NEWS

News Jul-1-2021

JP Smith On Seattle’s Season And Finishing The Season Strongly

Written by Joe Harvey

Arriving in Seattle ahead of the 2019 Major League Rugby season, JP Smith swapped places regularly with player-coach Phil Mack that year, helping the side pick up their second MLR title in dramatic fashion at the end of that season.

The reasons why the Seawolves signed the scrum-half are clear to see. Developed at the Border Bulldogs in East London, South Africa, his talents were noticed by the Blue Bulls in Pretoria.

Representing their U19 team regularly, Smith’s talents were noticed at the international level and was picked to play for South Africa at the 2014 Junior World Championship in New Zealand.

Finishing as runners-up in that competition, Smith returned to his club side and represented their U21 team for a season then made his senior debut in the 2015 Vodacom Cup.

In the years that have followed, spells with the Free State XV, Free State Cheetahs, Southern Kings and Eastern Province Elephants before moving to North America and vie for a regular starting place at Starfire Stadium.

Not only coming with this wealth of experience and knowledge, Smith offers a variety of different threats. As a scrum-half, the 27-year-old is a playmaker, but at 6’1 and 200lbs he is also a rock in defense.

LAST TIME OUT

Smith sits down in front of his camera less than 24 hours after Seattle’s 29-14 loss at the hands of West Conference rivals, LA. Having played in the searing heat that Washington is experiencing right now, it was certainly a game of two halves.

The Giltinis raced into a 26-0 lead at the break, the Seawolves unable to prevent wave after wave of the Californians’ attack. In the second half, the home team did have a resurgence, scoring 14 points to LA’s three, but were unable to beat the side that has led their conference since week one.

“I think we let ourselves down in the first half,” Smith said. “Obviously, the Giltinis are a good team, I just think that we gave them too much respect. We needed to man up a little bit more and the half-time message was exactly that.

“We came out in that second half, and we actually started playing some rugby. I think we were a bit flustered with the heat and the uncontrollables, no excuses though, we weren’t good enough. In the second half, we came back nicely, and they had two yellow cards which helped us quite a bit, but it was a tough game in what has been a tough season.

“It is about coming back on the Monday and keeping working hard and keeping going forward.”

THE SEASON SO FAR

As double champions, heading into this season there was hope amongst the Seawolves fanbase that their team would lift the shield for a third time.

However, hope would be it as Seattle currently sits fifth in the West, 15 points adrift of their closest rivals, and this weekend’s opponent, San Diego.

Having won two of 13 games played, the majority of the teams points have come as a result of bonus points, the team’s poor form prompting a coaching reshuffle, with Allen Clarke arriving to Seattle to take on the head coaching in April, originally on an interim basis before signing a multi-year deal a month later to take on the role permanently.

Added to this was an influx of players due to plenty of injuries throughout the roster, Smith is hopeful that this season will be a motivating factor for the future.

“It was more of a shake-up and we lost some players to injury, but that is professional sports for you,” Smith started. “It has just been a niggly one, but hopefully we will just be better prepared for next year. We have learnt a lot, definitely.

“I think it is good to hit rock bottom and to see where that dark place is. No one wants to be in that dark place anymore, no one wants to be at the bottom. We have got a good group of lads, the morale of the team is still very good, every week we pitch up and it is a new week, we put everything behind us and just work hard.

“We owe a lot of credit to the people behind the scenes, keeping that attitude and positivity high within the squad. Hopefully we can take this into next season and just learn from everything we did wrong and come out stronger next season.”

ENDING THE SEASON ON A HIGH

This weekend will see a replay of the iconic 2019 final. It was a final that was won at the death by Seattle, Brad Tucker’s try with the clock in the red ensuring a second title in as many seasons and whilst there won’t be silverware on the line this weekend, any encounter between these two teams is a sight to behold.

“We love playing against San Diego, I know they love playing games against us and I think there is a bit of respect between the two teams too,” Smith said. “It is always going to be tough on the field, but off it there is a camaraderie between the two teams. We have a couple of cold ones and I think that is the best part about it.

Photo by Quinn Width

“It has been a bit of a zig zag between them and us. They beat us and then we beat them, and it is definitely an enjoyable game as a player. I love it and I am sure everyone else does too.”

Only having two games left to play after this weekend’s encounter, each of Seattle’s games against NOLA Gold and the Houston SaberCats offer the chance to end an underwhelming season on a high in front of their ever-faithful fans.

Not only at home, in line with Washington State Department of Health guidelines, the Starfire Stadium will be back to full capacity, something that Smith is very much anticipating.

“Seattle’s fans are amazing,” Smith said. “They come week in and week out, I think it was 100°F on Sunday and all the fans were in there, staying within the protocols and supporting us, cheering us.

“Having a full capacity stadium for the last couple of games will be awesome, especially for some of the new lads that haven’t experienced it yet. It will be great for all of them and that is what we play for, those people who are there week in and week out, supporting us and are loyal.

“We have let them down this season and hopefully we can restore that faith.”