> ## 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. # Davy Coetzer, Seawolves Overcome Late Front Row Red in 33-16 Win over Old Glory - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-seawolves-take-opening-match-old-glory-dc/ - Published: 2026-04-04T18:15:58.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:15:19.000Z - Author: Callaghan Bluechel - Tags: News, Analysis, Seawolves, Davy Coetzer, André Warner, Marno Redelinghuys, Ezekiel Lindenmuth, JP Smith, Nick Boyer, Riekert Hattingh, Ignacio Péculo, Mason Pedersen, Sean McNulty, Divan Rossouw, Duncan Matthews \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2814"\] ![ Seattle Seawolves loose forward Marno Redelinghuys catches a lineout throw late in the team’s match against Old Glory DC on April 3, 2026. Image credit: Callaghan Bluechel/Emerald City Spectrum. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/4-3-26-seawolves-format-original.png) Seattle Seawolves loose forward Marno Redelinghuys catches a lineout throw late in the team’s match against Old Glory DC on April 3, 2026\. Image credit: Callaghan Bluechel/Emerald City Spectrum. \[/caption\] TUKWILA, Wash. - Before the 2026 season began, it wasn’t clear at all how the Seawolves stacked up against their five opponents. All the teams in the MLR consolidated talent from the folded teams, but as to the strength of each team as compared to each other, there wasn’t a whole lot to go off of besides conjecture. It was clear Anthem were majorly improved while the defending champion Free Jacks lost a grand total of 13 Canadian-eligible players and had a heap of general turnover. But with all the chaos, last year’s point totals, win totals, and point differentials weren’t the biggest thing weighing in the preseason projections. In the first week, however, the team with a positive-38 point differential last year beat the team with a minus-40\. Both sides had to work past some early season jitters, but with a new elite flyhalf in tow and the home turf grit to battle past a late red, the Seawolves logged the opening win under the Friday night Starfire lights. ### Davy Coetzer had an excellent first match with the Seawolves, scoring 18 of Seattle’s 33 points. A couple of Old Glory penalties in the early minutes led to offseason-acquired flyhalf Davy Coetzer’s first penalty kick of the season in the fourth minute. It was a relatively easy shot in windless conditions, but Coetzer shanked it a bit to the left and it bounced off the post into the visitors’ hands. That, along with a couple half-fumbles, was the only real mistake Coetzer made all match. Old Glory’s penalty-prone ways didn’t stop there, however, and the Seawolves got their hands on a fifth minute corner lineout. Seattle’s first maul of the season met a wall of Flags and the ball bounced out of the line backwards, but yet another visiting penalty meant the Seawolves were playing with advantage and had another shot at the corner lineout. While DC once again stopped the initial maul, loosehead prop Ezekiel Lindenmuth took an early pick-and-go into the try zone for the first points of the season. Coetzer nailed the conversion to bring Seattle up 7-0. The visitors clamped down on their early shakiness at this point, and it was Seattle with the penalty about 12 meters into their defensive half. Old Glory flyhalf Jason Robertson took it through the posts for Old Glory’s first three points of their campaign. Coetzer made a good impression in open play in the minutes before the first half water break. Old Glory got within the 22 for the only time in the half, and with some electric play from hooker Kirby Myhill and lock Rick Rose, the ball was loose in Seattle’s own try zone with the two forwards barreling towards it. Seattle’s new flyhalf made a desperate kick into touch to briefly stem the momentum, but a flawless Old Glory lineout resumed the pressure. From 10 meters out to five meters out to in at the death the visitors charged forward as they worked from left to right, but Coetzer saved the day again as he stole the ball away near the touchline and booted it into touch about 30 meters forward. Neither team was able to get in the red zone beyond the hydration break, though fullback Divan Rossouw came close in the 39th minute. Instead, with penalties, knock-ons, and strong tackles stopping each team from going the distance - and with not a lick of wind traveling through the air - the game became a battle of boots. First Robertson made two kicks from about 37 meters out to put Old Glory to a 9-7 lead, then Coetzer nailed a 45-meter shot to give Seattle a one-point advantage. Rossouw’s aforementioned run initiated a run of phases at Seattle’s attacking 22, but a knock-on seemingly gave the Flags a momentum-killing scrum. Upon further review, however, a high tackle from the defenders gave Seattle a penalty in dead-central position 30 meters out, an easy knock for Coetzer. The Seawolves went into the sheds with a 13-9 lead. Coetzer’s clear skill when going for posts had a notable impact on Seattle’s strategy as compared to last year. No longer uneasy about the penalty-making abilities of Rodney Iona or Eddie Fouché, the team had Coetzer’s boot as the clear backstop in the face of DC’s powerful pack. And by the time the action had ended a half later, Coetzer had come away with four conversions and three penalties, good for 18 points. ### An early second-half yellow card for Old Glory opened up the field of play for both sides to score tries. The Seawolves charged out of the gate in the second half, turning a penalty advantage in opposing territory into another half-opening pair of corner lineouts and mauls. Seattle’s pack finally began to push their counterparts back a meter or so in the second maul, but starting hooker Sean McNulty got taken down a meter away from the line. Scrumhalf André Warner took it out and got it to openside flanker Paddy Ryan, who charged into the try zone, but an excellent hold-up kept Seattle scoreless for the half. Another corner lineout before the 50th minute for Seattle gave the team another prime chance, but eightman Riekert Hattingh muffed the reception and the Flags got a hold of the ball, beginning a long drive for the visitors. With Michael Hand, Ina Futi, and Rufus McLean unavailable. longtime scrumhalf JP Smith played all 80 minutes in an unusual role: on the wing. “I’ve had quite a bit of practice. Obviously, I fill in wherever I can, I mean, when the team needs me, I fill in,” Smith said. “I’ve played 15, 13, wing for the Seawolves in previous (matches). I’ve never started there, but I have filled in there.” The longtime Seawolf found himself fairly comfortable in his new role, taking tips from veteran backliners such as Coetzer, Warner, Rossouw, and usual fullback Duncan Matthews. Smith didn’t stress too much difference in comfort level between different areas of the game, but he did note a bit of a steeper learning curve when it came to defense. “It’s a different position to defend with, but I’m pretty much comfortable with it,” Smith said. “I defend there as a nine, too, so that’s perfectly fine.” But as the first man up on the left wing, he had to contend with opposing right wing Perry Humphreys, who scored six tries in 2025, and fullback Max Schumacher, who notched five tries of his own last year per the North American Rugby Database (NARDb). Seattle had gotten fairly lucky a couple of times between the 10th and 20th minute as Old Glory’s backfield sought to take advantage of Smith’s newness on wing defense. Both Humphreys and left wing John Rizzo broke past Smith in the 13th, but the ball carrier Rizzo overcooked his chip kick and the ball bounced past the try zone to give Seattle a scrum much closer to midfield. A couple minutes later, Humphreys completely sidestepped Smith and had an open line for a breakaway, but Robertson’s pass flew over his head beyond the try line. But in the 55th minute, one of these pushes turned into seven points for Old Glory, as Humphreys and Robertson breezed past Smith and Tuamoheloa on the visitors’ right touchline. Robertson had his toughest task of the night with a long kick from said touchline, but he sent it through once more to tie the match at 16. Seattle’s try with advantage came on a line break, as so often happens, but the context of the break was a strong Old Glory kick deep into Seawolves territory. Matthews got the ball around his own 22, and with opponents gunning for him, he dropped the ball off to Rossouw, who had been explosive all match but without any game-changing breaks. Rossouw darted forward, broke two tackles, and then gunned almost two-thirds of the way downfield before shuffling it to a wide-open Warner for the five points. Coetzer once again brought it through the posts, and the Seawolves had a 23-16 edge. ### A Mason Pedersen red card forced Seattle to grind out 17 minutes, but the team maintained a lid on the game and pulled out a win. The second half hydration break, taken in the 58th minute, saw Seawolves head coach Allen Clarke make four subs. Out went Rossouw, Lindenmuth, inside center Nolan Tuamoheloa, and tighthead prop Ignacio Péculo; in came Nick Boyer, Dewald Donald, Mason Pedersen, and Dorian Jones. Boyer went in as a wing, with Matthews moving over to fullback, meaning that both wing positions were now being played by scrumhalves. “It takes a bit of a mindset shift, because at nine, you’re really driving the tempo of the game, and you’re thinking a bit more, and your vision’s up,” Boyer said. “At winger or center, you’re thinking about what’s in front of you, and you’re a bit more involved in the action … I think the biggest one was having to pack down in the scrum. I haven’t done that for about 10 years.” The reason why Boyer was in the scrum - at blindside flanker, to be specific - is that the forwards lost one of their guys to a red card. Mason Pedersen, going to tackle Old Glory flanker Aidan King, made clear head contact with no mitigation. The MLR’s new Referee Review System went over the play and Pedersen was sent off with a 20-minute red; in the 62nd minute, this meant Seattle was playing down a man for the rest of the game. The red allowed for Péculo to return to the pitch (subbing on for lock Rhyno Herbst while starting blindside flanker Marno Redelinghuys moved up to Herbst’s position) so that Seattle could have a tighthead, but that put Boyer in his first scrum in a decade. “I think it’s a great microcosm of our culture, which is ‘next man up,’ you know,” Boyer said about his versatile role with the team. “We’ve been, unfortunately, kind of wrecked with injuries, and it’s already a small squad to start with.” Boyer kept visiting blindside flanker Cory Daniel in check with a big 65th minute tackle as Old Glory tried to phase from side to side 10 meters into Seattle’s half and use its numerical edge to find a line break. Boyer wasn’t the last line of defense in that moment, with Matthews about five meters behind, but the move delayed DC’s attack. Daniel bested Boyer later in the minute, but Ryan stole the ball in the following breakdown and several minutes of midfield maneuvering ensued. Another stroke of luck went Seattle’s way in the 71st minute. Although the Flags had won a scrum penalty, Robertson sent it towards his right touchline to try and punch a try through a shorthanded Seattle’s left. Humphreys got the ball and began to move forward with just Smith and a moving Bennett in opposition, but knocked it on and the visitors went for the lineout around Seattle’s 22\. Redelinghuys, who had been in for the entire match, didn’t show a lick of exhaustion as he aggressively stole the throw. Despite being down a man and at a marked disadvantage in scrums due to Pedersen’s red, the Seawolves managed to work a scrum penalty and Coetzer pushed beyond Old Glory’s 22\. A penalty against the visitors allowed Coetzer to split the posts and bring Seattle to a 10-point lead, effectively putting the game out of reach for the visitors. There was confusion in the stadium - with the in-stadium announcer broadcasting that the Seawolves were going for their fourth try in these final minutes, while they were actually on three tries - but the best defense is a good offense, and Seattle kept up the pressure in the last three minutes. A final lineout maul led to some phasing around the Seawolves’ left side, capped with Smith dotting the ball into the zone to push Seattle past 30 points. Once again, Coetzer landed the conversion, making him 3-for-3 on conversions and 7-for-8 overall, and the final score of 33-16 was a comfortable margin for the home side. “Obviously, it’s a very big cliché, but it’s a team try,” Smith said of his game-ending play. ### Other notes: - Hattingh looked more explosive coming off a year’s rest after an injury-shortened 2025\. He was able to impose himself more on the gainline and had a couple near-breakaways, though Old Glory’s strong flanker core kept him in check. - In addition to the former SaberCat flyhalf Coetzer, his fellow former SaberCats - Lindenmuth, Redelinghuys, and Warner - all had impressive performances in their first Seawolves caps. - Before the game, the Seawolves inducted former lock Samu Manoa into the Seawolves Legends. Per NARDb, Manoa racked up 825 meters, 175 tackles, and one try in 26 games across four seasons between 2019 and 2022, though he didn’t play in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. - Seattle’s 2025 MLR Draft first round pick, Tiai Vavao, logged two minutes at the end of the game. ### Next Up: The Seawolves’ next match is on the road against Anthem Rugby Carolina, who notched their first ever victory last Saturday (with the help of one Conner Mooneyham, former Seawolf, who notched a brace). While both teams won their first contest, Anthem are currently ahead in the standings by one point thanks to their four-try bonus point.