What a weekend it was for the Major League Rugby Championship Series semifinals as one match came down to the bitter end and the other was absolutely dominated by a team looking to defend its title. Now, the San Diego Legion and Seattle Seawolves will square off to determine who is the 2019 MLR champion.

San Diego narrowly edged out victory against Rugby United New York as they scored a last-minute try and with Joe Pietersen converting on the extra point attempt to win 24-22. It was an incredibly physical match as the two best defenses in the league clashed. Oti Pifeleti and Joshua Furno scored tries for the Legion, but it was JP du Plessis who scored the last second try to give San Diego victory. Pietersen’s kicking ability was on full display as he converted on all three extra point attempts and on a penalty kick.

Seattle will be back in the MLR Championship game in hopes of retaining their title after dominating against a fierce Toronto Arrows attack. It was an effort that made it seem like their strong “Seawall” defense was back to form. Api Naikatini made one bone-crushing hit after another, with some help from Samu Manoa; it was a big reason why the Seattle defense helped stifle the strong Arrow attack. JP Smith and Jeff Hassler each scored a try and the team earned a penalty try late in the match, but Brock Staller’s kicking was the difference maker as he scored three of the five penalty kicks he took and succeeded on two conversions for a final score of 30-17. Seattle went up 23-0 in the first half and led 23-7 at halftime; those first half points proved to be all that the Seawolves needed.

San Diego swept the season series as the Legion won 17-13 in Round 2 and 28-22 in Round 10, however, the last match was played on March 31, so a lot has changed about the two teams. Seattle’s defense seemingly is back to its strong form, which helped them win the championship in 2018 and with the Legion having the best in 2019, it could lead to a really titanic clash.

The Legion will trot out the same exact lineup and substitutes as last week against RUNY, feeling plenty of confidence in these 23 men. As for the Seawolves, it’s also the exact same lineup and substitutes, and why wouldn’t it be after a dominant performance against Toronto. So basically, what “ain’t broke, don’t fix” is exactly what is happening here.

Lineups

San Diego

1 Faka’osi Pifeleti

2 Kapeli Pifeleti

3 Paddy Ryan

4 Louis Stanfill

5 Josh Furno

6 Jasa Veremalua

7 Psalm Wooching

8 Jordan Manihera

9 Nate Augspurger

10 Joe Pietersen

11 Nick Boyer

12 JP du Plessis

13 Ryan Matyas

14 Conor Kearns

15 Tai Enosa

Substitutes

16 Dean Muir

17 Nathan Sylvia

18 Dino Waldren

19 Siaosi Mahoni

20 Pat Blair

21 Kyle Rogers

22 Savenaca Totovosau

23 Will Holder

Seattle

1 Djustice Sears-Duru

2 Stephan Coetzee

3 Tim Metcher

4 Apisai Naikatini

5 Brad Tucker

6 Samu Manoa

7 Nakai Penny

8 Riekert Hattingh

9 JP Smith

10 Ben Cima

11 Jeff Hassler

12 Shalom Suniula

13 George Barton

14 Brock Staller

15 Mat Turner

Substitutes

16 Dan Trierweiler

17 Kellen Gordon

18 Jake Ilnicki

19 Jeremy Lenaerts

20 Eric Duechle

21 Phil Mack

22 Roland Suniula

23 Vili Toluata’u