San Diego dominate Seattle to book final berth – Americas Rugby News

The San Diego Legion are heading to their second Championship Remaining after dominating the Seattle Seawolves 32-10 at Snapdragon Stadium on Sunday. A stifling protection left the guests pissed off whereas the house facet punished each mistake by their friends.

Each groups threw themselves into the collisions with reckless abandon. Sama Malolo thumped his chest after a crunching hit on his reverse quantity within the early exchanges. Rhyno Herbst was an early casualty, changed by Ronan Foley are limping off with what seemed like a knee harm.

Ma’a Nonu started to make his presence felt, first with a line break then a grubber that put the protection on the again foot. With the Legion on benefit the previous All Black landed a snap drop aim to open the scoring. He then delivered a raking 50-22 although the Seawolves would briefly clear their strains.

On the opposite facet of the hydration break Will Hooley slotted a penalty aim to stretch the lead. From the restart Tevita Tameilau made floor in heavy site visitors and the Faka’osi Pifeleti broke into Seawolves territory. A couple of brief phases later Tameilau once more crashed into the road, offloading from the deck to Pifeleti who crashed in for a attempt.

Seattle lastly bought on the board a minute earlier than halftime, with Jordan Chait knocking over a three-pointer. Early within the second half the Seawolves had been parked inside San Diego territory however couldn’t end the job because the Legion held out and cleared their strains.

As soon as San Diego regained possession they made fast work of the tiring Seattle protection. Marcel Brache slipped by way of a niche and located Michael Smith on his exterior. The flanker reduce inside to commit two defenders however left the ball behind for Aoake to burst onto and dive into the nook. Hooley nailed the conversion from vast out to make it 20-3 in favor of the house facet.

It was Brache who put the end result past doubt simply after the hour mark. The Seawolves dropped the ball on midway and Smith hoofed it down the pitch. Brache gained the race, reaching out to floor the ball simply earlier than it went useless for an automated seven.

The Seawolves bought a attempt from Ben Landry seconds after Nate Sylvia was binned for not rolling clear from a ruck. Chait’s conversion rang off the upright and over, however that will be as shut as Seattle would get. On the following restart Foley misjudged the kick and it landed straight within the palms of Aoake, who had the best of finishes. The ultimate minutes ticked off the board with no additional scoring.

It’s off to Chicago for the Legion, who will face off towards the New England Free Jacks at SeatGeek Stadium subsequent Saturday. The Seawolves head residence after one other strong marketing campaign however one which didn’t fairly go their manner in the long run.

SCORING

SAN DIEGO 32
Tries (4) – F. Pifeleti (25′), T. Aoake 2 (57′, 67′), M. Brache (62′)
Cons (3) – W. Hooley 2/3 (26′, 58′), No kick (62′)
Pens (1) – W. Hooley 1/1 (23′)
DG (1) – Mr. Nonu 1/1 (11′)
YC (1) – N. Sylvia (65′)

SEATTLE 10
Tries (1) – B. Landry (65′)
Cons (1) – J. Chait 1/1 (66′)
Pens (1) – J. Chait 1/1 (39′)

TEAMS

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Nathan Sylvia 56′), 2 Sama Malolo (16 Shiloh Klein 52′), 3 Luke Inexperienced (18 Chris Baumann 68′), 4 Ben Grant (19 Chris Turori 75′), 5 Tom Franklin (19). 20 Isaac Ross 62′), 6 Christian Poidevin (1 Faka’osi Pifeleti 72′-75′), 7 Tupou Afungia (21 Michael Smith 56′), 8 Tevita Tameilau, 9 Richard Judd (23 Ryan Matyas 68′). Will Hooley, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Ma Nonu (22 Josh Henderson 72′), 13 Marcel Brache (capt.), 14 Thomas Aoake, 15 Mikey Teo

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Mzamo Majola (17 Jake Turnbull 53′), 2 Peter Malcolm (16 James Malcolm 49′), 3 Sam Matenga (18 Mason Pedersen 56′), 4 Samu Manoa (20 Nakai Penny 53′), 5 Rhyno Herbst (19 Ronan Foley 8′), 6 Ben Landry, 7 Charles Elton, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 Jordan Chait, 11 Martin Joseph (23 Jeremiah Sio 62′), 12 AJ Alatimu (22 David Lopeti 60′) , 13 Dan Kriel, 14 Laina Futi, 15 Adriaan Carelse (21 Devereaux Ferris 72′)

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Cam Stone (New Zealand)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (USA) & Kahlil Harrison (USA)
TMO: Chris Assmus (Canada)