2018 Major League Rugby final

The 2018 Major League Rugby final was the championship match of the inaugural season of Major League Rugby (MLR), a rugby union club competition in the United States. It was played on July 7, 2018, at Torero Stadium in San Diego, California, between the Glendale Raptors and the Seattle Seawolves. Seattle won the match 23–19 to take their first title.

2018 Major League Rugby final

Event	2018 Major League Rugby season
Glendale Raptors Seattle Seawolves 19 23
Date	July 7, 2018
Venue	Torero Stadium, San Diego, California
Man of the Match	Vili Tolutaʻu
Referee	Scott Green (United States)
Attendance	2,901
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The Glendale and Seattle teams finished first and second in the regular season, respectively, and advanced to the MLR Championship Series, contesting the semifinals against San Diego and Utah.

Background

Major League Rugby was established in 2017 and began play in April 2018.

Seattle and Glendale played each other twice during the regular season, with Glendale winning both matches.^[1]

Venue

Torero Stadium, home field of Major League Rugby team San Diego Legion, was selected as the venue for the final before the beginning of the Championship Series playoffs.^[2] The stadium with a seating capacity of 6,000 on the campus of the University of San Diego is also home to the various athletics teams of the university.^[2]

Broadcasting

The match was broadcast on CBS Sports Network.^[3] Dan Power served as the play by play commentator for CBS and was joined by color analysts Brian Hightower and Peter Steinberg.^[3]

Match

Details

	July 7	Glendale Raptors	19–23	Seattle Seawolves	Torero Stadium, San Diego, California
	9:00 pm EDT (UTC−04)	Try: Fenoglio (2) 13' c, 50' m Campbell 56' c Con: Magie (2/3) 13', 57'	Report	Try: Barkwill 23' m Rasileka 58' m, Hattingh 61' c Con: Smith (1/3) 62' Pen: Smith (2/3) 9', 67'	Attendance: 2,901 Referee: Scott Green [4] (United States)

Glendale Raptors

Seattle Seawolves

Team details

FB 15 Maximo de Achaval RW 14 Harley Davidson OC 13 Chad London  46' IC 12 Bryce Campbell LW 11 Mika Kruse FH 10 Will Magie SH 9 Shaun Davies (c) N8 8 Sam Figg OF 7 John Quill BF 6 Peter Dahl  57' RL 5 Ben Landry  57' LL 4 Kody O'Neil  62' TP 3 Kelepi Fifita HK 2 Zach Fenoglio LP 1 Blake Rogers  68' Replacements: PR 16 Luke White  68' PR 17 Nick Kwasniewski HK 18 Dylan Fawsitt  57' LK 19 Connor Cook  62' FL 20 Grigor Kerdikoshvili  57' SH 21 Mickey Bateman CE 22 Ata Malifa  46' OB 23 Nick Johnson Coach: David Williams FB 15 Mathew Turner RW 14 Sequoyah Burke-Combs OC 13 William Rasileka IC 12 Shalom Suniula (c) LW 11 Peter Tiberio FH 10 Peter Smith SH 9 Phil Mack N8 8 Riekert Hattingh OF 7 Vili Tolutaʻu  76' BF 6 Eric Duechle RL 5 Cam Polson LL 4 Taylor Krumrei  57' TP 3 Tim Metcher  59' HK 2 Ray Barkwill  62' LP 1 Olive Kilifi  57' Replacements: HK 16 Mike Shepherd  62' PR 17 John Hayden  59' PR 18 Kellen Gordon  57' LK 19 Cole van Harn  76' LF 20 Aladdin Schirmer  57' FL 21 Andre Coquillard OB 22 Jeremy Misailegalu OB 23 Mozac Samson Coach: Phil Mack Most Valuable Player: Vili Tolutaʻu (Seattle) Assistant Referees: Adam Leal (England) Derek Summers (United States) Television Match Official: Marc Nelson (United States)

Highlights

The champion Seattle Seawolves was awarded the "America's Championship Shield", an oversized 80-pound (36 kg) metal shield of the MLR logo, which they hoisted. Seawolves flanker Vili Tolutaʻu was named the MLR Championship Series "MVP", equivalent to man of the match.^[5] For his efforts, he received a Shinola Detroit American Made watch.