Esdale Wins It! Seawolves Win Thrilling Coffee Cup Comeback vs. Free Jacks
Mounting a late rally, the Seattle Seawolves edged the New England Free Jacks in a thrilling back and forth affair. Credit: Punkus Arnett/Seattle Seawolves
TUKWILA, Wash. - Malacchi Esdale’s team had been clawing back all game. He was on the bench until the 75th minute, but came on for a final set of phases, ready to put the Seattle Seawolves over the top. With less than two minutes left to play, the veteran leader broke through the New England Free Jacks and sunk the go-ahead try, netting a thrilling 27-24 victory at Starfire Sports.
The Week 4 match was the third game of the season for both the Seawolves and the Free Jacks. The last time they had met, it was the 2024 MLR Championship in San Diego, California – and it was a Free Jacks 20-11 victory. But both teams have opened the 2025 season with struggles – a 1-1, four-point start for the Jacks and a 0-2, two-point start for the Seawolves.
On Saturday, the Jacks led for almost all of the match, from a seventh minute opening try to Esdale’s 79th-minute game-winner. The first half was something of a shootout, as neither team held the line well on defense. Both teams looked much diminished from their championship-contending 2024 campaigns, with Mack Mason’s absence notable in the fact that the Seawolves took a total of seven kicks (five conversions, two penalties) and made only one, which came on a Rodney Iona conversion in the 49th minute. Seattle also had issues on the rucks, overcrowding them and losing ground through lack of awareness.
However, the Seawolves improved as the game went on, unlike the Free Jacks, whose bad habits mostly continued unabated throughout the match and allowed the Seawolves to utilize the stronger parts of their game, such as scrums and mauls.
The game opened on the Free Jacks’ terms, with New England scoring two tries in the first twelve minutes. The Seawolves were struggling with an inability to stop the Jacks on defense and an inability to control the ball on offense, a recipe for disaster in professional rugby. In the seventh, the Free Jacks pushed through on the blindside, brushing past the Seawolves defenders. Free Jack wing Simon-Peter Toleafoa ran the ball in across the try line, putting New England up 5-0. Free Jack flyhalf Jayson Potroz made the conversion. 7-0. Scarcely five minutes later, New England punched through again: they made it to the try line after a scrum, battled for a few phases, then picking and going, before Jacks lock Piers von Dadelszen punched it over the line for the try. Potroz promptly made the conversion to push the lead to 14.
Seattle came back in the next few minutes, however. For the first time all game, the Seawolves put together a set of cohesive phases against New England’s defense. Duncan Matthews connected with Ina Futi, who charged forward on the blindside. After a few phases near the try line, Seattle got a penalty, then kicked for a lineout. The Seawolves moved the lineout directly into a maul and the team shoved the Free Jacks across the line for their first try. Flyhalf Eddie Fouché, however, missed the conversion, keeping New England ahead 14-5.
The Seawolves almost conceded another try during the next sequence, as the Free Jacks ran across much of the field on the openside. Potroz and New England number eight Wian Conradie nearly combined for a Free Jack try, but a Seawolf fell on the ball to prevent disaster. Seattle recovered position and drove forward. In the 23rd minute, Futi broke forth for a bit before he went down, getting Riekert the ball, after which the ball went back and forth between the two teams without truly being possessed before Seawolf outside center Divan Rossouw got ahold of it, sent it to Futi, who sent it down the line all the way to prop Cam Orr, who went over the line. Unfortunately for Seattle, Fouché missed the conversion again, still trailing 17-10.
A few minutes later, in the 27th, New England won a penalty in the Seawolves’ half and opted for a penalty kick, which Potroz knocked through the uprights. The Seawolves immediately roared back, as New England flubbed the kickoff return, allowing the ball to pass to Rossouw, who landed a rapid try. Fouché again attempted a conversion, but again missed as the deficit stayed at two points. The play then immediately happened in reverse. New England kicked off, Seattle flubbed the return, and the ball got to a Free Jacks back – Toleafoa - who rushed it in for the New England try. Potroz made the conversion to increase the lead to 24-15, which would remain the score into the half.
Early in the second half, Seattle had a long spell of possession leading to a try. In the 44th minute, they got a run of phases going in the Free Jacks half, bringing the ball back and forth across the field before Matthews barreled forward on the blindside and got tripped by Free Jack fullback Harrison Boyle, who was given a yellow card in the 44th minute. Seattle kicked a lineout, then went into a maul, pushing forward nearly to the try line. New England knocked it on, leading to a scrum. Seattle won the scrum, with scrumhalf JP Smith pushing forward, leading to a set of phases which the Seawolves got through with some difficulty until wing Mika Kruse brought it over the line in the 47th. With Eddie Fouché no longer on kicking duties after his rough first half, Rodney Iona made the conversion attempt to trim the lead to 24-22.
Then it was the Free Jacks’ turn of possession, though the whole immediate series was something of a competition to see who didn’t get the ball. New England took a lineout, but muffed it. Seawolf hooker Kerron van Vuuren, in position to grab the ball, could not hold on, leading to the Free Jacks regaining possession – but then they knocked it on, giving Seattle a scrum. The Seawolves won the scrum and kicked for a lineout, making it to the five-meter line, but van Vuuren overthrew the lineout. The Jacks kicked, then the Seawolves had a few phases, where they kicked it forward and nearly had an opportunity for a try, but a series of overruns and flubbed ball handling ended the chance for Seattle in a chaotic few moments.
Immediately afterward, the Free Jacks nearly got a breakaway, but were called offside, awarding the Seawolves a penalty. Iona attempted to kick it from just in front of midfield, but his attempt missed. New England’s next turn of possession ended with another knock-on and Seattle got the ball and kicked it forward, pushing New England to a run of possession near their try line. The Jacks opted to kick, sending it about a quarter of the way up the field for a Seattle lineout, which the Seawolves won. Seattle knocked it on, but were able to regain the ball for a penalty kick due to a penalty advantage meaning that the recent phases had been a free play. Iona kicked, from much closer this time, but shanked it again in a defensive slugfest.
In the Jacks’ next run of possession, their outside center Killian Coghlan broke away from the Seawolves, charging down the field. He reached to about the five meter line before the Seawolves finally caught up with him, putting just enough pressure on Coghlan for him to flub his pass to substitute lock Kyle Baillie, and the Seawolves regained possession at their own try line. They promptly brought it forward, bringing the New England threat to an end as the 70th minute approached
Seattle spent the final 10 minutes trying to get the last few points in any way they could. They struggled on the phases, as they had all game, with overcrowding the rucks, but they slowly pushed forward through New England’s half. In the 76th, they got close, but the Free Jacks picked the ball out of Seattle’s ruck, losing the Seawolves valuable time. In the 78th, they took a lineout close to the Jacks’ try line and went into a maul, shoving forward until Seattle charged forward more openly at the line. Esdale, who had been put in the game in the last 10 minutes, sunk the try in the 79th. Though Iona missed the conversion, the mood had completely shifted late in the contest. Seattle got the ball again as the eighty-minute mark passed and kicked it in touch to seal the three-point win.
Both teams struggled quite a bit during the game. With the Seawolves, the biggest struggle was with kicking. The team missed six kicks out of seven, losing a total of 14 points. The other vices were in their passing, which saw consistent flubbed passes and ball or meter losses, as well as in the rucks, where the team overcrowded the ball, losing time and space as the Free Jacks pushed in during the time it took the Seawolves to get the ball out. They also struggled in their lineouts during much of the game, though bringing in Dewald Kotze for Kerron van Vuuren at hooker improved their performance later in the game. The forwards had a mixed game, performing well enough in scrums to wait for Free Jack errors or simply win the ball – but they were stagnant pushing forward in the scrums and gaining ground from them. The flaws in the forwards, like most of the Seawolves’ play, were more apparent in the first half.
For the Jacks, they struggled with ball handling errors of their own – though for them, those errors were not releasing the ball and knock-ons. Both were things that consistently ended possession drives for New England, allowing Seattle’s defense to recover as well as preventing them from threatening towards the try line as much as they would have liked.
Riekert Hattingh, the team’s captain in his first game back, said that although the game was not perfect, Seattle showed characteristic grit.
“Obviously, a little sloppy to start off with, I think we let a couple of easy tries in that we shouldn't have,” Hattingh said, “That’s Seawolves tradition, fighting until the 80th minute and coming back and getting the win at home.”
The Seawolves’ next match is on Saturday, March 15, at 7:00PM on the road in Los Angeles.