San Diego Legion vs. Seattle Seawolves: MLR's Greatest Rivalry Today 5:00PM ET on ESPN+

Written by Joe Harvey

There is always a different feel in the air before San Diego Legion and Seattle Seawolves play one another. In the past seven seasons, the teams have faced off 17 times, with the Seawolves holding a 9-8 lead in the series. Whether it has been in the regular season or winner-takes-all encounters, each meeting is sure to bring an intensity, physicality, and passion that has been unmatched anywhere else in Major League Rugby to date.

Photo by Connor Jalbert

“It has built itself up because of the history of the importance of the games that those two teams have played against each other in,” ex-San Diego playmaker and broadcaster, Will Hooley, said. “I am talking about Western Conference Finals, Championship Finals - you name it. It really has come down to the wire. “If you are any kind of MLR fan, especially if you are a Legion or Seawolves fan, the 2019 Final in San Diego, when the Seawolves managed to score that last play of the game try to win. “I know for Legion fans, that was a very hard one to take. The great thing about those two organizations is that they are ran very well. “Their ownership groups on both sides have been in the Major League Rugby sphere since the beginning. “I think it is this chip on the shoulder of wanting to be the Real Madrid or Dallas Cowboys of rugby in America. “They are really going after creating a dynasty and a legacy of great players coming through and being successful.” Before these two titans of the league meet one another for the 18th time on Week 1 of the 2025 season, here is a look at their shared history and what makes this contest best in class.

Photo by Connor Jalbert

2019 Championship Final | San Diego Legion 23-26 Seattle Seawolves

The 2019 Championship Final is considered as potentially the best MLR game ever. From the first minute, there was a steeliness to these two teams, with the Seawolves aiming to retain the Shield after winning it in 2018, while the Legion were on the hunt for the first time. Played at San Diego’s Torero Stadium, where the Legion will return to in 2025, there was not a seat to be found in California as the two sets of players slugged it out. First half tries for Seattle’s Stephan Coetzee and JP Smith were converted by Brock Staller, with Legion playmaker Joe Pietersen keeping the home team in the game with two well-struck penalties. In the second half San Diego grew into the game more and more, with converted tries for Nick Boyer and Jordan Manihera pulling the lead back in their direction. With less than 10 minutes left to play Riekert Hattingh made his way over the try line, but when the conversion went awry from Staller, it was Legion that still had the lead. To nudge his team further in front, Pietersen calmly landed a drop goal, but with time left on the clock, Seattle was able to steal back possession and make their way back through enemy territory. A high tackle on Staller allowed the Seawolves to kick back into San Diego’s 22m, and as the resulting lineout maul slowly made its way toward the try line, everyone sat with bated breath before Brad Tucker crashed over to secure a famous victory. In addition to this game being the season's centerpiece, it was also the first time Ben Holden called play-by-play for a rugby game. In his career up to that point, the commentator had tried his hand at lacrosse, basketball, and college hockey, and after the Alliance of American Football called it quits eight games into their inaugural season, he threw his hat into the ring for the network broadcast. “The first MLR match that I ever called was Seattle-San Diego in the 2019 Final at Torero,” Holden said. “That was really the first taste of rugby that I ever got. I still talk about that match with people all the time. “For me, that was my first taste of it, and I thought that stadium was going to come down. “I looked at Brian Hightower in the booth and asked, ‘Are we going to be okay up here?’. “What a fantastic introduction to rugby for me. It was the first broadcast I had ever done as a play-by-play guy in rugby.”

Week 11 2022 Regular Season | Seattle Seawolves 34-32 San Diego Legion

Across the 2022 regular season, the Seawolves and San Diego played out two enthralling matches. Seattle was 31-28 winners at the SDSU Sports Deck in Week 3 and completed a season sweep two months later when the Legion traveled up to the Pacific Northwest. Joe Pietersen opened the scoring with a penalty just two minutes into the contest and started an enthralling 80-minute game that saw nine tries scored. Going blow-for-blow at Starfire Stadium, USA legend Martin Iosefo registered the game’s opening try before the Legion drove Nate Sylvia over the try line. It was the place-kicking of Seawolves fly-half AJ Alatimu that proved to be the difference, with the Samoan slotting all four of his conversions and two penalties. The two clubs met again in the postseason, too, in the Eastern Conference Eliminators, with the Seattle Seawolves winning 43-19 and finishing the season as overall runners-up in the 2022 Championship Final. 2023 Western Conference Final | San Diego Legion 32-10 Seattle Seawolves In the 2023 MLR season, the San Diego Legion set the pace. After 18 weeks of action, the team, then led by Danny Lee, had a 15-1 record. Ma’a Nonu, Sama Malolo, and Mike Te’o were enjoying dominant seasons in a squad teeming with talent. Will Hooley was in his second and final season with the club before his retirement. In the regular season, the USA international helped his team win two regular seasons and saw first-hand the utter chaos of this full-blooded affair. “I would say one of the most fun and enjoyable Major League Rugby experiences was playing at Starfire Stadium,” Hooley said. “It is a small, cauldron of a place up in Seattle, and always renowned to have a great atmosphere. “They generate that atmosphere, that hostile atmosphere. I remember as a kicker, there was no silence when I was about to kick that ball. “They were getting stuck into me, calling me all sorts and I loved it. It should be theatre. That was in 2023 when we just beat them. “Blair Cowan came off the field that day, and he said, ‘That was a proper game,’ like top-end Premiership in terms of the physicality, but also the feeling of the cauldron that they have created.” After Seattle had navigated the Eliminator Round, they were face-to-face with their bitter rivals yet again. For the Seawolves that trip to Snapdragon Stadium was no happy one. In the 10th minute, Nonu scored a drop goal for the Legion, and just after Hooley doubled that lead with a penalty, Faka’osi Pifeleti latched onto Tevita Tameilau’s offload to score the game’s first try. With Seattle only able to respond with a Jordan Chait penalty in the first half, things went from bad to worse for the road team in the second half when Tomas Aoake scored a brace, and Marcel Brache also dotted down. For all the Legion’s regular season form, they were again heartbroken in the Championship Final when Le Roux Malan’s 76th-minute try sent the Shield home with the New England Free Jacks.

2024 Western Conference Semi-Final | Seattle Seawolves 30-28 San Diego Legion

At the end of 2024, the Seawolves and Legion were once again pitted against each other in the postseason. For both teams, San Diego’s 45-33 Week 18 win over Seattle was fresh in the memory and added an extra air of anticipation and nervousness for the thousands of home supporters at Starfire. What followed was another pulsating and competitive encounter that was, at times, impossible to predict. After an early exchange of penalties, Matt Giteau’s efforts had afforded San Diego a narrow lead before Duncan Matthews and Rhyno Herbst scored tries to give the hosts 18-9 at half-time. For the next 20 minutes, the clash descended into sheer nervousness. Neither side broke the deadlock until Cyrille Cama barreled over at the back of a rolling maul. Five tries were scored in that final quarter of the game, with Pago Haini’s effort and a penalty try enough to take the Seawolves back to the Western Conference Final. A week later, the Seawolves beat the Dallas Jackals to progress to last year’s Championship Final in San Diego, where they lost 20-11 to the New England Free Jacks.