It’s a tight but somewhat surprising race for the top in Rugby Washington after the third week of games.

Eastside set down something of a marker with a 70-11 defeat of Kent, showcasing the Lions’ impressive backline attack. That put Eastside at 2-1 and smack in the middle of the race in a very tough league. Chuckanut won, as well, holding off a determined Seattle comeback to prevail 31-27. But all eye have to be on the Rainier Highlanders. Newly-promoted from DII, the Highlanders moved to 3-0 with a 20-13 defeat of Liberty.

Chuckanut’s game was a wild one. The Steamers steamed out to a 24-5 lead at halftime.

“We dominated in that first half,” said Head Coach Peter Witecki. “They hardly crossed halfway.”

Jake Burns and Jack Wendling were excellent in attack for Chuckanut. But in running on the subs early, Chuckanut changed up some of the things that were working so well. Meanwhile, Seattle figured out a few things, and, led by tries from Will Brennan and Alex MacKenzie the Vikings stormed back. three tries later it was 24-22. But Chuckanut managed to score a late one, and while Seattle scored one more, it wasn’t enough.

“We’ve got a really good team,” said Witecki. “We have a lot of depth, but we maybe made too many subs too early. Our forwards played very. very well.”

Meanwhile, the Highlanders just keep on winning rugby games. After beating Chuckanut on the last play of the game in the first week, they beat Kent last week and this week edged Liberty 20-13.

“It was a big day for us,” said Rainier Head Coach Jeff Sprouse, whose club actually swept Liberty in 5th/6th grade, 7th/8th grade, 9th/10th grade, and varsity level. “They were very tough, but our defensive system is getting better and our support running and support at rucks is getting there, too. We made some unforced errors, but we’re playing well.”

Once again, Halleluiah Tiauli was a terror for Rainier in the rucks, and Jacob Nist continues to play well in the backs.