Posted by At the start of the day, four teams remained in the hunt for three remaining Major League Rugby Championship Series positions. All the home team Seattle Seawolves (12-4-1) needed to do was earn the victory over winless Austin Elite Ruby (0-17-0) in Round 19. In front of another boisterous sold-out home crowd in Starfire Stadium, the Seawolves would not disappoint as Seattle took the lead early and ground their way to the 38-26 victory on Fan Appreciation Day. (Image John Rainwaters – Seattle Sports Union)
Nobody would have blamed Austin if the team just took the pitch and went through the motions. But they don’t call them Elite for no reason as Austin was aggressive at start and carried the play early.
Yet, Seattle found the scoreboard first with successful try by Djustice Sears-Duru. Brock Staller’s kick made it 7-0. Austin would respond quickly and only a few short minutes later the match was tied 7-7. But that was as close as the game would get. After the 20 minute mark, the Seawolves ran off 31-straight points to pull away 38-7.
Austin Elite Ruby mounted a late push of a comeback and made the score respectable posting three tries and two successful conversions to add 19 points in the final 15 minutes. But in the end, Austin earned their 0-17 record and the Seattle Seawolves were back in the playoffs to defend the MLR Championship earned in the inaugural 2018 season.
Next up!
Seattle will play Sunday in one of the two semi-final matchups. Win that contest and a date in the title game looms large and a chance to play for the MLR Championship and claim back-to-back league titles.
You got this Seattle!