- The Utah Warriors host their first home playoff match against Seattle Seawolves.
- Coach Greg Cooper emphasizes maintaining their successful strategies for the playoff.
- Players like Joey Mano and Lance Williams highlight the team's strong performance.
HERRIMAN — By many accounts, the Utah Warriors' first playoff home match in franchise history is a reason to celebrate.
But for Greg Cooper and his eighth-year professional rugby franchise, it's just a reason to keep things the same.
The Warriors will host the Seattle Seawolves on Saturday night (8 p.m. MDT, ESPN+) for the home side's first Major League Rugby playoff match in four years, and the first since Cooper came aboard as head coach and manager prior to the 2023 campaign.
Yet after an 11-5 regular season and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference of the 11-team league, there's no reason to do anything different, either.
"For us, we're not doing anything different this week," Cooper said. "We got here to this No. 1 position doing certain things and we don't want to change from that. What we do have to do is bring our best part of the game forward. If it means getting off the ground, we get off the ground quicker. If it means getting into position, we get into position quicker. If it means our chase line, we have to go harder at it.
"We have to bring the best of our game. The worst thing we can do is change what we do in the process that leads to the performance. We've got to keep the same process, but we've got to go to a higher level of performance."
It's hard to argue with results of the process, too.
Warrior Nation,
— Utah Warriors Rugby (@utwarriorsrugby) June 12, 2025
Are you ready?
Because we're not done yet.#ForTheNation#MLR2025#ProRugby#MLRPlayoffspic.twitter.com/nbfcB4TwJv
In addition to the team success, the Warriors had the leading try scorer in the league in Joey Mano, who had 14 tries — and four more than teammate Liam Coltman, who tied for the fourth-most scores in Major League Rugby.
They also brought the hits with Frank Lochore leading the forward pack with the most tackles in MLR at 265, four more than Dylan Nel, whose 199 stops were fourth-most in the league. Standout rookies like former BYU standouts Tielu Sagala and Cole Semu paired with veterans like former NFL fullback Paul Lasike in his final season to pair a group that was dangerous at times, and also capable of surviving a midseason four-game losing skid that included a 68-29 loss to Seattle to emerge with the most points (58) in MLR and the most in franchise history.
"It's all on us. We just focus on us, and the reason why we're No. 1 is because these boys put in the hard work year in and year out, even in the offseason," said Warriors flanker Lance Williams, a Utah original who returned to the club mid-season. "The boys put in the hard work, and it shows with the No. 1 spot. We wanted to host; it's the first time we've hosted in Utah in MLR. It's a great achievement, but the job's not done."
Williams was a fan favorite during his first stint in Utah, when the 6-foot-2 back racked up 18 tries and 90 points in more than 5,000 minutes including 67 starts from 2018-22.
He left the club and MLR to help the U.S. Olympic Sevens team qualify for the Paris Summer Games. But the local legend called Warrior No. 19 in the locker room and the front office has been a leader since re-upping with Utah before the club's impressive "storm week" of seven matches in five weeks.
Now, Williams wants to give back to the community where he worked to return — with a home playoff game, and perhaps another if the Warriors can get by the Seawolves (8-1-7, 49 points).
"I know a couple of season-ticket holders who have been here since 2018, and they're still season-ticket holders," he said. "I think these fans deserve a playoff home game here in Utah. It's been a long time coming, not only for us but for the fans who come rain, shine, storms, wind, rain; they still come out. Giving the No. 1 fanbase in the MLR is a hats' off to them."
Williams joined a team connected as well as any Cooper has coached in the 60-year-old manager's globe-trotting career from spanning his native New Zealand to Japan to the United States.
And that's as much of a reason for the team's success as any individual, statistic or run.
"The boys really enjoy each other's company, and they fight for each other," Cooper said. "'Utah Built' is a terminology that could probably move to other parts of the world, an uncompromising, never-say-die attitude. But these guys are playing for that; they're playing for the family for the community, for each other, and to represent this state."
