Humbled in Seattle, American Raptors Look to Next Step
Humbled in Seattle, American Raptors Look to Next Step
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."
This loss is also a good test of the unity of the team. Obviously they have to improve, but the question is, how quickly and efficiently can they improve? And that relies a great deal on team chemistry.
Chemistry is a huge part of all sports and especially in a sport like rugby; we do a great job of making sure everybody's comfortable. There are things that we do to stay closer but also compete with each other. We do off-the-field stuff—it's good vibes over here," added Murphy.
Murphy said that many of the players who are relatively new to the sport can play rugby, and really all they need is time, coaching, and experience. "But they can play ball," he said
