By Evan Lappen

After a 10-day road trip, Old Glory DC is back at Segra Field this Sunday against the Seattle Seawolves. DC hopes to recapture the energy and passion from last season’s emphatic 28-22 victory and believes the expected sell-out crowd will be its 16^th man on the pitch. The team is eager to return home and take one game at a time in its quest for the MLR playoffs.

Sunday will be Healthcare Heroes and First Responders Day with MedStar Health, and Old Glory will be celebrating the efforts and sacrifice of those who’ve helped us. The match starts at 12:00 pm in Leesburg, Va., and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network and the Rugby Network internationally.

It was a rough two weeks out west, culminating in a heartbreaking 34-33 loss to the Utah Warriors. “Saturday was devastating for us,” head coach Andrew Douglas said. “We did some really good things in that game. We played some of our best rugby this year, but when you get penalized 14 to 5 against you, it’s tough to win tight ones. We didn’t kick as we should have and, at times, probably played too much rugby.”

Old Glory needs a short memory as it’s game week. “Obviously, we’re disappointed, but we have a 24-hour rule,” Steven Longwell stated. “We deal with it in the first 24 hours and then move on… We’ve got another huge game this weekend against Seattle who is coming off a good win against San Diego. We are all hands on deck. I think we’re peaking at the right time, and we’re ready to pick up a lot of points.”

The memory may be short, but a few injuries have taken their toll. Co-captain Mungo Mason suffered an AC joint separation and will be out about 3-5 weeks. Unfortunately, Jason Robertson may join him with a deep bruising of the soleus muscle in his leg. Tevita Naqali will test his calf in training this week, while Ciaran Hearn is maybe a week away from rejoining the backline. Sam Cusano, Josh Brown, and Mike Dabulas are expected to play on Sunday.

As for Seattle, the boys from the Pacific Northwest will be making the cross-country trek after knocking off San Diego. The Seawolves have had a rough 2021, with a multitude of injuries, new players, and a midseason coaching change. The club has gone 2-5 this season, has a -100 point differential, and has only scored 18 tries all year. With all the comings and goings, the Seawolves have struggled to find consistency.

That being said, anything can and will happen in the MLR this year. The Seawolves’ famed Sea Wall defense has shut down many teams, and they are a very disciplined squad with the second-lowest penalty count.

Eightman Riekert Hattingh is making a solid push for the Eagles this summer as he leads the team in multiple stats. The 6’5″ Englishman Ross Neal is a giant on the wing with five tries, and James Malcolm is second on the club with four. Matt Turner, Neal, and Sitiveni Tamaivena are the main line-breakers, and AJ Alatimu and Kieran Joyce are the threats with the boot.

“[Seattle] brings a bit of line speed on defense and put a little heat there,” Douglas said. “They’ve got some really good individuals. I think their #8-#9 (Hattingh and JP Smith) are good players, and Matt Turner has been around for a long time. They have brought in some new players, and a coaching change always brings in new energy. I’m sure they will want to redeem themselves when they came to us last season… They are coming off a win against San Diego, and that builds confidence.”

The keys to the game for DC are to set the tone early, play with the big lead, make its first-up tackles, and make Seattle play out of its own end. Seattle will need to replicate its defensive effort versus San Diego, use the confidence from its home victory, and shore up the set-piece.

Longwell believes DC has all the tools and needs the confidence and consistency of playing an 80-minute game. “I think we’ve been guilty of putting in a 60-minute performance, and then we think it’s all done, and we get put under the pump. We need to finish teams off from now on in. We want to put a marker down for the rest of the season… We want to try and put these teams away, so it doesn’t come down to one try or one kick.”

This weekend has reminded Coach Douglas of where the team was at after its first loss last season. “Last year, we got smacked by NOLA, and we’ve had a tough week away. I think we’re ready to give our home crowd something to cheer about. Hopefully, we can bring some of the energy they brought that day and the excitement they brought as the first program in DC. It’s kind of like another redemption for us, and they can bring that energy back just like against Seattle last year and prove to be the 16^th man for us [on Sunday].”