Warriors look to rebound with a quick turnaround in Seattle

HERRIMAN — This Thursday’s match versus the Seattle Seawolves is a big one for the Utah Warriors, as they work to rebound from Sunday’s 31-29 opening match loss to the San Diego Legion. Placing two straight matches into the loss column is a tough way for anyone to start the season, which lends a lot of focus when taking on the Seawolves.

But for Warrior prop Olive Kilifi, the focus involved perhaps revolves around a bit more than the factors stated above.

Kilifi is from the Seattle area and spent two seasons playing for the Seawolves before being traded to Utah prior to the 2021 season.

“There’s always some sort of excitement when it’s Seattle week for me,” Kilifi said. “I won two championships there and I still know a lot of the guys playing there. I try to keep my emotions out of it with all my family and friends there, but yeah, it’s definitely a game I look forward to.”

Kilifi sat out Sunday’s loss due to injury, but will be a full go versus the Seawolves where his play at the physically-demanding prop position will be key.

In reviewing the loss to the Legion, coaches and players feel they need to up their physicality and particularly versus a Seattle team which provides plenty of challenges up front.

“Physicality is going to be a big thing for this next game,” the 5-foot-11, 280 pound Kilifi said. “We know that Seattle is a big and physical team, so we need to match that. Our big thing is working to dominate the contact area.”

Seattle is coming off a 21-8 opening match win versus the Toronto Arrows in which they showcased a stingy defense that the Warriors will work to penetrate. The work in doing as much revolves around executing ruck situations better than they did in the loss to San Diego.

“We have to get better with our breakdown,” said Warriors assistant coach Shaun Davies. “We had 10 breakdown turnovers and we just can’t play the rugby we want without getting better with our breakdown, so we’ve put a lot of work into that this week.”

𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧

⚔️ Seattle Seawolves
📆 Thursday, Feb 10
🕗 8:30 PM MT
📍 Tukwila, WA
🏟️ Starfire Sports
📺 KMYU, KSL Sports, The Rugby Network
📻 ESPN 700#ForTheNation || #RiseOfRugby || #SEAvUTAH pic.twitter.com/2E0ZHfZ1p3

— Utah Warriors Rugby (@utwarriorsrugby) February 7, 2022

The relatively quick turnaround for Thursday’s game will also present a challenge, although Seattle is encountering somewhat the same.

“It’s good and bad,” Davies said. “The boys are still a little sore, so in terms of that, it’s not the best. But in terms of getting back on the field, the boys are excited to get back relatively fast.”

One player that came away from San Diego particularly sore is center Mika Kruse, who will sit out Thursday’s match due to injury, presenting yet another challenge. Replacing Kruse will be Jame Vaifale, who coaches have a lot of confidence in.

“Mika is an extreme talent and he’s very good about the stuff he does, but James is very good as well,” Davies said. “He has very good feet and reads the game very well. So yeah, not having Mika is a loss, but James can get it done and we’re very confident with him.”

Overall the team feels confident heading into Seattle, taking the momentum gained over the course Sunday’s tight loss and working to harness all of it while tweaking a few things for Thursday.

“We all knew going in that that first game was going to be rough,” Kilifi said. “That second half — the way we ended it — that’s more like us and it’s good to have that first game under our belt, and we’ll look to improve off that this week.”

UTAH WARRIORS VS. SEATTLE SEAWOLVES

Date: Thursday, February 10
Time: 8:30 PM MT
Where: Seattle, Wash.
Broadcast: KMYU, The Rugby Network, KSLsports.com
Radio: ESPN 700

Brandon Gurney is the Utah Warriors Team Reporter. With nearly two decades of experience covering BYU Football in print and on radio, Gurney brings a wealth of experience to the Utah Warriors beat. You can read all of Gurney’s stories on the Utah Warriors throughout the 2022 Season at WarriorsRugby.com