Riekert Hattingh, Seawolves Seeking Coffee Cup Revenge in Home Opener
Seattle Seawolves center Dan Kriel runs with the ball during a regular season game at Starfire Sports. Kriel won’t be available for the team’s 2025 home opener. Credit: Dan Kriel/Instagram
In the early stages of the 2025 season, the Seattle Seawolves will host their anticipated home opener against the New England Free Jacks on Saturday with sights on a fast start.
The last time these two teams faced each other, the Free Jacks consistently outplayed, outgrinded, and outhustled the Seawolves to win the 2024 Major League Rugby Championship Final by a score of 20-11. Despite the close score, the Seawolves never held a lead during the match, and the Free Jacks raised their second straight MLR Championship trophy.
When both ends of I-90 face each other in MLR, it’s called the Coffee Cup – referencing Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. Including the 2024 MLR Championship, the two teams have so far played six matches against each other over their history. New England has won four of those matches, while Seattle has two.
Ahead of the seventh Coffee Cup, the Seawolves are grappling with a rough start to the 2025 season and an array of questions: Did Seattle lose too much during the offseason? Are the replacements going to pan out? Can the 2025 squad work together as a unit?
Though the Seawolves were an inaugural MLR team in 2018, the Free Jacks joined the league in 2020. The first match between the two, on February 29, 2020 at Starfire Sports, was a shootout in favor of Seattle in a 44-29 victory. Despite two early tries for the Free Jacks, the Seawolves ended up with two tries from scrumhalf JP Smith, two from openside flanker Nakai Penny, and one from left wing Peter Tiberio, as well as three penalty kicks from flyhalf Ben Cima.
In Week 13 of the 2021 season, the two clubs butted heads for the second time. The result was a hard-fought 25-21 come-from-behind victory for the Free Jacks, with hooker Pieter Jansen’s 75th minute try making the difference. The very next year, the Seawolves tried their hand at a comeback of their own, but came up two points short in a 24-22 loss. 2023’s Coffee Cup was played in Seattle, but it was yet another 34-26 win for New England in Week 17.
Last season in their most recent regular season rematch, Seattle defeated New England on the road in Week 8 by a score of 29-21, and now they will face off with several familiar faces and some newcomers on Saturday.
Jayson Potroz, the New England flyhalf since the 2023 season, is the Free Jack who has scored the most points against the Seawolves. In three matches, he has scored six conversions and seven penalties for a total of 33 points. On Saturday, he will be the Free Jack vice captain and starting flyhalf. Captaining New England will be openside flanker Joe Johnston, who has been with the team since the 2021 season. His counterpart at blindside flanker will be Jero Gomez Vara, who was the MLR Forward of the Year in 2024. The 2023 winner of that award, Wian Conradie, will fill out the back row as the Free Jacks’ number eight. In the engine room will be a pair of Canadians, Piers von Dadelszen and Conor Keys. Moving to the front row, the starting hooker will be Andrew Quattrin, a longtime MLR veteran and Free Jack since 2023.
Meanwhile, the props will be journeyman Free Jack Tevita Sole and new addition Jone Koroiduadua, who played three seasons for the Super Rugby-competing Fijian Drua. Returning to the backs, the other halfback will be scrumhalf Oscar Lennon, a Welshman who joined New England late in the 2024 season. The two wings will both be new additions to New England’s roster: on the left, Brock Webster, a member of the 2022 Toronto Arrows team who spent a couple years on the Canadian National Sevens before returning to MLR this year. On the right: Simon Peter Toleafoa, who played for both Counties Manukau Steelers and Manukau Rovers of New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC), which is the second-highest level of play in New Zealand.
Also an addition from the Rovers is starting inside center Faletoi Peni, who won Rookie of the Year in NPC in 2024 before landing in New England. His counterpart at outside center will be Killian Coghlan. Filling out the Free Jack roster will be Harrison Boyle, who played in much of New England’s 2021 and 2022 seasons before spending two years finishing a law degree and returning to the Jacks in 2025. The Jacks’ available substitutions will be Foster Dewitt (wearing #16), Cole Keith (#17), and Caleb Geiger (#18) for the front row, Kyle Baillie (#19) for lock, Kaipono Kayoshi (#20) for the back row, Cam Nordli-Kelemeti (#21) for scrumhalf, Jack Reeves (#22) as a center or a wing, and Wayne van der Bank (#23) as a center.
Notably absent is center Le Roux Malan, a longtime Free Jack who had a breakout 2023 year – scoring nine tries in 11 games and 800 minutes – before suffering a nasty leg injury during the 2023 Rugby World Cup. His rollercoaster went back up in 2024, completing the year with a try during the Free Jacks’ MLR Championship win against the Seawolves. Veteran wing Paula Balekana, who has been in MLR since 2021, will also not be available after amassing 32 tries (2 automatic conversions for 164 tries), 4189 meters gained, and 357 tackles in 62 games.
The captain of the Seattle side will be Riekert Hattingh, returning from injury after a torn Achilles during the 2024 campaign. The 31-year old South African is a journeyman who has played in every Seattle Seawolves season, amassing a total of 80 games (all starts), 42 tries (four of them automatic completions for a total of 218 points), 5,221 meters gained, and 811 tackles. Moving from number eight to number nine, another notable veteran, JP Smith, will be starting at scrumhalf. Smith has played in 94 Seawolves games since 2019, netting 20 tries (with three automatic completions), three try conversions, and two penalty kicks – for 118 career points – as well as 1,614 meters gained and 652 tackles.
At flyhalf for the Seawolves is Eddie Fouché, who played for several South African teams over a little less than a decade before signing with Seattle for the 2025 season. At inside center is Rodney Iona, another offseason acquisition for the backfield, while outside center is occupied by Divan Rossouw, a Namibian who came to the Seawolves from South African play in 2024 and put together a stellar year – 18 games (all starts), six tries (with 1 automatic completion for 32 points), 1,492 meters gained, and 32 points. In at left wing is Mika Kruse, who the Seawolves brought in during the offseason as a larger, more physical wing option, while at right wing is longtime Seawolf Ina Futi, who has been on the roster since the 2021 season.
Finishing out the backfield is another Seawolves veteran, Duncan Matthews, who will be entering his fourth season with the team. Returning to the forwards, the back row is filled out by blindside flanker Huw Taylor (4th in MLR in tackling during 2024 with 408) and openside flanker Devin Short, who has been in MLR for its entire existence, spending time with the Legion (2018-2020), Gold (2021-2023), and Seawolves since 2024. The locks are a pair of South Africans, veteran Seawolf Rhyno Herbst and offseason addition Malembe Mpofu. The front row will consist of props Cam Orr and JP Zeiss, both in their third start this season. Finishing out the starters is hooker Kerron van Vuuren.
The available subs for the Seawolves will be Dewald Kotze (wearing #16) at hooker, Dewald Donald (#17) and Mason Pedersen (#18) as props, Isaia Lotawa (#19) and CC Mahoni (#20) as locks, Brock Gallagher (#21) at scrumhalf, David Busby (#22) at center, and Malacchi Esdale (#23) for Seattle’s only wing substitution. Absent from the playable roster is Dan Kriel, a powerhouse center who has amassed 3,328 meters gained, 440 tackles, and 11 tries since 2022.
The Seawolves are entering their first home match on a bad run of form and with far more questions than answers. Seattle’s opening game on the road in San Diego got away from the visitors quickly, with the Legion clobbering the Seawolves 28-0 in the first half. Seattle played better in the back half, scoring a last-minute fourth try for the bonus point in a 40-26 loss. The Seawolves played sloppily during much of the opening match, with poor lineout performance, disorganized rucks, and inaccurate passing – especially at the try line. Seattle approached the try line four times without anything to show for it before Cam Orr sunk the first Seattle try of the season in the 56th minute.
The second match was better for Seattle, but still ended with the Seawolves on the wrong side in a 24-21 loss. While the squad’s basics looked better – benefiting from the return of Duncan Matthews at fullback, the move of Iona to inside center, and greater cohesion in the front row – it was still avoidable mistakes that cost them: two red cards in the last 10 minutes gave the SaberCats the momentum they needed to sink the final try.
A glaring question for Seattle comes from the long list of departures and new additions. Gone are flyhalves Mack Mason and Sam Windsor – Mason a 2024 team anchor who scored two tries, 33 conversions, and 32 penalty kicks (adding up to 172 points) last year – and in are Rodney Iona and Eddie Fouché. Conner Mooneyham, a wing with caps and tries for the USA Eagles, is out. In to replace him are Malacchi Esdale, a member of the US Men’s Rugby Sevens, as well as Mika Kruse, who has played for the USA Eagles as well as being in the league since its inception. In the front row, powerhouse hooker Joe Taufete’e signed with New Orleans, while Sam Matenga signed with the Crusaders in New Zealand. To replace them, the Seawolves brought in former Dallas Jackals Dewald Kotze at hooker and Juan Pablo Zeiss at prop, as well as Kerron van Vuuren at hooker and Njabulo Gumede at prop. After Riekert’s season ended in 2024, Seattle brought in Monate Akuei as a versatile back row piece, but he didn’t return for the 2025 season.
Most of the new additions have had a rough introduction to the club. Iona got the flyhalf start in the opening game, but had a rough 63 minutes before being subbed out for Fouché. Fouché, though not as stalwart as Mason, looked a much better fit at flyhalf than Iona, who played the whole second match at inside center. Malacchi Esdale has only seen eight minutes of playing time, while Kruse has not been outstanding in either a good or bad direction. Kotze and Zeiss struggled in their first game, with their backups Jesse Mackail and Njabulo Gumede putting things together in the second half. Kotze didn’t start against the SaberCats and will not start against the Free Jacks, with van Vuuren seemingly taking the starting job for the time being. Kruse is getting his second straight start at left wing, while Esdale is on the available roster, but is not starting.
Seattle will also seek to benefit from the return of Hattingh after a lengthy recovery from his Achilles injury. The injury bug was something that plagued the Seawolves last year, and its potential presence is another item on the long list of questions that Seattle is looking to answer over the coming games. The primary goal, however, is to kill two birds with one stone: avenge the 2024 Final defeat and course-correct for 2025.
New England, for its part, is coming off a blistering defeat, losing last week 36-7 to the Chicago Hounds. Compounding their problems is the fact they will be without Malan or Balekana, with van der Bank slotted in on the bench. In other words, it’s as good an opportunity as the Seawolves can get when dealing with the defending champions to get the ship righted.