NEWS

ELIMINATOR ROUND REVIEW

Written by Joe Harvey | Photo by Rugby New York, Quinn Width

In the Eliminator Round of the Major League Rugby Championship Series presented by NuArca Labs, there were two fantastic displays of rugby as Rugby New York and the Seattle Seawolves progressed to their Conference Finals.

MLR correspondent Joe Harvey watched on as New York won their first ever game in the postseason to set up a match up with the New England Free Jacks next week, while the Seattle Seawolves stepped back into the playoffs in fine fashion to arrange a meeting with the Houston SaberCats in Texas.

RUGBY ATL 19 – 26 RUGBY NEW YORK

There were shades of 2021 as Rugby ATL and Rugby New York tested one another at Silverbacks Park. When Kurt Coleman’s second penalty kick of the game brought the first half to an end, the score line read 6-9 in favor of the road side, Jason Emery’s three kicks from the tee handing his team a narrow lead.

But while it was place kicks that ruled the roost for a time in Georgia, the game was kick-started by a burst by All Black wing, Waisake Naholo, down the right flank. 

It was a run that handed his team an early advantage, with ATL’s Connor Cook sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock-on by referee Mike Lash. The one man advantage helped New York gain territory in their hosts’ half.

Photo by Rugby New York

Just minutes later, Emery lined up his first kick of the evening as a result of high tackle challenge on Charlie Hewitt, the 28-year-old doubling that effort with a long-range effort as the New York forwards continued to challenge their opposite numbers.

Emery’s third kick followed by two of those from Coleman, the South African the beneficiary of his forward pack gaining a foothold in the game and putting the clash on a knife’s edge with 40 minutes left to play.

To begin the second half, Marty Veale’s New York pulled ahead thanks to a penalty try, awarded after a second maul was illegally brought down by ATL.

While this was a blow to the scoreboard, those that call Silverbacks Park home were undeterred by the concession of a try and marched down the field into the New York 22m.

Photo by Rugby New York

After trying to launch their own lineout maul into a try scoring opportunity, the visitor’s Nick Civetta was shown a yellow card for collapsing the set piece.

From that spell of pressure, Coleman would add just the one penalty, and kicked a fourth not too long afterwards. Although the scores were within touching distance once more, it was New York that took a commanding lead in the closing stages.

Turning to their maul once again, Dylan Fawsitt powered over the whitewash with seven minutes left on the clock, Emery converting his hooker’s score before kicking a penalty that was given for a high tackle.

With the clock in the red, Coleman would score a consolation try for ATL, the 32-year-old so exhausted by his exploits across the game that he handed Ryan Nell the final kick of the game, his countryman adding the conversion.

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES 43 – 19 SAN DIEGO LEGION

If you were looking for a fast start on Sunday afternoon, this game had you covered. With just shy of 21 minutes on the clock, 27 points had been scored.

Scoring was started at the Starfire Sports Stadium by the San Diego Legion’s Nate Augspurger, the scrumhalf stepping between the Seattle Seawolves’ Andrew Durutalo and Rhyno Herbst after picking the ball up from the base of a ruck moments after hard carries from Ma’a Nonu and Ben Mitchell.

With their home crowd behind them, Seattle struck back in fine fashion. First was a penalty from AJ Alatimu, the Samoa fly-half having his kicking tee out not long after following Sam Matenga’s try from the back of a Seawolves driving maul.

Photo by Quinn Width | Seattle Seawolves

That lead was extended even further with another Alatimu penalty, before a flowing move from the back of another Seattle maul which saw David Busby make a vital pass in contact to Alatimu, who spun the ball wide to Duncan Matthews who crossed the try line to extend his team’s lead.

Before the break there was time for one more score. It came in the form of a Tevita Tameilau try, the big No.8 the beneficiary of scything runs by Bjorn Basson and Michael Smith who took it within five meters. A pop pass from Augspurger to the rampaging back-row contributing to the 20-14 score line at the break.

To begin the second half, Seattle extended their lead further thanks to two more Alatimu penalty kicks, the second coming with team captain, Riekert Hattingh, in the sin bin for a high tackle. Allen Clarke’s team survived being a man down in impressive fashion.

Photo by Quinn Width | Seattle Seawolves

Following the second hydration break, the Seawolves continued to press forward. In a move started by a Matthews kick-chase, the two-time champions scored through Travis Larsen beneath the posts, the Canadian assisted by the hard carries of Durutalo and Alatimu along the way.

In what was a mightily impressive individual performance for the South African, Matthews set up Ross Neal’s try, the full-back receiving the ball from the back of a scrum and darting down the right flank and drawing enough attention to make Neal’s score a touch simpler, Alatimu’s touchline conversion the icing on the cake.

Continuing his rich vein of form, Alatimu would nail another penalty with the 80-minute mark in sight, the 29-year-old slotting all of his kicks in the game. To bookend the game, San Diego would score a third try, this time through replacement scrum-half Jason Higgins, Dan Pryor’s offload the key to unlocking the Seattle defense on that occasion.