Seawolves Bounce Back Against Free Jacks, Become All-Time Winningest MLR Team
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The Seawolves practice before their 27-11 win on May 3, 2026 against the New England Free Jacks. Credit: Casey Arsenault/New England Free Jacks. [/caption]
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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The Free Jacks, looking to build some momentum off a win at home against Anthem in the week prior, kept 14 of their 15 starters from that game (the only switch being Tevita Sole at loosehead instead of Nathan Sylvia, who came on as the substitute tighthead). But they did switch from a 6-2 substitute split back to the typical 5-3.
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The first 20 minutes produced one unconverted try for each side as opening jitters were apparent.
In what would very quickly become a pattern, the Jacks got dinged for two early penalties as their forwards’ overeagerness led to an offside penalty in the field and a jumping across penalty in the lineout. The Seawolves lost the ball in an ensuing breakdown, seemingly got the ball back due to a forward pass on New England, but as a somewhat dinged up Ignacio Péculo collapsed in the scrum, the Jacks crashed forward with the ball.
Seawolves lock Rhyno Herbst kept the home side off the board in the eighth minute as flanker Jacob Norris barreled over the line on a corner maul, but Herbst got under the ball and held the Jacks hooker up.
Again, however, Seattle struggled to move the ball forward on the attack. The absence of Coetzer at flyhalf showed as the Seawolves lacked quite a bit of their quickness with the ball. Phases from left to right sought to strike at a hole, but as Seattle got pushed across the touchline, New England recovered the ball in the 11th minute, but a series of turnovers for both teams led to a Seawolves lineout within their own 22 in the 13th.
That run of play gave New England another big opportunity, as a muffed throw allowed some barreling at the try line and an offsides call on Riekert Hattingh didn’t help matters for the Seawolves. In the 15th minute, the Jacks successfully drew Nolan Tuamoheloa towards the center, allowing home right wing Nathan Salmon an open line to score the first try of the game for either side.
After the kickoff to restart, however, the Seawolves finally broke across the midfield line. Dan Kriel wriggled around would-be tacklers along the left touchline, connecting with Tuamoheloa and Paddy Ryan, and Seattle worked a bit beyond the attacking 22 before taking advantage of another Free Jacks penalty - this time a yellow on lock Piers von Dadalszen - to make it all the way to the line. A couple of scrum restarts later, the Seawolves sent it over to the right side, where Michael Hand took advantage of New England’s missing man to tie the game with a touchline try of his own.
Seattle struggled in the second fourth of the game despite multiple yellows on New England, but they kept the hosts to just six points on the other end.
As the first half water break came and went, the Seawolves got a golden opportunity to take a first half lead, but continued sloppiness with the ball prevented any scoring from happening even as the Jacks suffered another yellow card with inside center Kienan Higgins’ deliberate knock-on and the Seawolves had two extra men on the field for four minutes.
They got the ball quite a ways downfield in the 29th minute. Just as during their try-scoring drive earlier in the match, Seattle had the benefit of New England’s sloppiness as the home side conceded a couple of penalties, and Kriel gained a couple of meters near the center of the pitch. But a disconnect between Divan Rossouw and Duncan Matthews led to the latter bobbling a catch and giving it away to the hosts.
Although New England roared down the field past the 22, their own propensity for errors probably factored into their decision to take three points out of a penalty against Seattle in the 31st minute instead of going for the corner lineout. Joel Hodgson easily made the three points from the tee to put the Jacks up 8-5.
A Seawolves giveaway in their own half allowed some pushing and shoving at the line for the Free Jacks as they tried to find a hole, and although Seattle held firm in the field, another penalty (this one only a few meters beyond midfield) put Hodgson back in front of the tee for another three New England points in the 37th minute.
The Jacks looked for a potential yellow-worthy bit of foul play by LaRome White with a use of the Referee Review System, but clear mitigation by White after the shoulder contact meant it was only a penalty. Still, they had a corner lineout to end the half, but yet another penalty for the home side meant the game remained 11-5 going into the final 40 minutes.
The Seawolves had a clean second half, one of the best of the season, and put together a clinic to wring every point from the match.
Despite only being up by six points due to all their penalizations, the Free Jacks had dominated the territory and possession battles of the first half, with 68% of the former and 55% of the latter as the teams went into the sheds. But the tables turned hard in the final 40 minutes, when Seattle had 63% of the possession and 68% of the territory, not to mention three tries.
Mason Pedersen subbed into the game for Péculo at half, with the starting tighthead clearly tired after playing a full 80 minutes in two of his first four games of the season. An early yellow card on Jacob Norris for going after the scrumhalf at the base of the ruck gave Seattle yet another man advantage. Given that the play took place well within New England territory, Rossouw went for the posts and brought the score to 11-8.
After a few minutes of possession changing hands, New England fullback Mitch Wilson got penalized for a bad tackle and Seattle had a corner lineout. Unlike much of the action that had preceded Seattle’s 50th minute run of play, there wasn’t any foul play on either side as Seattle tried to pick and go under the posts and then brought it out towards the left touchline. The ball got out to Ryan on the edge, and he lurched to the corner of the try line for a good five points. He was close to touch, and New England challenged the play, but there wasn’t any camera angle that could point one way or the other, so the call stood.
While making the try with a man advantage to gain the 13-11 lead was one thing, the Seawolves managed to get another try with even sides as the second half water break approached. Unlike their first two tries, which had come from corner lineouts, the Seawolves made this one with a good old fashioned line break.
Coming out of a scrum, the openside of the pitch was naturally quite free of defenders, something that was compounded as Matthews found open space for around 10 meters on the blindside, and Wilson was well out of position for what came next. Matthews worked around to the openside, drawing two tacklers as he offloaded it to a wide-open Hand along the touchline. Hand, with a ton of green grass in front of him, was easily able to secure his brace. Rossouw made the conversion and with that, the Seawolves had a 20-11 lead.
Seattle had a further challenge going into the second half water break, as Nick Boyer was sent to the sin bin, but they held firm against the Free Jacks during their first couple of defensive spells and even had the attack during a few attacks of their own. But New England took advantage of a couple of penalties with the 70th minute approaching and the home side had a corner lineout and a chance to get back in the game.
Hungry Jacks yet again got in their own way with overeagerness, as a knock-on gave the ball right back to Seattle. The Seawolves brought it forward into New England’s half and yet couldn’t make anything of it due to turnovers in the breakdown. The Jacks would have had an electric breakaway were it not for a 73rd minute tackle by Duncan Matthews, but as things shook out, Seattle once again got an attack going.
The Seawolves reached the 22 near the end of the 78th minute and won a penalty thanks to a high tackle from New England to get an ensuing lineout about eight meters out. Liki Chan-Tung advanced forward out of the maul and the vanguard of Seattle’s attack shoved forward along the blindside.
Finally, as time ticked over to the 80th minute, Tiai Vavao picked from the ruck and darted over the try line. Hodgson was clearly surprised by the move, unable to get a tackle on the rookie forward before the try was made. The game was effectively over and Seattle had secured five points for the first time in the season.
Just for good measure, they went for the conversion as time expired. None other than Riekert Hattingh went up to the tee (not clear why), but he was all smiles as he booted it through the posts for the first conversion of his MLR career and the first conversion made by a forward in MLR history.
Irishmen and rookies stood out for the Seawolves during the win, though a late exit for Redelinghuys raised the specter of injury.
Seattle’s win had a few notable individual performances.
Ryan and Hand, the team’s two US-eligible Irishmen, were the Seawolves’ two clear standouts during the match. Hand, of course, secured a brace, but his defense also looked solid - he made seven tackles during the match - and he showed some ability to create meters after contact. Ryan, meanwhile, put together another all-around performance, beating eight defenders and making 13 tackles in another full 80 minutes on the pitch. His ability to stay with charging attackers is notable, as is his strength in making meters after contact.
There were other notables, too. Kriel has looked as good as ever in the two games since his return, as he cobbled together nine tackles and 65 meters after contact during his 71 minutes on the pitch.
A special credit has to go to Seattle’s two 2025 MLR Draft picks, Tiai Vavao and Charlie Walsh, as they closed out the game in the final 10 minutes. Vavao, of course, made his presence known late with his try, while Walsh had notably solid ruck protection and held up the scrum even playing a little out of position as the loosehead prop once White exited the game. White himself had a banner day, his 18 tackles the most among a forward pack that stymied New England for the whole 80 minutes.
Of course, the big reason why the Seawolves were able to play as well as they did during the second half was that they, as a collective, weren’t committing penalties, conceding just four in the final 40 minutes.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Redelinghuys, the starting blindside flanker, went down in the 64th minute and had to be taken out for Vavao. It’s obviously not clear what the injury status will be, but for a team that lost Harison Mataele for the season and was without Kalisi Moli for the game, any more injuries in the forward pack are about the last thing they want.
The halfway house: how do the Seawolves stand with each team five fixtures deep?
With all the action done and dusted on Sunday - and the Legion and Anthem taking the bye week while the rest of the teams catch up - the day marked the halfway mark for all six MLR teams. The Hounds once again outlasted their opponents, now a perfect 5-for-5 with 25 points after a 49-31 win over Old Glory DC. Meanwhile, Seattle’s 11 points mark them for a third place tie with Anthem Rugby Carolina.
Still, with five games left for all sides, Chicago and California appear to be the two clear best teams. They’re the only ones with a winning record, a positive point differential, and with more tries scored than tries allowed. But while a first-place finish over Chicago is far out of reach, the Legion’s 17 points are more in sight for Seattle. But even with that, assuming that California finishes with 34 points, that would mean that Seattle would have to be near-perfect for the rest of the season to be able to catch them and get a guaranteed home playoff fixture.
