The American Raptors got a bit of a rude awakening in their warmup match this past weekend in Seattle.
The Seattle Seawolves defeated the Raptors 47-0. Dan Kriel, AJ Alatimu, Duncan Matthews, Martin Iosefo, Karl Keane, and Lopeti Aisea all scored for the Seawolves. It was an experienced Seattle side, which included capped Eagles Peter Malcolm at hooker, Ben Landry at flanker, and center Tavite Lopeti in the starting 15. Former Life All American Connor Mooneyham started and Iosefo, capped in 15s and 7s, was on the bench, as was USA Selects selection Mason Pedersen.
For the Raptors, this is just the first step in a long journey into the Super Rugby Americas. They will play Rugby ATL on Friday and then go on to South America where they will be on the road for a month in SRA.
"We're just going out there trying to make a name for ourselves, trying to grow the game," said captain Ronan Murphy. "Obviously we're the first American team to go down there in the comp. We're treading in new waters but there's no reason why we can't do great things. We've got a bunch of guys from different backgrounds in rugby and if we can put it all together I think we can be a dangerous side."
