2018 Major League Rugby Final
# 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.

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.

## 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. 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 on CBS Sports Network. Dan Power served as the play by play commentator for CBS and was joined by color analysts Brian Hightower and Peter Steinberg.

## Match

### Details

| 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 ||
| 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. For his efforts, he received a Shinola Detroit American Made watch.

