Coetzer Shines as Seawolves Wallop Anthem 57-21, Move into Second Place
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Seawolves lock Callum Botchar is lifted up to catch a lineout during his team’s 57-21 win over Anthem Rugby Carolina on May 17, 2026. Image credit: DK Realm Sports/Seattle Seawolves. [/caption]
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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Anthem’s biggest change to their lineup compared to their previous game against Seattle was outside center Dominic Akina, though they also put lock Will Sherman into the starting XV and, with Pittman on the wing, didn’t have former Seawolf Malacchi Esdale in the matchday 23. Both starting packs weighed in around the same, with Seattle’s front eight at 1,980 pounds (898 kilograms) and Anthem’s at 1,973 pounds (895 kilograms).
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Seattle put up crooked numbers early on, securing the bonus point well before halftime.
A harbinger for the final score came very early on in the match. After each side traded positional kicks, Seattle went out wide to Divan Rossouw and the outside center pushed to the 22. Dewald Kotze broke the Anthem line for a few more meters and Warner caught the visitors off-guard, breaking over the line and scoring a try just after the second minute expired. Coetzer landed the conversion to give Seattle the early 7-0 lead.
But a not releasing penalty on Seattle in their own territory resulted in a visiting lineout five meters away. Anthem went into their driving maul, pushing Seattle’s pack back meter by meter over the try line and allowing Campbell Robb to land the ball for the five points. Visiting flyhalf Luke Carty tied the game back up in the 6th minute with a conversion of his own.
Almost the same sequence of events happened in reverse for Seattle just a couple minutes later. It began differently; a long kick by Coetzer initially appeared to be only for territory, but Coetzer himself darted towards the landing zone with backup from Rossouw and Paddy Ryan. Anthem flanker Marques Fuala’au got to the ball but held on tightly, and due to the game situation, the call was a yellow card on the field.
The penalty gave Seattle the attacking lineout, the yellow got them a man advantage in said lineout. Anthem had no counter as Seattle completely barreled across, and Dewald Kotze scored the go-ahead try. Coetzer once again brought the ball through the posts for the extra two, this time from his right touchline.
Infractions kept piling up for Anthem, and with Fuala’au still in the bin, Seattle was primed to take advantage. Coetzer was all over the game in the 14th minute as his team came off a scrum, and as he went out wide to Redelinghuys, the latter landed the Seawolves’ third try of the match.
Seattle’s attack was swift and aggressive, with plenty of quick passes and pick-and-go play. The main drawback to the attack, however, seemed to be the passes around the touchline, with a couple notable passes backwards into space that lessened the pressure that the Seawolves were applying on Anthem. One of these plays occurred in the 18th minute, and although they initially recovered, a frantic knock-on by Divan Rossouw gave Anthem a scrum around midfield. By this point, both sides were at an even 15 men on the field.
Anthem won the scrum itself, but as they passed it out, Akina let his pass go a bit too far back and Nolan Tuamoheloa saw his chance, stealing the pass and roaring all the way across the pitch for the team’s fourth try. It was barely a fourth into the match, with the first half hydration having just concluded.
For whatever reason, Anthem completely fell apart in the following few minutes. Paddy Ryan picked it out of a ruck in the 23rd minute and broke completely free of the men guarding him, dashing from his own 22 to about midfield before dribbling a kick forward. Warner rushed up to grab the kick and land in the try zone, and when Coetzer made the conversion, it was 35-7. Almost unbelievably, this wasn’t where the momentum would end. Anthem lost the fall forward a few phases after they received the kickoff and it only took about 10 seconds for Warner to draw visiting eightman Makeen Alikhan off of Coetzer and allow the flyhalf to soar downfield. Coetzer gave it to Rossouw, who finished the try, and the number 10 was once again money off the tee. The score was 42-7 in the 26th minute.
It wasn’t until around the 30th minute that Anthem began putting something together for the first time since Robb’s try, taking advantage of Futi and Kriel going off their feet in a tackle and getting a line break to advance to Seattle’s 22-meter line. It immediately dissipated as inside center Tom Pittman’s pass went forward and Seattle got the scrum; Alikhan frustratedly chucked the ball at the ground as he went back for the set piece.
Rossouw got another line break soon after the scrum, and Seattle roared upfield deep into enemy territory. An attempted dribble kick up for a breakaway - teams can do these kinds of test-out plays when they’re up by a mile - didn’t end up panning out, and Anthem wound up pushing the action to around midfield.
Anthem had a brief spell of life around the halfway mark.
Seattle’s play began to weaken in these late minutes of the half. Anthem put together a strong attack and Akina (who had been threatening during the visitors’ few times with the ball) broke free with Julian Roberts at his side. While Futi could handle the one, the try was all but complete as Akina sent it to Roberts. Carty made his second conversion, but although Carolina put together another strong attack and nearly broke free along that same touchline, Seattle held the line long enough for a knock-on past the 40th minute to send the game to halftime.
Anthem kept that momentum going beyond the halfway mark, scoring their third try of the game less than a minute after the second half opened. Seattle found themselves compressed in the center as the visiting forwards charged and, on the blindside, winger Conner Mooneyham was all sorts of open to make the try. Carty made the conversion to bring the score to 42-21.
That momentum held even after some Seattle possession well upfield. For the second time in the game, the home side was jackaled in the ruck, and a following penalty against the Seawolves allowed Anthem to barrel forward, winning meterage with powerful rucking that appeared to catch Seattle off-guard.
The Seawolves managed to win a scrum and wound up kicking to about midfield. Seattle’s energy seemed to have recovered somewhat by this point and they induced another knock-on as their opponents tried to bring it across the halfway point. While the visitors’ tries on either side of halftime had resulted from keeping quality on the ball without getting penalized, that trend abated in the 50th minute as the whistle blew against Anthem and Seattle kicked to touch for the lineout. A heads-up chip kick by Coetzer found Duncan Matthews with all kinds of space for the tailor-made try. Although the try-assisting Coetzer missed the touchline kick, the Seawolves still led 47-21.
That didn’t mean the pressure let up. Anthem once again drove forward over the ensuing minutes, needing a quick couple of scores to get back in the game. LaRome White was given a yellow card for a bad tackle in the 54th, and with the man advantage, Anthem consistently found space to push forward. Will Sherman burned forward as Seattle’s men were being pressured and pulled away from each other and tried to drop off to Zion Going, but the ball went forward across the endline for a Seawolves goal line drop-out. And yet it was only a brief abatement of pressure, with the kick itself not flying all that far and Anthem winning a penalty. Seattle finally caught a break as they stole away the ball on the lineout, and a kick to touch that landed closer to midfield brought the game to the second half hydration and gave Seattle some space.
Fresh legs in the final 20 minutes put the lid on any outside chance at an Anthem comeback.
Seawolves head coach Allen Clarke put in some substitutes at the break, with hooker Liki Chan-Tung coming in for Kotze, Drake Davis for Kriel, and Dorian Jones for Coetzer. Charlie Walsh came on for Hattingh during White’s yellow card and, once the sin-bin was up, Tiai Vavao replaced Hattingh and Dewald Donald went in for Mason Pedersen at tighthead.
Meanwhile, on the pitch, the team wound up with a chance to truly put the game out of reach. Anthem’s quality of play was noticeably affected by their deficit, and all this meant for the visiting side was penalties and, crucially, a yellow card on Mooneyham for cynical play. Seattle had already brought the ball deep into attacking territory, but with the attacking lineout and the man advantage, it was go time.
Anthem’s efforts were valiant in that minute, with their pack stopping the maul inches from the try line the first time and pushing Davis into touch on the openside, Seattle had been playing with penalty advantage and their second maul lurched across the line and Ryan laid down the try. Jones’ kick went wide, but with a 52-21 lead with only 15 minutes left, Seattle had all five points in tow.
Seattle held the pressure on for the rest of the game. Clarke put in the rest of the subs - Sean McNulty for Ryan and Nick Boyer for Warner - and Anthem didn’t really find a way out of their half. The visitors did manage to hold off Seattle for a while, with substitute scrumhalf Ishma-eel Safodien holding up Chan-Tung at the line in the 77th minute, but a yellow on Safodien a minute later and some further Anthem mistakes allowed Seattle to maul over the line and Callum Botchar to get the final try of the game to finish out the 57-21 win.
Davy Coetzer continued to be the signing of the season for Seattle.
Elite flyhalves don’t grow on trees. The Seawolves have been blessed to have had some of them in the 2020s, such as Jordan Chait and Mack Mason, but in the years when they don’t have that presence, they have to make do elsewhere.
It was clear from the beginning of the season that Davy Coetzer had joined the ranks of the stellar Seawolves flyhalves, with a clear excellence at kicking from the tee, kicking in play, decision-making, passing, and creativity. When he went down ahead of Seattle’s game against the Free Jacks, it was up to Warner to fill in that role in the field and Rossouw to take the kicks from the tee.
“We said as a team, there’s going to be no excuses,” Warner said about Seattle’s attitude as they faced one knock after another. As can be seen from the results, he and his team worked through the absence of Coetzer. That absence was brief, however, and the regular flyhalf made quite an impression in his return.
Coetzer made six out of seven conversion attempts and had the direct assist in two tries on Sunday, the direct fruits of his all-around skillset. Crucially for the remaining three games of the regular season (and whichever playoff matches they end up in), he said the game didn’t aggravate anything.
“From a recovery standpoint, didn’t feel any twitches, no stiffness in the hamstring,” Coetzer said.
According to Coetzer, he exited the game after 63 minutes as a part of the team’s plan for him coming off injury, with the focus being the remainder of the season.
Charlie Walsh got plenty of playing time on Sunday, and he discussed his development.
Both of Seattle’s draft picks in the 2025 MLR Draft have been making more appearances as of late, typically coming off the bench (though Vavao played a strong full 80 against Old Glory). Development has been clearly going well for Vavao, who has been showing explosiveness with the ball and solid tackling play against his opponents. The same is true of Walsh, even though he has had to fill in as a loosehead prop with Ezekiel Lindenmuth suspended due to a red card.
When it comes to his current role, Walsh credits his veteran front row teammates with helping him adjust.
“It’s fairly new to me, but I’m enjoying it,” said Walsh, who is usually a tighthead prop. We have guys like Ezekiel Lindenmuth, LaRome White, and Dewald Donald, all those guys have years of experience in the MLR at loosehead, so learning off of them every day makes my job a whole lot easier.”
Walsh showed his chops at several points during the match, winning a scrum penalty as Anthem tighthead Oliver Kane collapsed under pressure from the Seawolves rookie and pushing forward for a few meters after contact with a notably explosive run during Seattle’s final attack. These good results are the fruits of good process, however, and Walsh talked about the mental strategies he and the Seawolves have set up.
“The main cues are to bring clarity in my role, to bring energy off the bench, and then make sure that, as a player, my teammates can trust me,” Walsh said. “Especially with limited minutes, you have to make the most of them, but you also just gotta do your job instead of finding hero moments.”
Although the Seawolves will have Lindenmuth back for their match against the Hounds next week, Walsh can very well factor into the equation on either side of the front row if need be. In any case, it will be the hardest match of the regular season.
The Seawolves need solid play from everyone if they are to hand the Hounds a stunner.
With three games left in the regular season and a 14-point lead over Seattle in the standings, the Chicago Hounds are virtually guaranteed to finish first in the table. They would have to lose every remaining game with no bonus points and Seattle would have to win every remaining game and bonus point in order for the Hounds to not win first place in the regular season. Even in such a scenario, just one bonus point for Chicago and one bonus point missed by Seattle would even the teams at the end of the standings and cause the tiebreaker rules to come into effect.
Still, a win against the Hounds would prove two things: that Chicago’s side is mortal, and that the Seawolves the team to beat for the second seed. While Seattle is in second place with 21 points, the team is only two points ahead of the third place Legion. Chicago, meanwhile, has looked like perhaps the best MLR team ever assembled, with a real shot at an undefeated season.
Everyone needs to be on point. Ezekiel Lindenmuth, whose red card came in the first half of Seattle’s first game against the Hounds, will have to clamp down on his penalizations. The team as a whole can’t let Chicago’s prowess fluster them and garner preventable meters and possessions for the Hounds, especially with the league’s best playing on their home turf.
“I think against Chicago, you have to be super disciplined,” Coetzer said. “They’re a team that are super clinical when they get into the 22, so managing the right areas of the field, preventing them from entering the 22 is going to be the main thing against them.”
The Seawolves only conceded seven penalties on Sunday (compared to Anthem’s 16), and that is probably the most positive sign they have going into the upcoming week. But if they return to earlier-season struggles with the whistle, any potential win against the Hounds would be highly unlikely to materialize.
Other weekend Seawolves festivities: 5k run, high school championship, Hattingh’s 101st cap.
The Seawolves’ match against Anthem was the culmination of a series of events they had hosted at Starfire over the weekend, with a couple of items of note from the previous day.
First on Saturday was a 5k run and kids’ dash in the morning, followed by the high school rugby state championships in the afternoon. While it was the Seawolves’ second year hosting the state high school rugby championships, chief operating officer Drew Dambreville incorporated the morning run - an inaugural event intended to be the first of many - as a way to expand the sport’s reach in the area.
“Not everyone’s first interaction with the Seawolves will be through attending a match, but a community event like a 5K or a kids dash creates an approachable entry point,” Dambreville noted in correspondence with Emerald City Spectrum. “The more touchpoints we create in the community, the more we can continue building awareness, passion, and long-term support for the sport.”
The team also celebrated captain Riekert Hattingh’s 100th MLR appearance. Even though it was actually his 101st appearance, since the 100th wasn’t at home, the team had a celebration video play after the game - consisting of congratulation clips from Seawolves past and present, such as Devin Short, Charles Elton, Kriel, and Smith - followed by comments from Clarke and Hattingh. The Seawolves’ captain is the sixth MLR player to reach 100 appearances, the fourth to do them all with the same team and the second for the Seawolves after Smith, according to the North American Rugby Database (NARDb).
Seattle’s longtime eightman joked about how much he had been reminded of his milestone in the past weeks before giving his thanks to the audience.
“I’m very humbled to stand here,” Hattingh said to the crowd after the match.
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Seawolves captain Riekert Hattingh talks to the fans after receiving his 101st cap on May 17, 2026. Image credit: Elise Klingenstein/Seattle Seawolves. [/caption]
