Second Half Shutout Leads Old Glory to Win over Seattle
By Evan Lappen
After an uneven first half, the Old Glory DC defense shut down the Seattle Seawolves to earn the 22-18 victory and its third win of the season. At Segra Field in Leesburg, Va., the teams battled to a 17-18 stalemate at halftime before the coaching staff made the necessary adjustments to hold on for the win. A try from Mikey Sosene-Feagai in the 54th minute was the game-winner with the OG defense repelling multiple advances from the Seawolves in the last minutes of the game to preserve the bonus point win.
“We’ve been working hard on our defense,” Guaranteed Rate Man of the Match Renata Roberts-Te Nana said. “Our forwards have been carrying us throughout the whole season so for us as a backline and a whole team, we wanted to take it upon ourselves to put pressure on them, create momentum in their half, and strike when we are in the right positions on the field.”
On the other side, Seattle assistant coach Kees Lansing remarked, “The guys came out of the change room really focused and we had a clear gameplan. We started really well. Obviously, we lost a couple of bodies early on in the game and we put ourselves in a little bit of a difficult position… We had more than enough opportunities in the right areas of the field, it was just execution from us.”
The adjustment to kick it deep in the second half and make Seattle run the ball out of its territory was crucial. Early in the game, Old Glory made too many unforced errors and gave away too many penalties, but, ultimately, their resolute defense clinched the hard-fought victory.
DC is on the road this Saturday at Houston and will return to Segra Field on Memorial Day weekend against New York. This will be the first home game without any restrictions and the front office team at Old Glory will be working hard to pack the stands for the local derby return leg.
On a weekend where most of the Eastern Conference clubs lost their matches, Old Glory notched a five-point bonus try win and are now only six standing points off the top team in the division. The Eastern Conference is incredibly close, and this win should give the club confidence going into the second half of the season.
The OG defense was stellar, but Seattle came to play. The boys from the Pacific Northwest smacked Old Glory in the mouth early when Kieran Joyce scored on a crash ball off a five-meter scrum in the ninth minute. AJ Atalimu struck the conversion for the early 7-0 lead.
After Steve Longwell forced a penalty in the ruck following an errant DC pass, Old Glory kicked for a lineout ten meters out. The forwards rumbled the ball close and the in form Roberts-Te Nana hit a hard line to finish with the try. Jason Robertson’s kick was wide and OG trailed by two points after 17 minutes.
Alatimu added to the Seawolves’ lead with a three-pointer in the 22nd minute, but it was Old Glory who were next into the try zone. Following an exchange of kicks, Roberts-Te Nana’s brilliant chip kick through bounced perfectly into his hands and an offload to Danny Tusitala sent the scrum half flying towards the Seattle line. An easy offload to Doug Fraser in support completed the play with a dive in the endzone. The kick from the sideline clanged off the upright and the score was even at 10-10.
“It was a bit of razzle that we talk about,” Roberts-Te Nana said of the score. “You got to play to your structures now and then but when you get the free license to play rugby, you play rugby. It was just instinctive. Everyone else came through and it was a great team try.”
Seattle connected on a long-range penalty to retake the lead and extended it again in the 31st minute. After winning their scrum, the Seawolves spun the ball wide. The backline play went untouched as Mat Turner made the final pass to Ross Neal on the wing for the score. Alatimu was off target but Seattle’s lengthened their advantage to eight points.
Unfortunately for the visitors, Turner went down with an injury late in the half. A high ball to Mike Dabulas got OG into striking distance. Tusitala’s pass to the backs bounced to Dylan Taikato-Simpson and he pitched it to Thretton Palamo. With options on either side, the co-captain fought off multiple defenders for the try. Robertson’s kick was true and Seattle led at the half, 18-17.
“It was just too open to not take it,” Palamo said. “We called it, Dylan did a good job to fix one man, so the pressure was on me we had a three on one with their #9. I almost gave the pass, but he drifted off me just a little early enough for me to keep it and score.”
In the second half, DC made Seattle play out of its end with tactical kicking. A five-meter lineout maul in the 54th minute proved to be all Old Glory needed for the win. After the maul went to ground meters from the line, Sosene-Feagai took the pick and go and, with the assist from Stan South, bulldozed in for the score.
The OG set piece defense was nothing short of amazing down the final stretch. The defense forced timely turnovers and prevented the charging Seawolf offense from scoring. The impact substitutes played superbly, the full front row switch of Iscaro, Lum and Lopresti in the 65th minute adding much needed energy. Josh Brown brought what he always does to an OG performance. Good cover defense and a little bit of luck helped OG maintain its lead.
With ten minutes left, DC was tremendous on two Seattle trips to the OG five-meter line. DC’s maul defense caused a penalty in the 72nd minute and then came the most important play in the game with OG winning the Seattle scrum ball with a strike against the head and then Tusitala clearing to touch. The final sequence saw the Seawolves still attacking with the scrum and Andrew Duratalo knocking it on in the tackle with Palamo. The referee signaled the end of the match and OGDC prevailed, 22-18.
