row features flankers Luke White, a veteran utility forward getting his first start of the season, and Lucas Rumball, the Chicago captain in his second year with the Hounds and seventh in MLR. Though he is getting his first 2025 flanker start, Rumball played the first eight games as a powerhouse eightman, currently leading the Hounds with 104 tackles in 2025, as well as making 217 meters over 82 carries and scoring a try. The starting eightman will be Matthew Oworu, a Canadian with over 100 caps in international Rugby Sevens play who will be accruing his first MLR start after accruing 39 minutes over 4 matches off the bench.
Moving to the halfbacks, the scrumhalf will be Michael Baska, a journeyman utility back who played for the Gold and Warriors of MLR and Rouen Normandie of Pro D2 and is also getting his first start of 2025. Tim Swiel, a flyhalf in his first season in MLR after a 12-year career in Super Rugby, the English Premiership, the United Rugby Championship, and Japan Rugby League One, is notching his third start for Chicago.
The inside center, in lieu of Ollie Devoto, will be Noah Flesch, brother of aforementioned teammate Mason Flesch. Though Noah Flesch is a capped Canadian, this will be his first MLR start. The outside center, Bryce Campbell, is an MLR veteran who played in the inaugural 2018 season before playing for the Premiership’s London Irish in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons. Campbell rejoined MLR with the Gilgronis in 2021 and then moved to the Hounds in 2023. He has 3883 meters gained and 649 tackles made over 75 games (72 of them starts).
The pair of wings for Chicago will be Mark O’Keeffe, an Irishman in his seventh season in MLR, and second-year Hound Noah Brown. O’Keeffe currently has 98 meters made and 15 carries (6.5 meters per carry) in 193 minutes on the pitch over four games and three starts, while Brown currently has 188 meters made in 40 carries (4.7 meters per carry) and a try in 487 minutes over 7 games, all starts. Rounding out the starting fifteen for Chicago is fullback Michael Hand II, who joined the Hounds this year after a rookie 2024 season with the Miami Sharks. Hand, who is receiving his third start with the hounds, has played well in his 136 minutes, with 177 meters in 25 carries (7.1 meters per carry) and a try.
Chicago is adopting a 6-2 split in their substitutions. The number 16 is hooker Jackson Zabierek, a former Seawolf in his second MLR season. The 17 and 18 are props Liam Fletcher and Ignacio Peculo, while the 19 is Kiwi lock Brad Tucker, a journeyman MLR player and former Seawolf who scored seven tries for Seattle in 2019. Numbers 20 and 21 are both back row men, Connal Boomer and Jake Kinneeveauk – the latter of which is seeing a position on the matchday 23 for the first time. The two substitute backs are scrumhalf Jason Higgins at number 22 and flyhalf Chris Hilsenbeck – a 33-year-old capped German who spent 11 years in the French Pro D2 – rounds out the roster as the 23.
Against this heavily rotated but still formidable Chicago lineup, the Seawolves are relying somewhat on their extra week of rest to propel them to an upset victory. There is not much turnover in the starting fifteen from Seattle’s previous few matches, but there are a couple notable shifts in the lineup that indicate that Coach Clarke may be looking to adopt a somewhat different game plan against the heavy-hitting Hounds.
In the front row, although Cam Orr and Kerron van Vuuren are getting their usual starts at loosehead prop and hooker, the starting tighthead will be Mason Pedersen instead of Juan Pablo Zeiss. Pedersen has so far played 166 minutes over five games, but this will be his first start of 2025.
Rhyno Herbst, who has played all 560 minutes and racked up 69 tackles, will get the start as a lock, but his counterpart will be OJ Noa, who has thus far seen play in the back row, both as an eightman and as a blindside flanker after the return of Riekert Hattingh. The back row itself, however, is not unexpected, as it consists of Huw Taylor at blindside flanker, Charles Elton at openside, and Riekert Hattingh as the number eight.
JP Smith – who, as mentioned earlier, will be earning his 100th MLR cap today – will be the starting scrumhalf. Rodney Iona will get the flyhalf start, while Dan Kriel will be at inside center and Divan Rossouw will get the appearance at outside center – moving there in lieu of Mika Kruse, who suffered a knock in late March against Anthem. The fullback, in turn, will be Duncan Matthews, getting his fifth start of 2025. Rounding out the starters, the two wings will be Toni Pulu and Ina Futi.
The substitutes are not especially surprising, with Seattle adopting the typical 5-3 split. The number 16 is hooker Dewald Kotze, while 17 and 18 are props Chance Wenglewski and Njabulo Gumede. Lock Isaia Lotawa is the 19 and flanker Devin Short is the 20. At 21 is scrumhalf Brock Gallagher, while flyhalf Eddie Fouché will wear number 22. The number 23 will be outside back Malacchi Esdale, who has become a stalwart impact player in his first year with Seattle.
Though the lineup does not look significantly different to previous gameday 23s, some of the decisions indicate a potential shakeup in Clarke’s strategy. The Seawolves are outweighed in the forward pack 2045 pounds (928 kilos) to 1957 pounds (888 kilos), yet Clarke chose to start the 258-pound Mason Pedersen over the 278-pound Juan Pablo Zeiss. This is likely a simple equation of play quality, as Pedersen has often looked better than Zeiss both in the scrum and in ruck play.
However, combined with the wing duo of Pulu and Futi (with Stighling absent), it suggests that Seattle might try to play a faster style of rugby focused near the touchlines rather than the crash-up-the-middle strategy that the league seems to be expecting of the team. But the most important thing, regardless of overall strategy, will be quality – both on the ball and with regards to conceding penalties.
Today’s match will be an important test of the Seawolves’ capabilities against the top team in the Eastern Conference. A win would bring Seattle a little further back from the brink, while a loss might change the goal of the season from contention to future-building.
