Seawolves Grind Out 25-17 Win Against Anthem
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The Seattle Seawolves and Anthem Rugby Carolina battle for the ball on March 29, 2025. Seattle would go on to win the game 25-17. Credit: Punkus Arnett/Seattle Seawolves [/caption]
TUKWILA, Wash. – The team has a pulse, but next week will tell us more. The Seattle Seawolves came away from a must-win game with all five possible points, but it was a rocky road to a 25-17 victory over Anthem. High tackles dogged the team throughout the game, while the Seawolves traded crowded rucks in the first half for multiple missed kicks in the second half.
Seattle’s opponent was Anthem Rugby Carolina, a team formed in 2024 from a partnership between MLR, the USA Eagles, and World Rugby. Coming into the match, Anthem had never won a match – going 0-16-0 in 2024 and starting 2025 0-5-0 – and Seattle, with uncomfortable difficulty, handed Anthem their 24th loss in as many games.
Saturday’s match saw longtime Seawolf center Dan Kriel earn his 50th MLR cap. Kriel has played in MLR since 2022 and has been on Seattle’s roster for his entire MLR career. The Emerald City has clearly rubbed off on him, as he now lives full-time in Seattle with his family.
“Any player receiving 50 caps for a team is an absolute awesome achievement, but the fact that he’s had all of those caps with the Seawolves makes it even more special,” head coach Allen Clarke said after the game. “He’s a big part of our squad and he’s a big part of Seattle now.”
Seattle also saw a key piece return to the match, as flanker Charles Elton made his first appearance since suffering a season-ending ACL injury in May 2024. Elton was the MLR leader in tackles in 2023, and with the Seawolves having issues immediately off opponents’ rucks this season, his return carries significant promise.
“He’s the guy that makes 20-plus tackles every game, you need one of those guys on your team,” fullback Divan Rossouw stated.
Rough First Half Sees Anthem Take Lead
The Seawolves dealt with multiple problems in the first half. Issues on ball quality, less present the week prior, returned in force, with multiple knock-ons and not releasing calls ending Seattle drives and instances of not rolling away giving Anthem key meters, while the Seawolves hindered themselves with overcrowded rucks. Compounding this were issues in tackling, as the Seawolves seemed to be going for the ball rather than the man, netting the home side multiple high tackling penalties.
Early on in the half, though problems were apparent – such as an early high tackle from Kriel – Seattle initially looked like the stronger team, if slightly. In the 6th minute, it appeared that Rossouw opened the scoring with a clean break and 20-meter run into a try, but the points were called back as the ref motioned that a tip-tackle had occurred in an earlier breakdown. After that point, sloppy play began to dog the Seawolves more heavily.
Despite this, the Seawall held the first time that Anthem made their way to the try line. In the 10th minute, Kriel was penalized for a high tackle, giving Anthem the opportunity for a corner kick. They took the ensuing lineout into maul – but Seattle’s pack held them, and so Anthem then brought it into phases, and attempted to sneak a short kick forward. But Rossouw grabbed the ball and kicked it into touch. Anthem grabbed the ensuing lineout and took it through phases down to the openside in the 12th minute, where wing Toby Fricker broke free and charged down the line – but Iona tackled him into touch and prevented the try.
Seattle took the following lineout into phases. Scrumhalf JP Smith helped Seattle get some breathing room from the try line before getting the ball off a ruck and kicking to touch in the 13th, leading to a couple minutes of Anthem passing phases before Ina Futi induced a knock-on from Anthem. Seattle won the home scrum and took a kick for distance, which Anthem kicked right back. Seattle pushed forward ruck by ruck and then broke forward towards the try line, as Rhyno Herbst dropped a hospital pass off to an open Kriel, who rolled about 20 meters up the pitch. The ball came loose in the ensuing phases, but Seattle won a tackle penalty and chose to take it into a scrum. The Seawolves won the scrum – though not without difficulties – and went through a few passing phases before knocking it on, ending the chance in the 20th minute.
After a little inconclusive play around midfield, Anthem caught a good break in the 22nd, as Seawolf flanker Olajuwon Noa was given a yellow card for a high tackle and went to the sin bin for 10 minutes. Anthem immediately sent the penalty kick to the corner for a lineout, which they took into maul. Seattle barely held the line against the maul, keeping Anthem out of the try zone, but then Anthem phased the ball along the try line to eightman Michael Ma’afu, who dove across the line for the first points of the game in the 24th. Fullback Mitch Wilson sank the conversion to put Anthem up 7-0.
For most of the rest of the half, neither team proved able to make noise on offense. Both teams traded periods of inconsequential passing phases bookended by knock-ons and other penalties. As the half drew to a close, however, Seattle took advantage of a 35th-minute Anthem knock-on to put together a threat. The Seawolves won the scrum and passed it down toward the touch line, through Iona to Mika Kruse, who charged forward and then dumped it off to Ina Futi. Futi barreled down the line but was tackled into touch by Tidwell, giving Anthem a lineout – one that Herbst stole for Seattle, who then phased it through to Rossouw on the openside.
The Seawolf fullback charged forward, going down five meters from the try line, but Smith knocked it on during the breakdown. Anthem won their scrum and opted for a distance kick, but Seattle brought the ball back into Anthem territory and won a penalty due to Anthem not rolling away, which Iona took through the uprights for three points. Both sides went into the locker rooms with the score standing at 7-3, Anthem on top.
Seattle Stronger in Final 40, Pushes Through for Win
The Seawolves started the second half in better form than the first, with cleaner ruck play and better ball handling – though they still suffered from penalties, especially in tackling. In the first few minutes, both teams sent competing distance kicks, though Seattle slowly brought the ball into Anthem territory. Anthem knocked the ball on to give the Seawolves a 43rd-minute scrum, off of which the home side won a scrum penalty. Iona attempted to bring the team within one with a penalty, but his kick flew outside the left post.
Anthem immediately brought the ball back to Seattle’s half of the pitch. As the phases continued, the Seawolves got called for not rolling away from a ruck, giving Anthem a penalty that they used to kick for corner. Once more, Seattle held its own against Anthem’s lineout maul, so the visitors went through some passing phases before Seattle was once again penalized, this time for a high tackle. Mitch Wilson went for the penalty kick and sent a chip shot through the uprights in the 50th minute, extending Anthem’s lead to 7.
This, however, was when the Seawolves soared back to life. Seattle piled up on Fricker, the recipient of the kickoff, and caused him to lose the ball. Mason Pedersen – in for Juan Pablo Zeiss at tighthead prop – picked it up mere meters from the try zone. His loosehead counterpart Cam Orr lurched forward, then Hattingh, then Pedersen, then Elton, as the team tried to pick and go. Smith got the ball and sent it back towards the touch line, going through Iona to wing Toni Pulu, who lunged past a tackler into the try zone in the 51st minute. Iona made the conversion to knot the match at 10 apiece.
For the next few minutes, each team traded scrums, kicks, and lineouts, but Seattle began to show its mettle against Anthem, as the Seawolves stole two straight Anthem lineouts approaching the 60th minute. Anthem got the ball back and moved it forward a bit through several rucks, but lock Sam Golla muffed the reception on a box kick from scrumhalf Karl Keane, and Seattle won the ball back once more in the 60th. After a couple passes, Iona chipped a short kick up the middle of the field, and Rossouw charged forward, grabbed the ball at midfield, and went on a thunder run all the way to the try zone. Though Iona missed the conversion, Seattle was now on top 15-10.
Anthem threatened in the proceeding minutes, as they took a corner after Seattle was called for a late tackle. Anthem’s lineout was good and the pack went into a maul, finally winning some yards against the Seawolf pack before a few passing phases, but the visitors suffered a penalty in the breakdown. Seattle took the kick into touch at midfield, then made a clean lineout and went through passing phases of their own. In the 65th, Hattingh got through the line, then tossed it back to Cam Orr, who barreled forward a few more meters to the 22. Smith got the ball out of the ruck and passed to Iona, who sent it to Futi, who dumped off to Rossouw near the touchline. Rossouw dodged two tacklers and weaved his way through a tunnel of other Anthem players on the way to his second try in five minutes. Iona missed the conversion, so Seattle was now ahead by 10.
Seeing the window closing, Anthem tried to get back into the game, utilizing a Mason Pedersen yellow card in the 69th minute to get a lineout deep in Seattle territory. However, Herbst reached his hand up in front of Ma’afu and sent the ball towards his teammates, allowing Smith to send a distance kick toward midfield. Luckily for Seattle, Fricker’s feet were straddling the try line, meaning that the lineout was Seattle’s throw. Several rucks followed, as Seattle sent the ball back and forth, before Pulu was penalized for air contact with Fricker on the reception of a Smith high kick. Pulu went down after the play and walked off the field with a limp in the 72nd. TMO review showed that, during a ruck immediately preceding the kick, Anthem scrumhalf Karl Keane made head contact during a tackle on Ina Futi, sending Keane to the sin bin for the rest of the match.
Rossouw took the penalty kick into touch deep in Anthem territory. Seattle took the following lineout into maul, breaking through Anthem’s forwards and making it to the doorstep of the try line. The Seawolves briefly tried to pick and run at the line before whipping it across the openside. Rossouw found an open Malacchi Esdale near the try line, who darted forward, switching direction around several Anthem defenders, and jumped over the line in the 73rd for Seattle’s fourth try of the match – and his fourth try in as many appearances in 2025. Fouché, now taking kicks, missed the conversion, so Seattle took a 25-10 lead.
Just as the game was out of reach, Anthem finally looked dangerous in open play. The visitors gained meters in Seattle’s half of the pitch – with openside flanker Makeen Alikhan nearly landing himself a clean break off a pass from Wilson – before Seattle was penalized for offsides in the 76th (and Mika Kruse went off the pitch, unable to put weight on his left leg). Anthem kicked for the corner and won the lineout due to Rhyno Herbst being called for jumping across. The visitors then picked and ran at the try line, allowing Jake Turnbull – a prop substitution for Anthem and former Seawolf – to lunge over the ruck and dip the ball across the try line in the 78th. Wilson made the conversion, bringing the score to 25-17. There it remained until the final whistle.
Takeaways
It was a tough game for Seattle with lingering issues in quality, tackling, and kicking, but the Seawolves pushed through for the win. The victory is somewhat dampened by the comparatively forgiving winless opponent, and the team knows that they will not be able to get away with Saturday’s issues in following weeks.
“We’ve been struggling this season with having a fast start. So, we went at halftime and just said ‘listen, boys, we need to flip that mental switch’,” Rossouw said after the game. “[We need] to start the game like we started the second half, from now on.”
Anthem, meanwhile, had a very rough match. After narrowly losing to the stellar Houston SaberCats the week prior, Anthem showed deep issues of their own. Of 16 total home lineouts for the visitors, they lost five – almost a full third – and muffed two more that they managed to recover on. Contrast the Seawolves’ perfect 9-for-9 on the lineout. Anthem – at least until the last five minutes – was completely unthreatening in ruck phases, eschewing full down-the-line passing phases in favor of having the first man in line try to break past the defense, a strategy that bore little fruit for the visitors.
Although the home side struggled mightily, there were several standout individual performances for Seattle that helped carry the team across the finish line. Rossouw’s performance at fullback made him a clear man of the match contender, with good passing and kicking in addition to his brace. Ina Futi, the right wing, played a key role in setting up the big plays throughout the game. Captain Riekert Hattingh, the number eight, once again played excellently, with a strong presence in the rucks and making meters at key points. Rhyno Herbst put together a solid match at lock, helping steal multiple lineouts from Anthem and making some key passes in high leverage situations. Cam Orr continued his stellar play as loosehead prop, quickly getting on the ball and moving it forward.
Flyhalf Rodney Iona is something of an interesting case. He performed very well in the open field, handling the ball skillfully during Seattle’s passing phases and setting off Rossouw’s 60th-minute run with a perfectly placed chip kick. However, he struggled off the tee, missing two conversions and a penalty kick – dropping a total of seven potential points from the Seattle board. It did not matter Saturday, as the Seawolves drew out a strong cushion in the back half, but the team’s inconsistency from the tee is an issue that does not appear to have an obvious solution.
Moving Forward
Despite serious shakiness against the worst team in MLR, Seattle came out of Saturday’s match with everything it needed from it. Most importantly, the Seawolves won, bringing their record to 2-4-0 and saving the season from truly dire straits early on. Seattle landed four tries, netting the bonus table point to bring the team to 15 table points. They are still last in the Western Conference – the San Diego Legion lead with a 5-1-0 record and 25 table points. The Houston SaberCats are also 5-1-0 with 25 table points but have a 58 point differential to the Legion’s 84. Sitting in third are the Utah Warriors, with a 4-2-0 record and 21 table points, while RFC Los Angeles is in fourth with a 3-3 record and 18 table points.
The next match for the Seawolves is on Saturday, April 5, on the road against Old Glory DC. Old Glory are currently second in the Eastern Conference with a 3-3-0 record and 17 points in the table. The game will start at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.
