There are matchups within matchups at Starfire tonight, but few carry quite the narrative weight of the one out wide. Drake Davis pulls on a Seattle jersey for the first time. Across from him, Peyton Wall - MLR Rookie of the Year- makes his first appearance of 2026. Two players at similar points in their story, arriving here by very different roads.
Davis is a former college wide receiver, and found rugby through the American 10s combine. The game found him again. At six foot four and 250 pounds, with the movement skills of someone who could reportedly have taken a college scholarship in football, basketball, or soccer, he is the kind of athlete that coaches build game plans around once they work out how to use him. Houston spent 2025 doing exactly that. He made ten appearances for the SaberCats, and when it mattered most- the Western Conference Final against Utah, the Championship Final against New England- he was in the right place at the right time, scoring in both. That tells you something about a player’s instincts that the regular-season numbers alone cannot.
Tonight is a different kind of pressure. A debut, at home, against the only unbeaten team in the league. There is no easing in.
Wall’s arrival in professional rugby was quieter, at least at first. The former Indiana University wing was Chicago’s tenth pick in the 2024 MLR Draft and had never played a minute of professional rugby when he came off the bench in Week 12 last year against Miami. Then, three weeks later, he took the ball up against Anthem and did not stop: 11 carries, 142 meters, five clean line breaks. Both were single-game franchise records. By the end of the season, he was the MLR Rookie of the Year. Some players need time to find their level. Wall found his almost immediately.
He has not yet featured in any of Chicago’s three wins this season. His return here- into an attack that is already scoring seven tries and 44 points a game, more than anyone else in the league- is the perfect moment to come back in.
Seattle’s game leans on set pieces and territory. They have the best lineout in the league this season and the most accurate kickers. If the match follows their pattern, Davis may not touch the ball as often as Wall does. But the moments he does get it- in the wide channels, with a lead pass and open space- are exactly the moments that can settle tight games. He has been there before.
This is the fifth time these clubs have met. Seattle has won all four previous fixtures. Chicago has never beaten the Seawolves in MLR history, and they come here tonight wanting to change that more than anything else on the schedule. Wall, making his first appearance of the season, matters to that. So does how Davis responds to everything that comes with a debut at Starfire.
Same number of tries last season. Completely different paths to get here.
That is usually where the most interesting matchups begin.