> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Seawolves Pounded by Hounds at Home, Face Uphill Climb in Remaining Six Matches - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-seawolves-face-uphill-climb-loss-chicago-hounds/ - Published: 2026-04-25T20:42:48.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:15:00.000Z - Author: Callaghan Bluechel - Tags: News, Analysis, Seawolves, Ezekiel Lindenmuth, Davy Coetzer, Dan Kriel, Ignacio Péculo, Duncan Matthews, Divan Rossouw, Riekert Hattingh, Kalisi Moli, Mason Pedersen, LaRome White, Calvin Liulamaga, Tiai Vavao, Drake Davis, Nick Boyer, Paddy Ryan \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="597"\] ![ Hounds wing Mark O’Keeffe scores a try during his team’s 59-22 win over the Seattle Seawolves on April 24, 2026. Image credit: Chicago Hounds/Instagram. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/seawolves-4-24-26-format-original.png) Hounds wing Mark O’Keeffe scores a try during his team’s 59-22 win over the Seattle Seawolves on April 24, 2026\. Image credit: Chicago Hounds/Instagram. \[/caption\] 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. ### The Hounds made three tries in the first 15 minutes to turn a home match into an uphill battle for the Seawolves. Seattle suffered their first blow quite early on. The first try scorer was fullback Brock Webster, who landed his five points in the third minute. Seattle flyhalf Davy Coetzer knocked the ball forward on a box kick reception and the Seawolves attempted to play it regardless, giving the Hounds a penalty. The visitors raced the ball rightwards out of the lineout and, with their opening energy unabated, they seemingly shoved Seattle’s pack forward and passed it out wide at almost the same time, and Webster managed to get himself the ball in a well open spot along the openside touchline for the opening try. Although Chicago flyhalf Chris Hilsenbeck missed the conversion, it wasn’t how Seattle wanted to begin the game. Things got worse quickly. Another penalty on Seattle in Hounds territory allowed the visitors to hammer the Seawall ever closer to the try line, and a yellow card on Seattle captain Riekert Hattingh led to a lineout maul right at the try line. Seattle’s forwards found themselves hammered backwards and Lucas Rumball notched his third try of the season. This time Hilsenbeck gave his team two extra points, and Seattle needed to respond early. Newly healthy inside center Dan Kriel excited the crowd with a fair few meters after contact to crash past midfield, and an ensuing penalty on the breakdown against the Hounds resulted in Coetzer bringing out the tee and putting three points on the board for Seattle. But every time the Hounds got the ball deep in Seattle territory early, their greater speed and aggression on the ball overpowered Seattle’s defense, pushing them back and opening holes at a rate Seattle couldn’t really handle. Wall and Webster broke forward along Chicago’s left touchline to set the table for another visiting push. Even on the back of a 14th minute steal in the breakdown, the Seawolves were unable to get enough men involved to prevent the Hounds from taking it right back. Scrumhalf Michael Baska sent it to Flesch, who took advantage of a split-second of the Seattle props Lindenmuth and Ignacio Péculo drifting apart and thundered through them for Chicago’s third try. Hilsenbeck made his two points to put the score at 19-3\. ### Seattle managed to get a try of their own to push the score within 10, but continued penalizations snuffed out their momentum. The Seawolves fought back early, looking to withstand the Hounds’ early lead and make some Starfire magic as they have many times before since 2018\. Coetzer made a heap of meters on the openside in the 18th minute and although Chicago held steady as Seattle crashed to the home right, the speed at which the Seawolves whirled it back out to the left produced enough gaps along that touchline for Coetzer to make it near the try line and offload to flanker Paddy Ryan, who landed a try for the Seawolves. Coetzer landed the touchline conversion, and the score was 19-10 going into the water break. Following the post-hydration kickoff, the visiting Hounds tried to advance from their position about five meters behind midfield, and although Kriel made a strong tackle to keep them there, a not rolling penalty a few rucks later meant Chicago kicked to touch for another lineout at the 22\. This time, however, they knocked it on during the reception, and Seattle had a scrum. The penalty went the other way as Seattle pushed forward, giving the Seawolves some momentum to try and capitalize off Chicago’s miscue. But as Hattingh and fullback Duncan Matthews pushed outside center Divan Rossouw forward with Hounds eightman Matt Oworu still within arm’s reach in the breakdown, Rossouw failed to present the ball back to continue play, the Seawolves lost a promising drive around the attacking 22\. A second whistle against the home side led to a further kick to touch and a lineout deeper into Seattle territory in the 28th minute, but the Seawall looked quite a bit firmer than it had before the hydration. Even with that stouter form, a missed tackle by Rossouw allowed Hounds lock Brandon Harvey to power well past the 22, and with the Hounds’ precision, Seattle wasn’t able to induce a penalty. Seattle’s forwards held back the pick-and-go plays under the posts, but the opposing pressure forced them to leave their openside undermanned, and Chicago wing Mark O’Keeffe landed five points on the right touchline. ### A red card on Ezekiel Lindenmuth put the Hounds up a man for 20 minutes, more than enough time to turn their lead from sizable to insurmountable. The Seawolves appeared to be ready to roar right back, bringing an attack deep into Chicago’s half, but an apparent penalty advantage that would have most likely led to a corner lineout fell by the wayside as the Hounds called for a Referee Review System (RRS) challenge in the 34th minute that Lindenmuth had made an illegal cleanout. The challenge found that Lindenmuth had rammed his shoulders into Hounds center Tiaan Loots’ head, a high-danger play that resulted in an immediate red card for Lindenmuth. The red led to some Hounds possession and Webster and Wall combined on the Hounds’ left touchline for about 30 meters. Matthews and winger Drake Davis managed to push them back from the try line, but an attacking lineout for Chicago renewed the pressure. Despite Matthews holding up O’Keeffe in the try zone, the Hounds were playing with a penalty advantage due to an earlier offside call on Rossouw. Chicago’s maul drove forward and Flesch touched down his second try to give the Hounds a 19-point lead. Hilsenbeck converted, and it was 31-10. Chicago’s last try of the half was its most majestic. Despite a budding attack in the waning minutes for Seattle, play quickly got out of hand after Loots picked the ball out and O’Keeffe sent off a long kick to Seattle territory. Although Coetzer initially was slow on the uptake, he soon realized how dangerous the situation was and tried to reach Webster, but the fullback landed the excellent try as 40 minutes expired. When Hilsenbeck took the conversion through the posts, the Hounds were up 28 points. Seawolves flanker Kalisi Moli fell to the ground early in the second half and Tiai Vavao came in to replace him - and Michael Hand came on for Drake Davis at the same time - but the substitutions didn’t do much to revive what little was left of the team’s chances. Loots picked and ran underneath prop Mason Pedersen and lock Rhyno Herbst and offloaded it to Webster as Pedersen recovered to tackle him. Webster, on the hunt for the hat trick, stiff-armed Ryan and just managed to dive over the try line by the time Hattingh overtook him. A good conversion made the score 45-10 in favor of the Hounds. The Hounds crossed the half-century mark before the 20 minutes was up from the red, as continued crumpled Seattle scrums built up until the Hounds found a one they liked best, and Matt Oworu ran it under the posts for yet another try to reach 50\. The conversion brought Chicago’s lead to a mammoth 42 points, and it got further expanded to a 59-10 lead as hooker Theo Fourie landed a try in the 57th minute. ### Seattle’s substitutes did a serviceable job of slowing the Hounds in the final 25 minutes of the game, but the Seawolves failed to get a bonus point out of the match. With the Hounds having such a commanding lead at the second half water break, play began to slow down and Seattle’s substitutes got the chance to attempt a meager four-try bonus point. By this point, many of the starters had gone off for substitutes, and Seattle had a little bit of fresh energy. “I don’t think, mentally, it’s different,” Pedersen said about coming into a game with his team down a heap of tries. “There were still points on the board to chase … obviously, we didn’t end up getting it (the four try bonus point) in the end, but we do this as a job, right? You’ve got to get on the field and do your job.” The Seawolves had made four substitutions at the 59th minute, bringing on Liki Chan-Tung, Nick Boyer, Calvin Liulamaga, and Tiai Vavao for Dewald Kotze, JP Smith, Kriel, and Hattingh. Aside from the three oncomers bringing some renewed energy to the side due to restedness, Boyer’s quick style of backfield play was a boost, too. Seattle built up a drive as the 70th minute approached. Unlike earlier in the game, the Seawolves played cleanly and thus were able to build up pressure on the Hounds, first with an attack on the openside through Ryan and Michael Hand and - after pressuring Chicago into kicking for position despite their ability to push Hand into touch and regain a lineout - won a penalty from a surprisingly backfooted Chicago side. It was the substitutes who barreled forward off the lineout. First LaRome White gained some meters, then Vavao shoved his way even closer to the try line. Boyer sent it to the touchline for Matthews, who landed a try down for the first time in the half for Seattle. Boyer made the conversion, though the issue at hand was scoring enough tries to get a bonus point in the table. The Seawolves built another extended spell of possession forward in the ensuing minutes, needing two tries for the bonus point. An offside call against Chicago allowed a kick to touch and a lineout inside the Hounds 22, and Liulamaga brought it even closer to the try line, but a knock-on in the late 73rd minute cost Seattle valuable time and quite a bit of field position with the minutes winding down. Hand broke free to return the Seawolves to the attacking end of the pitch in the 75th, and after a penalty on the Hounds, Seattle mauled over the try line and Chan-Tung made the team’s third try. That was the last score of the game for either team. Boyer missed the conversion, but the play in the field was what counted. Chicago had a final run of possession, pushing to the try line as 80 minutes expired. Oworu dove for the try zone and a final score was initially called for the Hounds, but further review showed that the visiting eightman hadn’t gotten the ball over the line. But as the Hounds jackaled the ball away in a ruck and kicked to touch, the game ended with the final 59-22 tally. ### Between zero points, a knock on Moli, and just six remaining fixtures, Friday’s result was about the worst case scenario. Aside from the energy of the substitutes - and a 30-tackle, try-scoring performance from Paddy Ryan - just about the only positive from the match was Dan Kriel’s return. He played solidly for a little under 60 minutes on his home turf, logging 11 tackles and getting quite a few meters after contact despite only four carries and nine pre-contact meters. Kriel had been out since preseason, making Friday night his first appearance of the campaign. “It’s been frustrating on the sideline, but great to be back at home,” Kriel said. “Obviously not the result we wanted, hats off to Chicago.” That was an understatement. The Seawolves are now 1-3 on the 10-game season with six points on the table, though this hinges on a scoring update to the Seawolves’ match against the Legion where a Davy Coetzer conversion initially marked as missed has been updated to a good kick. Regardless, they are second to last in the standings, currently out of a playoff spot and well out of place for any potential home playoff matches. A loss like the one on Friday is the result of a lot going wrong. The Seawolves won’t benefit from trying to fix everything, everywhere, all at once, but they’ll have to go to the root source of many of their problems: the penalties. If they get these fundamental aspects of the game in check, they should be able to hold their own against most teams in MLR. Even against Chicago, when Seattle played more clinically, they managed to score a pair of tries and prevent a score on the other side. “We just have to have a long, hard look at ourselves, alright. That wasn’t good enough,” Pedersen said. “Like I said, this is our job, and this is professional sports, and when stuff happens like that, you gotta have a hard look and see where you can get better.” While the Seawolves will be trying to manage the things they can control, the injury situation in the forward pack is far from ideal. With Harison Mataele out for the season, Seattle moved Marno Redelinghuys to lock for Friday’s game and had Moli play blindside flanker, but with Moli off with injury just after half, the options are getting thin. Callum Botchar can continue being the substitute lock, but an entire starting back row of Vavao, Ryan, and Hattingh would have no reinforcements if Moli’s injury is serious.