The Second MLR Centurion – Seattle Seawolves’ Everpresent Scrum-Half JP Smith

Written by Joe Harvey | Photos Provided by Seattle Seawolves

There are not many players in the world of rugby that are completely synonymous with a single team. JP Smith is.

In Week 10, the Seattle Seawolves scrum-half became the second player in Major League Rugby history to gain 100 appearances in the competition.

He joins Chicago Hounds and USA Men’s Eagles hooker Dylan Fawsitt in North America’s most exclusive club.

[caption id="attachment_14662" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Photo by Punkus Arnett[/caption]

On Friday night, Smith started against the Hounds, and Seattle picked up a 28-22 win in front of their home supporters and new team owners Marshawn Lynch and Marcus Peters.

Smith has made all 100 of his MLR appearances with the same team he joined in 2019 and has started 90 of those matches.

“It is something special,” Smith said. “It’s special for me because I’m doing it at the same club.

“I have been at the same place, and I have been fortunate enough to have the Seawolves look after me and put their trust in me for so long.

[caption id="attachment_14664" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Photo by Punkus Arnett[/caption]

“It is also a testament to the days that you don’t really want to do it. The days you don’t want to go to the gym, or you don’t want to do the extra stuff.

“It’s a big part of what drives me as a player is doing those small things, the little things that will provide the longevity of your career.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs. Reflecting on it, you don’t know how quickly it does come upon you.”

Smith’s career was at a crossroads before a phone call from a friend led him to MLR.

In 2018, his former Blue Bulls teammate and Seattle captain, Riekert Hattingh, tried to tempt the half-back to North America for the league’s inaugural season.

[caption id="attachment_14665" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Riekert Hattingh, JP Smith and Dan Kriel[/caption]

On that occasion Smith rejected the proposal as he pursued professional rugby at home in South Africa.

As a teenager, Smith wowed Bulls Director of Rugby Heyneke Meyer by playing for the Border Bulldogs, which laid the foundations for his eventual move to Pretoria to represent the team.

Fresh-faced from leaving Queen’s College in his hometown of Queenstown, he quickly became familiar with the rigors of elite-level rugby and represented the Bulls’ various age-grade teams.

Although it was not always the happiest of times. While Smith had talent, promise, and age on his side, the youngster found it increasingly more difficult to get game time with other players ahead of him in the pecking order at Loftus Versfeld.

“I left school, went to the Blue Bulls, and was a professional rugby player at 19,” Smith said.

“You’re getting paid a salary and have all these nice, flashy things. You hit your peak at a young age. I know those things caught up with me really quickly.

“I’m so happy it did happen to me because I wouldn’t have learned. I wouldn’t have been humbled in the way I was.

“You get all that fame, nice cars, sponsored cars. This and that. It overpowered me. it put me in a place where I was very high up and then rock bottom.

“It helped me grow my faith and to realize that you’ve got to be disciplined.”

After leaving the Bulls, Smith joined the Free State Cheetahs and spent 2018 back on the Eastern Cape with the Southern Kings and Eastern Province Kings.

Things never really clicked back into gear for Smith, who then decided to get back in touch with Hattingh to see if there was still an opportunity to come to the Pacific Northwest. The rest, as they say, is history.

In his debut season with the Seawolves, Smith helped the team become back-to-back champions, one All-MLR First XV of the Season nod in 2022, and has been named in two Honorable Mention XVs.

[caption id="attachment_14661" align="aligncenter" width="800"] JP Smith at MLR Championship[/caption]

Ask the 31-year-old what his favorite memories in a Seawolves jersey are, and he will unsurprisingly say that the 2019 title, along with the team’s unexpected run to the 2022 Championship Final, where they fell short against Rugby New York at Red Bull Arena.

Not only that, Seattle is now home. Instead of journeying back to South Africa for the offseason, Smith stayed put and worked on the Pennsylvania farm of Seawolves owner, Adrian Balfour. Wool from the farm’s sheep is now sold by the team.

At the end of 2024, he and his wife, Katie, even welcomed their first son, Luka.

“I didn’t really think it was going to be a long-term stint for me in America,” Smith laughed.

“I always thought I’d play a year or two years and then go to play somewhere else. I’ve just loved it so much. I’ve loved Seattle so much. Here I am seven years later and loving it.

“There were growing pains, coming from a professional club in South Africa to Seattle in those early stages.

“But I enjoyed that. I enjoyed being part of something that was growing and a part of something that was completely new. It was refreshing. It is where I was in my life at that stage.”

On top of becoming a Seattle and MLR stalwart, Smith also became an Eagle last September.

Qualifying for the USA on residency grounds, the scrum-half played in four Pacific Nations Cup games as Scott Lawrence’s side finished fourth overall in Japan.

That international reward was recognition not only for Smith’s MLR excellence over the years but also for the years of sacrifice he has made.

“It’s been a long road,” Smith said. “There is so much sacrifice that myself and my wife have put into this.

“We have missed birthdays, funerals, and weddings. We have missed all those things, and we miss our families.

“It (Smith’s Test debut) was a special moment. If you had asked me in 2019 that in six years’ time, I’d be playing in America for the Eagles and have this whole life set up, I would have laughed at you.

“I’m so fortunate to be here. It’s just been amazing to see where I am at the moment compared to where I was.”