The 2023 Major League Rugby Collegiate Draft was the 4th draft in MLR history and took place on 17th August 2023. It followed the same format as the 2022 iteration with 3 rounds of 13 picks each, with 39 picks in total.
The draft order was determined by the reverse of finishing order during the 2023 season, including placements during the Championship Series (determined by finishing position + regular season seeding if necessary), with the Miami Sharks picking 1st in each round, as the expansion side, followed by the Toronto Arrows as the bottom placed team during the regular season.
As with previous drafts, teams are free to trade draft picks like other trade assets, and any traded picks have been specified in the ‘Notes’ column. The below table shows the complete 2023 MLR Collegiate Draft Class, including their draft number, name, position, and school:
Round | Overall Pick # | Team | Player Name | Position | College | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Rick Rose | Lock | St. Bonaventure | ||
1 | 2 | Max Schumacher | Fly-half | UC – Berkeley | Pick acquired via trade with Toronto | |
1 | 3 | Marques Fuala’au | Flanker | Central Washington | ||
1 | 4 | Noah Brown | Center / Wing | Indiana | ||
1 | 5 | Matt Anticev | Fly-half | Dartmouth | ||
1 | 6 | Julian Roberts | Fly-half | Life | ||
1 | 7 | Cian Darling | Flanker | Lindenwood | Pick acquired via trade with Utah | |
1 | 8 | Nicholas Lapponese | No. 8 | Fairfield | ||
1 | 9 | Orrin Bizer | Flanker | Life | ||
1 | 10 | James Rivers | Lock | Arizona | Pick acquired via trade with DC | |
1 | 11 | Gabriel Mahu’inga | Hooker | Brigham Young | Pick acquired via trade with Seattle | |
1 | 12 | Tyren Al-Jiboori | Wing | Lindenwood | ||
1 | 13 | Gabe Casey | Center | Victoria | First player in MLR history to be drafted twice (2022 – 31st overall TOR) | |
2 | 14 | Charlie Overton | Lock | Life | ||
2 | 15 | Louis Millet | Flanker | Bishop’s | ||
2 | 16 | Juan Pen | Prop | St. Bonaventure | Pick acquired via trade with Dallas | |
2 | 17 | Daelan Denenberg | Wing | Santa Clara | ||
2 | 18 | Jackson Zabierek | Hooker | UC – Santa Clara | ||
2 | 19 | Josh Halladay | Lock | Trinity Western | Pick acquired via trade with NOLA | |
2 | 20 | Michael Biagi | Flanker | Brigham Young | ||
2 | 21 | Albert O’Shannessey | Flanker | Central Washington | ||
2 | 22 | Abe Turpen | Flanker | Arizona | Pick acquired via trade with Houston | |
2 | 23 | Junior Gafa | Center | Brown | Pick received via trade with DC | |
2 | 24 | Scott Bowers | Hooker | Trinity Western | ||
2 | 25 | Michael Ramos | Flanker | San Diego | ||
2 | 26 | Will Chevalier | Scrumhalf | Indiana | ||
3 | 27 | Setu Vole | Prop | Lindenwood | ||
3 | 28 | Monty Weatherall | Fly-half | McGill | ||
3 | 29 | Connor Olvera | Wing | Brigham Young | ||
3 | 30 | Clayton Means | Center | Lindenwood | ||
3 | 31 | Oli Griffiths | Fullback | UCLA | ||
3 | 32 | Ronnie McElligott | Flanker | St. Mary’s | Pick acquired via trade with NOLA | |
3 | 33 | Isaia Kruse | Wing | Fresno State | ||
3 | 34 | Gjergji Bacuku | Prop | Hofstra | ||
3 | 35 | Anton Viera | Flanker | Santa Clara | ||
3 | 36 | Noah Wright | Wing | Central Washington | ||
3 | 37 | Nathan Beil | Flanker | UCLA | Pick acquired via trade with Seattle | |
3 | 38 | Joseph Hawthorne | Prop | St. Bonaventure | ||
3 | 39 | Nick Hartley | Scrumhalf | Missouri S&T |
The 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft represented the first time in league history that the Dallas Jackals did not draft 1st overall. Instead, the Miami Sharks expansion team chose lock Rick Rose out of St. Bonaventure, the 2nd forward to be chosen 1st overall in as many years.
Between the 2024 draft and the start of the 2024 season, MLR underwent a huge amount of change. The Toronto Arrows and Rugby New York Ironworkers announced that they would not compete in the 2024 season (and so their draftees did not play), Rugby ATL relocated to Los Angeles as Rugby FC LA and their draftees moved with them, and the Anthem RC Development side was cobbled together weeks before start of the season, not participating in the 2024 draft but using many draftees from the 2024 class in their roster.
The below tables show how many picks each MLR team had during the 2024 draft, and which Colleges had the most draftees selected:
Team | Draft Picks |
---|---|
5 | |
4 | |
4 | |
4 | |
4 | |
3 | |
3 | |
3 | |
3 | |
3 | |
2 | |
1 | |
0 |
pick of the 2023 draft,
with 5. They would become
Rugby FC LA for the
2024 Season.
College | Logo | Number of Draftees |
---|---|---|
Lindenwood | 4 | |
Brigham Young | 3 | |
Central Washington | 3 | |
Life | 3 | |
St. Bonaventure | 3 | |
Arizona | 2 | |
Indiana | 2 | |
Santa Clara | 2 | |
Trinity Western | 2 | |
UCLA | 2 | |
Bishop’s | 1 | |
Brown | 1 | |
Dartmouth | 1 | |
Fairfield | 1 | |
Fresno State | 1 | |
Hofstra | 1 | |
McGill | 1 | |
Missouri S&T | 1 | |
San Diego | 1 | |
St. Mary’s | 1 | |
UC – Berkeley | 1 | |
UC – Santa Cruz | 1 | |
Victoria | 1 |
in terms of draftees, with 4. Five of the 39 draftees were selected
from Canadian schools.