Fateful Forward Pack Errors Accumulate for Seawolves in 34-25 Road Loss to Anthem

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André Warner (9) takes the ball out of a ruck during the first half of the Seattle Seawolves’ match against Anthem Rugby Carolina on April 12, 2026. Image credit: Anthem Rugby Carolina. [/caption]

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.

These new additions include first-round draft picks Will Sherman and Campbell Robb, powerhouse fullback Jordan Trainor, hooker Seth Smith, loose forward Johan Momsen, scrumhalf Zion Going, and former Seawolf wing Malacchi Esdale.

Both starting wings for Anthem on Sunday were indeed USA-capped former Seawolves, with Conner Mooneyham on the right and Esdale on the left. Trainor, Monsen, Going, and Robb all started, with Sherman to set fire to the forwards off the bench. Anthem has seen enough turnover that only four of the starting XV for Sunday - tighthead prop Alex Maughan, blindside flanker Sam Golla, eightman Makeen Alikhan, and the aforementioned Mooneyham - were on Carolina’s 2025 team.

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But despite their first win, Anthem weren’t any more above the pack than the other five clubs remaining in MLR. The Chicago Hounds, often seen as MLR Shield favorites, racked up a solid victory of their own against Anthem to bring the USA Eagles development side to 1-1 on the young year.

On Seattle’s side Sean McNulty, Divan Rossouw, and Dewald Donald were newly unavailable for Sunday’s match, while Rufus McLean, Ina Futi, and Dan Kriel remained out from the previous week. Michael Hand made it back in the starting roster, while the seven international slots were occupied by Ignacio Péculo (Uruguay), Dewald Kotze (Canada), Harison Mataele (Tonga), André Warner (South Africa), Dorian Jones (Wales), Mark Bennett (Scotland), and Divan Rossouw (Namibia). 

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Despite outweighing Anthem’s forwards, Seattle’s scrum and maul defense was inconsistent.

The Seawolves had a clear weight advantage in the starting forward pack, 1,999 pounds (907 kilograms) to Anthem’s 1,960 pounds (889 kilograms). Kotze, who was the odd international out against Old Glory, got the starting nod on Sunday, though the rest of the starting pack was unchanged from the first match other than Paddy Ryan and Marno Redelinghuys switching spots.

Things didn’t start off well for the pack, however. Kotze’s early second minute lineout wasn’t straight, giving Anthem a scrum, and the home pack pushed Seattle back and got a scrum penalty out of it. Despite a stolen lineout, continued penalties against the visitors allowed Anthem to lurch downfield with further kicks to touch. Although Divan Rossouw and André Warner pushed Mooneyham over the touchline mere inches from the try line, Anthem’s penalty advantage meant that they had a corner lineout maul.

Despite a couple seconds of holding firm, the home forwards shoved Seattle back and Robb whirled around to land the game’s first try. Carty sent it through the posts to put Anthem up 7-0. 

Flyhalf Davy Coetzer continued his strong early campaign with a shot through the uprights after an Anthem penalty in home territory, putting Seattle on the board in the 12th. And after further breakdowns in cohesion from both sides, another Anthem penalty - this one closer to midfield, but still in their territory - allowed Coetzer to send the game into the hydration break with a one-point difference.

But although Seattle was only bending, not breaking, in these early minutes, the trend of uneasy forward pack defense continued throughout the game. Anthem made serious meterage on lineout mauls, especially later in the match, but they were winning scrum penalties from Seattle across the whole match.

Carolina lightning made points come down on each side quickly after the first half hydration break, with both teams lethargic on defense.

There were clear flashes of good play from the backs, most notably some connection on the right touchline, but the biggest breakthrough came from Divan Rossouw. He sent a 50-22 kick (somewhat of a rarity in the MLR) deep into Anthem territory, getting Seattle a corner lineout. With the home side expecting a maul, Kotze threw it over the crowd to Lindenmuth, who found a wide open spot and darted through it for Seattle’s first try. Coetzer converted and the Seawolves were up by six.

Barely two minutes later, it was Seattle’s defense who left their opponents a wide open spot. Anthem managed to win a scrum deep beyond the 22, and after some pushing on the left side, they phased it out to Julian Roberts near the center. The Anthem number 13 pushed forward over the try line, and after Carty converted, Carolina regained their one-point lead.

Once again, the Seawolves worked a blitz downfield and won another penalty into corner lineout, this time on the left touchline, and basically the same thing happened as the last time they had been in the red zone: a forward broke past the line. This time was almost more rapid than the last, as Paddy Ryan tore through a total hole in Anthem’s maul defense and planted the ball in the try zone. But as Coetzer overestimated the effect of the wind on his touchline kick, the Seawolves only went up by four after that try.

Anthem barreled forward from the kickoff, making it to Seattle’s 22 with another burst of speed and power. Going sent it left to Trainor, who found Roberts with a clear hole to break through. Roberts passed to Esdale on the run and the former Seawolf struck back against his old team before Carty rounded out the seven points. The twisting and turning leads had come and gone, but Anthem was still up by three. 

Two mistakes from Rhyno Herbst took at least 12 points off the board for Seattle.

Just as it had once before, the momentum shifted back to the Seawolves as soon as the kickoff was made, and a 35th minute corner lineout brought them five meters from returning to the lead. Seattle nearly turned the ball over twice, but as they phased rightward then leftward, Anthem began breaking. Riekert Hattingh nearly made it to the line, blocked by Payton Telea-Ilalio, but Rhyno Herbst had an opening, reached over the try zone - and the ball fell out of his hand just inches from touching down.

While Seattle did well to hold Anthem at bay deep in defensive territory in the final minutes of the half and went into the sheds with no score, it was their first of two try-erasing mistakes on either side of halftime.

The second half began on a Seawolves attack that immediately broke through thanks to Roberts falling out of position to join a ruck, opening a wide highway for Nolan Tuamoheloa to barge through and send Warner a pass to complete the tailor-made try. Coetzer made the conversion to ostensibly put Seattle up 25-21. 

Only that try didn’t stand, as Anthem challenged for a Referee Review System (RRS) review and found a foul in an earlier ruck breakdown, as Herbst had made high contact to push Golla off of Kotze, and the seven points came back. 

It was at least 12 points - probably 14 - that Seattle would have scored if it weren’t for a pair of mistakes. But even still, Anthem’s own issues kept the game awfully close despite Seattle’s lack of clinical play.

The wheels slowly fell off the bus in the final 20 minutes as Seattle’s bending finally resulted in breaking.

For much of the course of the match, things were closer than the final 34-25 score. But when a team makes mistake after mistake when they need to bear down and fails to take true advantage of errors from their opponents, said side usually finds themselves on the back foot by game’s end.

Seattle brought forth a seemingly powerful attack in the 51st minute, shoving to the 22 after getting an attacking half lineout. But a disconnect between Warner and Rossouw became a turnover and Marno Redelinghuys’ tip tackle on a ruck breakdown put the blindside flanker in the sin bin.

Even down a man, Seattle was able to hold their own for a while, but a lot of that had to do with Anthem getting in their own way. Their lineout in particular was in need of work, with some bad throws and obstruction penalties dotting the game even when they had the extra player. But when Carolina was able to get into the maul, Seattle’s oddly overpowered forward pack yielded meters upon meters, and such a maul took Anthem from their own territory past midfield.

The big breaking point began in earnest as Anthem’s Erich Storti sent a chip kick nearly to the try line and Going picked up where his teammate left off, only being kept from scoring by an effective Michael Hand recovery. Sherman rushed forward with the ball as Seattle raced to extinguish the fire, and Ignacio Péculo - summoning some of the last of his energy - barred the door with Sherman lunging into the zone. Sherman clearly dropped the ball before touching it down. 

But the decision on the pitch was only that Sherman had been held up (not that he had lost control), and that’s what Anthem called to review. Sherman had touched the ball down in one motion, but only after he had already lost control and the ball was already loose did he re-connect with it. Referee Mike Lawrenson took a quick peek on the in-stadium screen and appeared to miss this fact, rapidly ruling it a try. Carty kicked the conversion to put Anthem up 28-18. 

Injuries and exhausted play piled up late as Seattle held off on substitutions, though debut caps came for Liulamaga and Walsh.

Knocks appeared early on Sunday afternoon, as Dorian Jones had to come out of the game at the first water break for Nick Boyer, but the tiredness and injury pile-up picked up steam in the second half.

The Seawolves’ forward pack hadn’t been very consistent during the first 50 minutes and change, but as the starters began to tire out, the issues became ever clearer. Lindenmuth had already been taken off in the 57th minute after going down with some sort of knock, replaced by LaRome White. 

But Péculo remained in, with exhaustion becoming clear after the second half water break. Carolina won a scrum penalty in Seattle territory as the Seawolves starting tighthead collapsed, giving Carty the opportunity to expand Anthem’s lead to 13 points with a penalty kick.

Replacements were coming in, though. Although Seattle had drafted Central Washington University center Calvin Liulamaga in the first round of the 2024 MLR Draft, the team didn’t add him to any matchday 23s in the 2025 season. But with Dan Kriel still unavailable, Liulamaga found himself on the first gameday roster of his professional rugby career, and went into the game for Tuamoheloa in the 62nd minute. 

Liulamaga’s first big action of the season was powering through two Carolina defenders at the try line - but one of those defenders, center Tom Pittman, recovered in time to put himself underneath the ball and hold it up.

Not that it affected the debutant center that much. Liulamaga broke through to the 22 meter line in the next minute, offloaded it to Boyer, and the Californian scrumhalf-by-trade, center-by-situation found Rossouw with a big opening for the third Seawolves try. With Coetzer having been subbed off for JP Smith, Mark Bennett took the conversion through the posts in the 70th minute.

Péculo went down in the 73rd and the trainer came on the field, but he wasn’t the only man down for Seattle as Bennett also went to the ground on the right touchline and had to be carried off. Seawolves second round 2025 MLR Draft pick Charlie Walsh came on to replace Bennett - all three backfield substitutions had already been made - while Péculo was able to remain in the game. But even as the starting tighthead approached a complete match, he still played in his main role (with Walsh acting as a blindside flanker during the scrum), and Carolina barreled through him in a 76th minute scrum to win a scrum penalty.

Anthem worked forward to midfield with the ensuing kick and lurched to Seattle’s 22 after a penalty on Tiai Vavao. The home crew looked to punch in any kind of points to make it a two-score game, doing so after White was called offsides. It was a yellow card for White since Seattle was on a penalty warning, leaving the Seawolves down a player for the final minute and a half.

All that Seattle realistically had left was the chance at two bonus points, one for four tries and the other for keeping a loss within seven points. Although the Seawolves managed to get a lineout in the red zone and even got away with an overthrow, a giveaway in the ruck ended the action past the 80 minute mark and finished off a game that didn’t yield anything for the visitors in the final tally.

Other notes and statistics:

• Divan Rossouw once again made many meters on Sunday, following up his 139-meter performance against Old Glory with 82 meters against Anthem.
• André Warner matched Rossouw’s meterage with 82 of his own.
• Paddy Ryan beat six defenders and made 12 tackles in addition to his try, one of the bright spots for Seattle in the loss.
• Anthem made 142 tackles and missed 22 while Seattle made 92 and missed 25. 
• The Seawolves had 17 clean breaks in 121 carries (14% break rate) while Carolina had seven clean breaks in 83 carries (8.4% break rate).