This page summarises the 2025 Major League Rugby Season, the 8th in MLR history. It kicked off on February 15th, 2025 with the Championship Final being held on the last weekend of June, 2025. Here you can view the regular season standings for each conference, as well as the Championship Series structure and results, including links to all 2025 Playoff Games. This page also summarises the All-MLR teams of 2025, and the recipients of the League’s End of Season Awards.

Shortly after the end of the 2024 MLR season, the league and Dallas Jackals announced that the Jackals was in the process of being sold. This sale would not be complete in time for the 2025 season, and so Dallas was withdrawing from MLR. As will many cases of teams withdrawing in MLR’s short history, players and staff were not aware of just how dire the situation was at the top. Following this announcement, MLR held a dispersal draft to help Jackals players onto rosters for the 2025 season. This left MLR with an 11-team competition in 2025.

Regular Season

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall Standings

Standings will be updated on a weekly basis following each round. Points are awarded based on the following:
PF = Points For
PA = Points Against
+/- = Points Difference
Points
4 points for winning a match
2 points for drawing a match
0 points for losing a match
1 losing bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer
1 try bonus point for scoring 4 tries or more

Despite contracting to 11 teams for 2025, the season format remained largely similar when it was announced on November 19th, 2024. Each team would play 8 home and 8 away games for a total of 16 games in the regular season across 18 weeks. The West, having only 5 teams since the withdrawal of the Jackals, would play an even 8/8 split of cross-conference & in-conference games, while the Eastern Conference teams would play 8-10 in-conference games, and 6-8 cross-conference.

Championship Series

The format of the 2025 Championship series followed the same structure as the 2024 season, with the top 4 teams from each conference qualifying to the Conference Semifinals, where the #1 seed would face #4, and #2 against #3. The winners would advance to the Conference Finals, and the Conference Champions would then fight for the 2025 Shield. With an 11 team league split into conferences, this means that 2 teams in the Eastern Conference will not qualify for the post-season, while just the 1 team will miss out in the West.

All-MLR Teams

Number	All-MLR First XV	All-MLR Second XV	Honorable Mention XV
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

2025 Player Leaderboards & Accolades

Scoring Leaderboards – Top Points Scorers & Try Scorers

This page summarises the 2025 Major League Rugby Season, the 8th in MLR history. It kicked off on February 15th, 2025 with the Championship Final being held on the last weekend of June, 2025. Here you can view the regular season standings for each conference, as well as the Championship Series structure and results, including links to all 2025 Playoff Games. This page also summarises the All-MLR teams of 2025, and the recipients of the League’s End of Season Awards.

Shortly after the end of the 2024 MLR season, the league and Dallas Jackals announced that the Jackals was in the process of being sold. This sale would not be complete in time for the 2025 season, and so Dallas was withdrawing from MLR. As will many cases of teams withdrawing in MLR’s short history, players and staff were not aware of just how dire the situation was at the top. Following this announcement, MLR held a dispersal draft to help Jackals players onto rosters for the 2025 season. This left MLR with an 11-team competition in 2025 and skewed conferences, with 6 teams in the Eastern Conference, and only 5 teams in the West.

Regular Season

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall Standings

Standings will be updated on a weekly basis following each round. Points are awarded based on the following:
PF = Points For
PA = Points Against
+/- = Points Difference
Points
4 points for winning a match
2 points for drawing a match
0 points for losing a match
1 losing bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer
1 try bonus point for scoring 4 tries or more

Despite contracting to 11 teams for 2025, the season format remained largely similar when it was announced on November 19th, 2024. Each team would play 8 home and 8 away games for a total of 16 games in the regular season across 18 weeks. The West, having only 5 teams since the withdrawal of the Jackals, would play an even 8/8 split of cross-conference & in-conference games, while the Eastern Conference teams would play 8-10 in-conference games, and 6-8 cross-conference.

The 2025 regular season was arguably the most competitive season in MLR’s history up until that point. The defending Champion New England Free Jacks got off to a shaky start before recovering, while the San Diego Legion ran out to a 5-0 start, before then going 3-8 and finishing at the bottom of the Western Conference and out of the playoffs with a record of 8-8 and 48pts, a total that would put them ahead of four teams in the East. This includes the NOLA Gold who, despite having almost definitely the strongest roster in franchise history, only managed a 4-12 record, finishing 5th in the East ahead of only Anthem RC, who set a new record for the longest losing streak in MLR history with a second consecutive 0-16 season. The Western Conference produced the top team in MLR for the 3rd year in a row, as the Utah Warriors finished with 58pts, one of 3 teams with an 11-5 record along with the Free Jacks and Chicago Hounds in the East.

Championship Series

The format of the 2025 Championship series followed the same structure as the 2024 season, with the top 4 teams from each conference qualifying to the Conference Semifinals, where the #1 seed would face #4, and #2 against #3. The winners would advance to the Conference Finals, and the Conference Champions would then fight for the 2025 Shield. With an 11 team league split into conferences, this means that 2 teams in the Eastern Conference will not qualify for the post-season, while just the 1 team will miss out in the West. Please see below for a list of Championship Series games from 2025:

• Eastern Conference SF1: (1) New England Free Jacks v Miami Sharks (4)
• Eastern Conference SF2: (2) Chicago Hounds v Old Glory DC (3)
• Western Conference SF1: (1) Utah Warriors v Seattle Seawolves (4)
• Western Conference SF2: (2) Houston SaberCats v Rugby FC LA (3)

Following 17 rounds of regular season action, 8 teams advanced split into 4 from the Eastern Conference, and 4 from the West. For the 4th season in a row, the New England Free Jacks finished as the top seed in the East and faced the 4th seeded Miami Sharks, making their postseason debut. Finishing 2pts behind New England as the 2nd seed were the Chicago Hounds, qualifying for the 2nd time. The Hounds hosted Old Glory DC who made the playoffs for the 3rd straight year.
Over in the Western Conference, the Utah Warriors enter the postseason for the first time since 2021, ending MLR’s longest playoff drought as the #1 seed. They host the 4th seed Seattle Seawolves, who squeaked into their league-leading 6th postseason in the very last game of the season. The 2nd seed Houston SaberCats secured a home semifinal in their last game of the season, looking for their first postseason victory in 3 straight attempts. The SaberCats hosted Rugby FC LA who are making their MLR Playoff debut, much like the Sharks in the East.

All-MLR Teams

Number	All-MLR First XV	All-MLR Second XV	Honorable Mention XV
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

2025 Player Leaderboards & Accolades

Scoring Leaderboards – Top Points Scorers & Try Scorers

Pos.	Player	Team	Points	Separator	Pos.	Player	Team	Tries
1	Shane O’Leary		90		1	Joe Mano		14
2	Christian Leali’ifano		89		2	Paula Balekana		12
–	D’Angelo Leuila		89		3	Brad Wilkin		11
4	Chris Hilsenbeck		87		4	Liam Coltman		10
5	Joel Hodgson		85		–	Shilo Klein		10
6	Rodney Iona		79		6	Dylan Fawsitt		9
7	AJ Alatimu		71		–	Maclean Jones		9
8	Joe Mano		70		8	Jonah Mau’u		8
9	Lincoln McClutchie		69		–	Jed Melvin		8
10	Davy Coetzer		67		–	Axel Müller		8

Other Leaderboards – Tackling & Meters Gained

Pos.	Player	Team	Tackles	Separator	Pos.	Player	Team	Meters Made
1	Frank Lochore		248		1	Jordan Trainor		993m
2	Cory Daniel		222		2	Divan Rossouw		948m
3	Brad Wilkin		199		3	Duncan Matthews		914m
4	Jason Damm		190		4	Damien Hoyland		875m
5	Dylan Nel		187		5	Rory van Vugt		804m
6	Maclean Jones		184		6	Ethan Grayson		801m
7	Joe Johnston		182		7	Ryan James		789m
8	Charles Elton		181		8	Joe Mano		760m
9	Benjamín Bonasso		178		9	Paula Balekana		751m
10	Jonah Mau’u		177		10	Axel Müller		710m

End of Season Awards

Award	Recipient	Team
MLR Player of the Year
MLR Forward of the Year
MLR Back of the Year
MLR Rookie of the Year
MLR Coach of the Year
S. Marcus Calloway Award
Top Points Scorer
Top Try Scorer
Top Tackler
Top Meter Eater