It would be fair to say that Major League Rugby in 2019 has been unpredictable in the early going. Now, with a third of the season in the books, the picture coming into Round 7 looked like it may be clearing. But has it?

Round 7 was not exactly predictable. Houston SaberCats gave Seattle Seawolves a real contest, leading late in the game before falling off. Rugby United New York overcame the snow to pummel the Utah Warriors. And Glendale Raptors… well not much surprising about that one.

But the biggest surprise, surely, was the Toronto Arrows’ huge comeback against the San Diego Legion. After a completely listless start, the Arrows owned the second half, scoring 24 unanswered for the upset. It reminds us all that anything can happen in a season with as much parity as Major League Rugby 2019.

Double-Sided Arrows

Toronto has opened the season with six straight road matches. This one, to San Diego, may be the farthest trip in MLR. For these teams filled out with players that have full-time day jobs, that sort of travel is very draining.

In the first half, Toronto played like a team drained. They seemed to drop the ball every few touches. Last week they could blame the snow. This week, they played in a city known for its year-long gorgeous weather. If not for San Diego’s discipline problems, they would have buried Toronto by halftime.

The second half, however, the Arrows found their groove. Fatigued or not, they held onto the ball and got the ball into the hands of their fastest weapons. Avery Oitomen dotted down twice. Next thing you know, it was San Diego making errors at critical moments. No less than the last play of the game when play was whistled dead when Nick Boyer fumbled the ball at the back of the ruck.

Great win for the Arrows, keeping their season on track. Surprising loss for San Diego, who seemed to have it in hand.

The Hou-Wall

Houston SaberCats lost in Seattle, but they performed better than expected. They came out of the gates hard and dominated the physicality battle for the first half. It was enough to do their best seawall imitation and stuff the attacking Seawolves time after time after time. They led 8-3 for a long portion of the first half.

Over time, the game swung Seattle’s way. Houston discipline started to wilt just a bit, perhaps out of fatigue from their high-intensity level. Brock Staller was able to keep the pressure on Houston with his boot (though he missed two chances).

It was only in the last 10 minutes that Seattle really pulled away. Credit to them for keeping their cool and improving their execution despite the pressure they were under. But, given their relative spots on the table, Houston should be happy with their best performance of the year.

For the Seawolves’ part, they’ve defended their home again. Even if the win left much to be desired, it is still a home winning streak that extends back to Round 2 of 2018. With the playoff locations being determined based on standings, I wouldn’t want to have to make the trip to Starfire.

Snowbirds

After snow made a mess of last week in Utah, it returned in Round 7 for an encore. You’d hardly know it, though, the way Rugby United New York played. Even with fly half Cathal Marsh exiting early, Chris Mattina slotted in and managed the Roosters through a comfortable road win.

Given Utah’s recent results at home –a draw with Glendale and a loss at the death to NOLA– this one must have been a disappointment. Especially as it puts them at 1-3-1 on the season. Fans in Utah have been putting up with the freezing temperatures and coming to the matches, but will that continue if Utah falls out of playoff contention?

New York, for their part, will be happy to be 4-1 heading into their home opener. They’ll get an Arrows side not burdened by Canada duty for the first time since Round 1. Given what they just did to San Diego, that game looks like a big one.

Round 7 Results

Utah 21 – New York 47

Glendale 38 – Austin 19

Seattle 27 – Houston 14

San Diego 20 – Toronto 27

Standings