Old Glory DC hosts the Seattle Seawolves in their MLR home opener on Sunday, February 16 at Cardinal Stadium at Catholic University. Kickoff is at 3 pm ET and the match will be preceded with a women’s college match at 11 am between Life University and Penn State and a women’s representative match between the Old Glory Selects and USA Rugby South at 12:30 pm.
The Old Glory DC vs Seawolves match will be broadcast on NBC Sports Washington, Root Sports, and ESPN+.
Tickets for the match are available and are expected to sell out. Get your tickets for Sunday and the rest of the home matches at https://oldglorydc.showare.com/.
Last week Old Glory opened the season with a loss at NOLA Gold, while the Seattle Seawolves traveled to San Diego and lost to the Legion in a rematch of the 2019 MLR Championship.
Old Glory DC
Old Glory DC has published a preview article by Evan Lappen that details team MLR stats from their first match. Both teams have not announced their squads, however, there are comments by Head Coach Andrew Douglas and captain Mungo Mason.
“[The Seawolves] are a very good team, very experienced,” Douglas said. “The core of that team has been together for a long time just like NOLA. It’s not a dissimilar challenge to what we just had to face last Saturday. We just have to be better. They will be hungry and won’t have enjoyed losing. They lost to a very, very good San Diego team but they will want to pick up their first win of the season. We just have to be much better than we were.”
Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira arrived on Thursday and will play in his first Major League Rugby match against the Seawolves. His presence will improve the front five, and although a dominant player, it is still a team game.
Photo: 2019 Rugby World Cup – Final South Africa vs England with Tendai Mtawarira
Head Coach Andrew Douglas has made two changes in the front row with Tendai Mtawarira making his MLR debut at loosehead prop and Dante Lopresti at hooker. Jake Turnbull and Max Lum shift to the reserves, while Matt Hughston is on the team’s regular-season roster for the first time.
The starting team is an experienced side and the reserves include both experienced as well as talented younger players.
Old glory DC includes capped USA National Team Eagles in Thretton Palamo and Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, along with the USA Selects prop Jake Turnbull. Tendai Mtawarira, who won the 2019 Rugby World Cup with South Africa, Api Naikatini for Fiji, Travis Larsen, Ciaran Hearn and Doug Fraser for Canada, Danny Tusitala for the Samoa Sevens Team, and Mungo Mason for the Scotland Sevens Team.
Many additional players played in the Mitre 10 competition in New Zealand and in other professional leagues.
NOLA Gold vs Old Glory Video Highlights
Seattle Seawolves
Head Coach Kees Lensing has made three changes in his starters from last week’s loss to San Diego Legion. Jake Ilnicki is at tighthead prop, Andrew Durutalo is at blindside flanker, and George Barton is the inside center. Joey Iosefo also joins the reserves.
Riekert Hattingh captains the side with Shalom Suniula the vice-captain. The Seawolves include many players with international capped players and has won the MLR Shield Championship for the first two years of the league.
Look for Seattle to try to control the scrums and use that as a platform to create penalties, kick for territory and attack from lineouts inside Old Glory’s 22-meters.
Mat Turner is a player to watch at fullback as his international sevens experience for England and other clubs, reads the defense well and weaves through defenders. His defense last year also saved several tries. Brock Staller is another player whose boot can punish infractions.
San Diego Legion vs Seattle Seawolves Highlights
Squads with Player Article Links
Old Glory DC: 1Tendai Mtawarira 2 Dante Lopresti 3 Gordon Fullerton 4 Tevita Naqali 5 Api Naikatini 6 Travis Larsen 7 Mungo Mason (CC) 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz 9 Danny Tusitala 10 Jason Robertson 11 Renata Roberts TeNana 12 Ciaran Hearn 13 Thretton Palamo (CC) 14 Doug Fraser 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson16 Max Lum 17 Jake Turnbull 18 Will Vakalahi 19 Dylan Pieterse 20 Matt Hughston 21 Nic Mirhashem 22 Michael Reid 23 Mike Dubulas
Seattle Seawolves: 1 Djustice Sears-Duru 2 Mike Shepherd 3 Jake Ilnicki4 Brad Tucker 5 FP Pelser 6 Andrew Durutalo 7 Nakai Penny 8 Riekert Hattingh (C) 9 JP Smith 10 Scott Dean 11 Brock Staller 12 George Barton 13 Shalom Suniula (VC) 14 David Busby 15 Mat Turner 16 Vili Toluta’u 17 Kellen Gordon 18 Tim Metcher 19 Jeremy Lenaerts 20 Eric Duechle 21 Jope Motokana 22 Joey Iosefo 23 Sitiveni Tamaivena
Old Glory DC Media Day, Feb. 13, 2020
Old Glory held their media day on February 13 at the St. Gregory Hotel in Washington, D.C. Jimmy Cuddihy moderated the panel of owners Chris Dunlavey and Paul Sheehy, newly signed player Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira, and head coach Andrew Douglas. Operations John Manson and senior players were also in attendance. (Thretton Palamo, Mungo Mason, Travis Larsen, Danny Tusitala, Dylan Taikato-Simpson, Ciaran Hearn, Jason Robertson, Mickey Sosene-Fengai, & Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz)
John Manson, Old Glory DC Operations Manager, was Interviewed following the Media Day panel presentation on Feb. 13 at the St Gregory Hotel in Washington D.C. He discussed the role of a team operations manager.
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