Seattle cruise to bonus point win in LA rain

Seattle had little difficulty on their road trip south to Los Angeles on Sunday, cruising to a 36-5 result over their hosts. Rain fell through out which saw both teams relying heavily on tactical kicking, but when the Seawolves did choose to run they found enough success to leave California with a bonus point win.

Dan Hollinshead had an early shot at the posts for the home side but the flags stayed down. The two teams engaged in kick-tennis for several minutes until a high tackle gave Sam Windsor his first opportunity, with which he made no mistake to give the visitors a 3-nil lead.

On the other side of the hydration break Seattle opted to keep ball in hand and it paid off with Riekert Hattingh crashing over for the first try. Not long after Windsor sold a dummy and slipped through the line, converting his own to lead it 17-nil to the Seawolves at halftime.

LA finally found some points early in the second half. Penalties put them into scoring position and the forwards did the rest, with Ben Strang wrestling his way to the line when the maul broke up. Hollinshead couldn’t find the uprights with the conversion attempt and it was still a 12-point game.

Niall Saunders saw yellow just ahead of the hour mark for failing to retreat 10 meters at a penalty. Seattle opted for a scrum, and a strike move yielded a third try through Divan Rossouw. Windsor tacked on the extras and the Seawolves were 24-5 to the good with 20 minutes to play.

Hattingh tore off the back of a dominant scrum to score the bonus point try with 10 minutes to go. LA went looking for a consolation score at the death but a wide pass from Jason Emery found only Toni Pulu, who raced home untouched to score under the posts.

It’s a short turnaround for the Seawolves who will now travel to the East Coast to square off against the defending champion New England Free Jacks. Los Angeles have the full week to prepare for their road trip to Chicago to face the Hounds.

SCORING

LOS ANGELES 5
Tries (1) – B. Strang (45′)
Cons (0) – D. Hollinshead 0/1
Pens (0) – D. Hollinshead 0/1
YC (1) – N. Saunders (58′)

SEATTLE 36
Tries (5) – R. Hattingh 2 (27′, 69′), S. Windsor (32′), D. Rossouw (59′), T. Pulu (80′)
Cons (4) – S. Windsor 3/4 (28′, 33′, 60′), No kick (80′)
Pens (1) – S. Windsor 1/1 (18′)

LINEUPS

RFC LOS ANGELES
1 Dane Zander (17 Lincoln Si’i 65′), 2 Bruce Kauika-Petersen (16 Ben Strang HT), 3 Conor Young, 4 Reegan O’Gorman (19 Liam Antrobus 63′), 5 Theo Vukasinovic (19 Liam Antrobus 35′-HT), 6 Semi Kunatani, 7 Max Katjijeko (20 Michael Amiras 65′), 8 Jason Damm, 9 Niall Saunders (capt.) (21 Tas Smith 70′), 10 Dan Hollinshead, 11 Rory van Vugt, 12 Jason Emery, 13 Seth Purdey (22 Matt Anticev 55′), 14 Jack Shaw (23 Sam Walsh HT), 15 Austin White

Not used: 18 Sam Buckley

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Chance Wenglewski (18 Dewald Donald 55′), 2 Joe Taufete’e (16 DaQuan Perry 70′), 3 Sam Matenga (17 Kellen Gordon70′), 4 Rhyno Herbst, 5 Jean Droste (19 Taylor Krumrei 60′), 6 Reid Davis (20 Pago Haini 51′), 7 Charles Elton, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Jade Stighling, 12 Tevita Kuridrani (21 Ryan Rees 64′), 13 Dan Kriel, 14 Toni Pulu (23 Conner Mooneyham 72′), 15 Divan Rossouw (22 David Busby 74′)

MATCH INFO

Date: Sunday, April 14
Venue: Dignity Health Track Field, Carson
Kickoff: 15:00 local
Weather: rain, 58°F (14°C), wind W 10-15mph (16-24km/h)

OFFICIALS

Referee: George Myers (Australia)
Assistants: Marquise Goodwin (USA) & Will Nelson (USA)
TMO: Cam Russell (USA)

HIGHLIGHTS