2019 Major League Rugby Final
# 2019 Major League Rugby Final

The 2019 Major League Rugby Final was the championship match of the 2nd season of Major League Rugby (MLR), a rugby union club competition in the United States. It was played on June 16, 2019, at Torero Stadium in San Diego, California, between the San Diego Legion and the Seattle Seawolves.

San Diego and Seattle finished first and second in the regular season, respectively, and advanced to the final after defeating New York and Toronto in the semifinals. The Seattle team was the defending champion, having won the 2018 final. Seattle defeated San Diego 26–23 in the 2019 final to take their second championship title.

## Background

The 2019 Major League Rugby season began in January 2019 with nine teams all playing each other home and away. The Seattle Seawolves won the previous season's championship, defeating the Glendale Raptors at Torero Stadium in San Diego.

Seattle and San Diego played each other twice during the regular season, ending in 17–13 and 28–22 victories for the Legion.

## Venue

Torero Stadium, home field of Major League Rugby team San Diego Legion, was selected as the venue for the final after the team finished as the top seed in the regular season. 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.

## Broadcasting

The match was broadcast nationally on CBS. It received a rating of 0.34 (510,000).

## Match

### Details

| San Diego Legion | Seattle Seawolves |
| - | - |

Team details :

| LP | 1 | Faka’osi Pifeleti | 40' |
| - | - | - | - |
| HK | 2 | Kapeli Pifeleti | 57' |
| TP | 3 | Paddy Ryan | 61' |
| LL | 4 | Louis Stanfill | 61' |
| RL | 5 | Joshua Furno | |
| BF | 6 | Jasa Veremalua | 61' |
| OF | 7 | Psalm Wooching | |
| N8 | 8 | Jordan Manihera | |
| SH | 9 | Nate Augspurger (c) | |
| FH | 10 | Joe Pietersen | |
| LW | 11 | Nick Boyer | |
| IC | 12 | JP du Plessis | |
| OC | 13 | Ryan Matyas | |
| RW | 14 | Conor Kearns | |
| FB | 15 | Tai Enosa | 42' |
| Replacements: ||
| HK | 16 | Dean Muir | 57' |
| PR | 17 | Nathan Sylvia | 40' |
| PR | 18 | Dino Waldren | 61' |
| LK | 19 | Siaosi Mahoni | 61' |
| FL | 20 | Pat Blair | 61' |
| FB | 21 | Kyle Rogers | |
| WG | 22 | Save Totovosau | |
| OB | 23 | Will Holder | 42' |
| Coach: ||
| Rob Hoadley ||

50' :

| HK | 2 | Stephan Coetzee | 75' |
| - | - | - | - |
| TP | 3 | Tim Metcher | 50' |
| LL | 4 | Api Naikatini | 62' |
| RL | 5 | Brad Tucker | |
| BF | 6 | Samu Manoa | 53' |
| OF | 7 | Nakai Penny | 62' |
| N8 | 8 | Riekert Hattingh | |
| SH | 9 | JP Smith | |
| FH | 10 | Ben Cima | 57' |
| LW | 11 | Jeff Hassler | |
| IC | 12 | Shalom Suniula (c) | |
| OC | 13 | George Barton | 57' |
| RW | 14 | Brock Staller | |
| FB | 15 | Mathew Turner | |
| Replacements: |||
| HK | 16 | Daniel Trierweiler | 75' |
| PR | 17 | Kellen Gordon | 50' |
| PR | 18 | Jake Ilnicki | 50' |
| LK | 19 | Jérémy Lenaerts | 62' |
| LF | 20 | Eric Duechle | 62' |
| SH | 21 | Phil Mack | 57' |
| OB | 22 | Roland Suniula | 57' |
| LF | 23 | Vili Toluta’u | 53' |
| Coach: |||
| Richie Walker ||||

* Most Valuable Player:
* JP Smith
* Assistant Referees:
* Anthony Woodthorpe (England)
* Elgan Williams (Wales)
* Television Match Official:
* Davey Ardrey (United States)

## Post-match

The defending champion Seattle Seawolves was once again awarded the "America's Championship Shield", which was changed to a 20-pound (9.1 kg) metal shield in the shape of the MLR logo. Seawolves scrum-half JP Smith was named the MLR Championship Series "man of the match".

