Utah Warriors Battle Wind, Seattle SeaWolves in 80th Minute Round 14 Defeat

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Utah Warriors Battle Wind, Seattle SeaWolves in 80th Minute Round 14 Defeat

May 14, 2025 - Major League Rugby (MLR)
Utah Warriors News Release


The Utah Warriors fell victim to a last-minute try from the Seattle Seawolves en route to incurring a tough 28-24 loss on Monday.

Despite starting off strong, the Warriors yielded the game's final 14 points to Seattle, which exacted some revenge for taking a loss to the Warriors at home a little more than a month ago.

"There's a bit of disappointment and a bit of frustration," said Warriors Fly Half Joel Hodgson. "It was pretty windy today, but what we executed in the first half was pretty faultless."

Indeed the wind was whipping hard throughout, and despite the wind against them, the Warriors controlled the play for most of the first half.

Leading things off was Zion Going, breaking through down the sideline for a try in the sixth minute. With the wind whipping hard, the ensuing conversion kick wasn't close as Utah got off to a 5-0 lead.

Seattle responded in the 14th minute to take the lead at 7-5 before Joey Mano took a turnover and turned it into another Utah try to retake the lead at 10-7. D'Angelo Leuila made some great adjustments for his conversion kick following Mano's try, but just missed as the wind again played a big factor.

Leuila then played a big role for the next try, making a substantial run up the middle, off-loading the ball to Lance Williams, who in turn quickly off-loaded to Jordan Trainor who dotted the ball down in the try zone. Due to the proximity of Trainor's try, Leuila's attempt wasn't a tough one and he booted it through to extend Utah's lead to 17-7 in the 33rd minute.

Seattle responded, however, and scored a try just three minutes later to cut the deficit to 17-14 at the break.

The Warriors looked poised to take control of the game after the half, with Hodgson scoring a try in the 45th minute to push the lead to 24-14. Hodgson deftly intercepted an attempted Seattle off-load and raced it down the field for the score.

"I was just lucky that (they) fumbled it a bit and threw that pass and I was able to get the pick," Hodgson described. "If it was 10 more meters, then I'm not sure I would have gotten there, but fortunately it was the distance was what it was and I was able to get it across."

Shortly after Utah was issued a yellow card, which Seattle took advantage of in scoring the final two tries of the match, including the game winner in the 80th minute.

"All the credit goes to Seattle," Hodgson said. "They stuck in it and managed to get us in the end, so there's some frustration, some disappointment, but definitely some learning. But now it's an opportunity to get ourselves right and get after Houston next week."

Utah did gain two bonus points to retake the lead in the Western Conference standings with 43 total, but did see its record fall to 8-4 with two straight losses. Utah will travel to take on the Sabercats this coming Saturday at 7 P.M. MST.



Major League Rugby Stories from May 14, 2025


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