Month: May 2025

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 14 of MLR2025!

The 2025 Major League Rugby regular season rumbles on and has definitely arrived at the business end of the 17-week season! With 1 team already eliminated from playoff contention and 1 team already clinching a playoff spot, every point in the standings is crucial as teams hunt for post-season spots and home field advantage.

Welcome back to Midweek Milestones, the weekly article that highlights and examines the standout stats from each round of MLR action! The purpose of these articles is to recognise achievements by players and/or teams that may have gone unnoticed or flown under the radar otherwise, providing fans with some extra insight and context every week! Although almost every game has playoff implications at this point of the season it was a quiet week for big stats, with one huge exception that you’ll see as you keep reading. As always, the now-regular Appearance Achievements section is up first!

Appearance Achievements

In what is very unusual for the Appearance Achievements section of NARDB’s Midweek Milestones articles, there is only the one MLR Appearance milestone to discuss this week! This week’s lone appearance milestone came in the latest chapter of MLR’s most storied rivalry, the Western Conference clash between the Seattle Seawolves and the San Diego Legion up at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila.

Although the Legion posted about Ryan James, Tomas Aoake, Hugh Roach, and Marcel Brache all reaching 50 MLR appearances, 3 of these are in fact late. Ryan James is on 51 appearances after the Legion’s nailbiting defeat to the Legion in Round 14, as are Marcel Brache and Hugh Roach. Tomas Aoake, however, did celebrate his 50th MLR appearance on Saturday! Of the four players mentioned, the New Zealander is the only one to have earned all of his first 50 MLR appearances with the San Diego Legion. Aoake is a rare case in that he has started every single one of his 50 appearances for the Legion, and has proved a deadly attacking threat since his debut in 2022. He has recorded 23 tries across 4 seasons to date, including a high of 11 in 2023 when he and the Legion finished as MLR Runners-up. Aoake is currently has 5 tries in 2025 already, putting him tied for 13th with the likes of Andrew Coe in LA and Ed Fidow for the Gold, and is just shy of 3,000m gained in his career. Congratulations, Tomas!

Source: @sdlegion via Instagram

Monday Night Madness!

In a Monday night thriller up at Seatgeek Stadium in Chicago, the Hounds couldn’t hold off Rugby FC LA who scored with the clock in the red to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat yet again. This is now the FIFTH game in a row where Rugby FC LA have scored in the 77th minute or later, a run that includes salvaging a draw against Seattle and now this victory over the Hounds, as well as two losing bonus points to help RFCLA’s push to secure their first post-season appearance.

For the Hounds, they will be bitterly disappointed to miss out on the opportunity to close the game to the Free Jacks for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Chicago recorded 249 tackles in this game, the highest of any team in the 2025 MLR season so far and the 3rd highest tackle total in league history behind the Seattle Seawolves and Rugby ATL, who both recorded 280 tackles in 2018 & 2021 respectively. Unlike Seattle and Atlanta however, the Chicago Hounds did not emerge victorious. The Hounds’ 249 tackles is the new highest losing tackle total in MLR history and although it may indicate that possession was skewed in favour if RFCLA, it was. But only just. LA enjoyed 54 of the possession and were forced to make 202 tackles of their own, showing that the match was far from one-way traffic!

Source: @HoundsChicago via Twitter/X

Of the Chicago Hounds’ 249 tackles, 27 were completed by James Scott, setting a new franchise record and surpassing the previous record of 23 tackles set by Lucas Rumball back in Round 8 of this season. This takes Scott’s 2025 total to 152. This is just 1 tackle behind his career high of 153 set last season, in five fewer games. Congratulations, James!

Lucas Rumball: Tackle Machine!

Staying on the topic of tackling and as already mentioned above, the Chicago Hounds were forced to make an incredible amount of tackles in Round 14 and they almost came away with the victory, but not quite. However, the Hounds do get to celebrate an incredible achievement earned by their 2025 Captain, Lucas Rumball.

Rumball completed 15 tackles in Round 14, taking his season total to 129 (and counting) and becoming the first player in Major League Rugby history to pass ONE THOUSAND tackles completed in his career! Rumball now sits on 1,009 tackles, having recorded over 100 in each of his last five MLR seasons!

Lucas Rumball becomes the first player in MLR history to pass 1,000 tackles completed!

The Captain of the Canadian national team, Rumball represented the Toronto Arrows for 5 seasons from 2019 to their withdrawal in 2023, completing 770 tackles as an Arrow. He finished 2nd in MLR tackling in the shortened 2020 season with 73 in just 5 games, and finished as MLR’s top tackler the following year with a career high 228! A native of Scarborough, Ontario, Lucas Rumball has averaged 144 tackles per season and just over 13 tackles per game in his 77 game MLR career so far, and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down just yet. Congratulations, Lucas!

Wrapping Up

A short and sweet Midweek Milestones this week as the stats gods have their eyes fixed on the 2025 Playoff picture, with nearly every game having serious implications for multiple teams. Despite this, there was still a new member of the half-century club, a new season high for tackles made, and an extraordinary MLR first from one of Canada’s most well-known players!

Thank you for reading this edition of NARDB’s Midweek Milestones article! If you like this series, please get in touch on social media or share this article to help highlight these achievements! If there’s anything that has been missed that you feel is worth mentioning, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB or James on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! NARDB can also be found on YouTube, at NARStats!

Finally, If you’re looking to get your hands on some of the new Macron merch for 2025 or to add to your jersey collection, visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on all that new gear, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 13 of MLR2025!

The business end of the 2025 Major League Rugby season is here, so much so that the first team has already been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention! Round 13 of the season is a strange one in that there was a game earlier this week on Monday night, but Round 14 started almost immediately after with a Tuesday night match up. It may have made more sense for the Tuesday night game to be included in Round 13 and Round 14 start on Friday, but there must have been a reason for it…

Welcome back to Midweek Milestones! The weekly article that explores and highlights all of the standout stats from the latest round of MLR action. This article will cover the entirety of Round 13, as well as the first game of Round 14. The purpose of this article series is to highlight some of the milestones or achievements from around the league that might not otherwise get the coverage or recognition they deserve. If you’re a fan of these articles, please go back and read the past editions (if you haven’t already!) and share them with your friends. As is tradition, first up are the appearance achievements!

Appearance Achievements

For the first time in a number of weeks, no players earned their Major League Rugby debuts during Round 13. This is likely because teams are getting the hang of their squad rotation as the midweek games continue to test the depth of every squad. The players earning debuts a few weeks ago are now entering their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th MLR game, giving them valuable exposure to top-level competition and letting coaches know what they’re capable of. However, just because there were no debutants this week doesn’t mean the Appearance Achievements section of Midweek Milestones is empty. Four players entered the half-century club in Round 13, all earning their 50th MLR appearances in the same game: the Western Conference clash between the San Diego Legion and Houston SaberCats.

Starting with the hosting San Diego Legion who had a pair of players celebrating their 50th MLR appearances, both of whom started their MLR careers in Austin with the Gilgronis. First up is Australian hooker Hugh Roach, who joined the AGs ahead of the 2021 MLR season. A former Australia U20 man, Roach started 19 of his 23 games with the Gilgronis from 2021 until their disqualification at the end of the 2022 regular season. He scored 14 tries in black & orange before moving to the Chicago Hounds following the 2022 dispersal draft. Roach scored another 3 tries in 6 games (5 starts) for the Hounds in their inaugural season, before heading to California and signing with the San Diego Legion for 2024. Since then, he’s scored 7 tries in 21 games (all starts) for the Legion, taking his MLR try total to 24. Hugh Roach has started 45 of his 50 MLR appearances since 2021, with just over 1,200m gained and 549 tackles completed including 4 seasons of 100+ tackles including 2025. Congratulations, Hugh!

Joining the 50-club alongside Hugh Roach is Eagle #503, Marcel Brache. Raised in South Africa, Brache represented the USA at the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019, before joining the Austin Gilgronis in 2022 from the Western Force. Brache recorded a career high 911m gained in his 13 games with the AGs in 2022, playing alongside Hugh Roach. He joined the San Diego Legion following the disqualification of the Gilgronis and has started 32 of his 37 games for the Legion in his 3 seasons there. Brache has started 44 of his 50 career MLR games, scoring 5 tries in total and running for 2,435m gained. Congratulations on your 50th MLR appearance, Marcel!

Moving over to the Legion’s opposition, the Houston SaberCats, who also celebrated a pair of 50th appearances! Starting in the front row with Pono Davis! The Hawaiian prop began his MLR career with the ‘Cats back in 2022, and has earned all 50 of his MLR appearances with Houston. A crossover athlete from the XFL, Davis played with the American Raptors before entering MLR and earned just the 1 start through his first 2 seasons and 23 games in MLR. Since then however, he has worked his way into the starting lineup more and more often, starting 4 of 17 games last year, and 9 of 10 in 2025 so far. To date, Pono Davis has started 14 of his 50 appearance for the SaberCats, completing 297 tackles but is yet to score a try. Perhaps 2025 is the year? Congratulations, Pono!

Source: @houstonsabercats via Instagram.

The final player joining the half-century club in Round 13, playing for the Houston SaberCats alongside Pono Davis for his entire MLR career to date is South African fly-half/fullback Davy Coetzer! Like Davis, Coetzer started his MLR career back in 2022, exploding onto the scene with 3 tries and 79pts scored in his debut season. Since then, Coetzer has scored another 15 tries to take his total to 18, along with an impressive 349pts scored in total for the SaberCats. Coetzer has started 49 of his 50 MLR appearances to date and is a 2-time All-MLR selection (2nd XV in 2023, Honourable Mention XV in 2024). He is currently MLR’s 8th highest scorer of all time, and the 4th highest among active players. Coetzer earns his 50th MLR appearance after missing a few weeks due to injury, but doesn’t look like he’s lost a step. Congratulations, Davy!

Joe Johnston: New England’s most Capped Player!

On Saturday Joe Johnston, the 2025 Captain of the New England Free Jacks, featured in his 59th match for the franchise, becoming the most capped player in team history! The New Zealand flanker has appeared in 67.82% of all Free Jacks MLR games ever played, starting 47 times and completing 733 tackles to date. Johnston scored his 10th try this weekend while donning New England’s 2025 City Edition jersey, celebrating the 400th birthday of the City of Quincy!

Joe Johnston becomes the most capped Free Jack!

What makes Joe Johnston’s achievement that much more impressive is that he wasn’t with the team for the 2024 season, instead completing his studies in his native New Zealand! Johnston overtook Free Jacks legend John Poland for sole possession of first place. Poland, who would be way out in front if not for injury, is now level with Club Captain Josh Larsen who earned his 58th Free Jacks appearance in the same game. Congratulations, Joe!

Damm Reaches Double-Figures with LA!

Rugby FC LA battled back into the win column to keep their playoff hopes alive, recording a 45-17 victory over Anthem RC. The score line doesn’t tell the true story of the game, as the USA’s rising stars had kept it close for the majority of the match. Anthem pulled the score back to 26-17 with 10 minutes to go, but 19pts in the final 7 minutes from three RFCLA scores including a pair from Captain Jason Damm gave the impression of a blowout.

Damm’s brace in this game took his career total to 19 tries in 59 games, including 10 in 26 games for Rugby FC LA. He becomes just the 3rd player in RFCLA team history (not including Rugby ATL) to score double-figure tries! A capped USA Eagle, Jason Damm joins another pair of internationally capped RFCLA players with double-figure try counts for the team: Canadian Andrew Coe and Fijian Semi Kunatani, both currently on 11 tries for LA. Congratulations, Jason!

Wet Conditions in NOLA make for a record-setting slugfest!

After rain delays forced kickoff back, Friday night’s NOLA Gold v Miami Sharks game finally got underway, but the wet conditions severely affected play and resulted in a close range, grinding affair with plenty of handling errors. The two teams combined for only 387m gained, a total that has been regular eclipsed by single team totals during this season, even though meters total are generally lower in 2025 than in previous years. The Miami Sharks recorded 219m made in their 19-25 road victory, which is the 4th lowest total ever and sets a new MLR record for the lowest ever winning meters gained total! The previous record was the 243m set by the San Diego Legion in Round 3 of the 2025 season.

The NOLA Gold & Miami Sharks set two of the lowest Meters Made totals of all time!

Although the Miami Sharks’ 219m gained is one of the lowest totals of all time, their opponents set an even lower total. The NOLA Gold amassed only 168m gained in this game, becoming the first team in MLR history to record under 200m in a game, and setting a new lowest ever MLR total! Although their 40.51% possession can’t have helped matters, the lion’s share of the blame for these low totals can be attributed to the miserable conditions. But it just goes to show, even the messy games can result in some standout stats!

It is worth re-iterating that meters gained totals are down across the board in MLR’s 2025 season. Four of the 5 lowest team totals ever have already been recorded this season, including both the lowest winning total, and lowest overall total. Even individual player totals are down. The top Meter Eater heading into Round 14 of the 2025 season is Utah’s Jordan Trainor on an even 800m made. That same total would put Trainor 3rd at the same stage of the 2024 season. There were 9 players over 700m gained at this point of the 2024 season, this year, there are only 5. Some of this may be due to MLR switching analytics partner from Mobii to Oval Insights but no matter the cause, meters are harder to come by this year!

No Negatives in the Western Conference

In what seems like a rarity in a two-conference, 11 team league, there are no teams in Major League Rugby’s Western Conference that have a negative points differential after Round 13! The Utah Warriors and Houston SaberCats are both on +68 points on the season in first and second, respectively, then come the San Diego Legion with a solid +24 in third. The 5th placed Seattle Seawolves actually have the 4th best points differential in the West with +11 and finally, 4th placed Rugby FC LA improve to a +/- of 0 following their victory over Anthem RC!

When adding this to the two teams in the Eastern Conference that have positive points differentials (the New England Free Jacks on a league-best +87, and the Chicago Hounds on +33), SEVEN of Major League Rugby’s 11 teams have a positive (or neutral) points difference! All 4 teams with negative points difference are in the Eastern Conference, including a struggling Anthem RC team on a painful -219. Is this the first time in MLR history where no team in a conference has a negative differential!?

Seattle Seawolves pass 200 First XV selections!

With an impressive road victory over the Western Conference leaders the Utah Warriors, the Seattle Seawolves kept their playoff hopes alive! The 2-time Champs earned three First XV selections in Round 13 as Malembe Mpofu and Lauina Futi earned Team of the Week nods for their efforts, along with Nick Boyer on his Seawolves debut! This took Seattle to 16 selections on the 2025 season (tied for 8th) but more importantly, took them over 200 First XV selections all-time!

The Seattle Seawolves pass 200 First XV selections (all-time)

Now on 201 First XV selections in their history, the Seattle Seawolves are just the 2nd team ever to pass the 200 mark behind their old rivals the San Diego Legion, currently on 209. Unsurprisingly, the Top 5 consists entirely of MLR founding members as these teams have played the most games. The Utah Warriors sit 3rd way back on 164, ahead of the NOLA Gold on 159 and the Houston SaberCats on 148. It will be some time before a 3rd team passes the 200 mark, likely not until 2027. Congratulations, Seawolves!

Wrapping Up

That does it for the Midweek Milestones from a busy Round 13 in Major League Rugby! Four new members of the 50-cap club, some new all-time lows, and everyone is keeping positive in the Western Conference! With Round 14 having already kicked off on Tuesday night, what other standout stats will it treat us to over the weekend? You’ll have to wait and see in next week’s edition of Midweek Milestones!

Thank you for reading this edition of NARDB’s Midweek Milestones article! If you like this series, please get in touch on social media or share this article to help highlight these achievements! If there’s anything that has been missed that you feel is worth mentioning, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB or James on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! NARDB can also be found on YouTube, at NARStats!

Finally, If you’re looking to get your hands on some of the new Macron merch for 2025 or to add to your jersey collection, visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on all that new gear, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!


Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 12 of MLR2025!

With the Trade/Signing Deadline behind us, Round 12 marks the beginning of the end of the 2025 Major League Rugby season, and the Playoffs are starting creep up. The Quest for the 2025 Shield treated fans to another exciting chapter last week, and this article is here to highlight all of the big numbers from the latest round of MLR action.

Welcome back to Midweek Milestones, the weekly series that shines a light on all of the standout stats from each week of MLR action! The purpose of this article series is to highlight some of the milestones or achievements from around the league that might not otherwise get the coverage they deserve. If you’re a fan of these articles, please go back and read the past editions (if you haven’t already!) and share them with your friends. As is tradition, first up are the appearance achievements!

Appearance Achievements

This week’s installment of Appearance Achievements consist of a new member of the half-century club, as well as four MLR debutants. As the midweek games get underway and teams have to rotate squads due to tight turnarounds between games, and teams are getting a chance to blood more prospects who otherwise might not get their chance. It is entertaining for fans, and informative for teams to see what their prospects can do in a full match environment. Before focusing on the MLR Debutants however, the latest member of the half-century club.

A capped Namibian international and long time NOLA Gold scrumhalf, Damian Stevens finally earned his 50th MLR appearance on his 27th MLR start! Since his debut in 2021, Stevens has scored 10 penalties and 18 conversions from the tee with a 70% success rate, and to celebrate his 50th MLR appearance, he dotted down for his 7th career MLR try to pass 100pts and become the 4th NOLA player to reach 100pts scored for the franchise!

Damian Stevens passes 100pts scored on his 50th MLR Appearance

Stevens appeared in all 16 games for the Gold in his debut season in 2021, but the following year was his best to date. 4 tries and 50pts in 14 games, as well as career highs in both metres gained (273m) and tackles completed (47). Stevens has proved a reliable scrum-half that can deliver off the tee when needed, and has been a staple of the NOLA squad for his 5 seasons in MLR so far. Congratulations, Damian!

Moving on to this week’s MLR debutants, starting in Chicago where the Hounds hosted the Miami Sharks at SeatGeek Stadium, where rain and wind resulted in a low-scoring slugfest in which two Hounds earned their MLR debuts. Lock Tavius Sykora-Matthess and Fullback/wing Peyton Wall both came on with roughly 7 minutes remaining to help the Hounds hold on to a hard fought 14-7 lead and both earn their MLR debuts! Signed as a free agent during the off-season, Iowa native Sykora-Matthess was a wrestler and gridiron football player through high school, and played football at Missouri Southern State University before transferring to Iowa Central Community College and switching his focus to rugby. He toured South America with the USA Falcons in 2022 and joined the American Raptors in 2023, playing in Super Rugby Americas for 2 seasons before joining the Hounds academy side in the fall of 2024 and earning a MLR contract for the 2025 season. Peyton Wall did not sign with the Hounds as a Free Agent. Instead, the Indiana native and USA U23s man was selected 10th overall by Chicago in the 2024 MLR Draft out of Indiana University, playing alongside Sykora-Matthess during the 2024 academy season in the fall, because also earning a MLR contract for the 2025 season. Congratulations, Tavius and Peyton!

Source: @Chicagohoundsrugby via Instagram

Staying in the Eastern Conference and moving to the NOLA Gold, who travelled to California to face the San Diego Legion at Torero Stadium, looking for their first ever victory against their fellow MLR founding member. Although that victory would have to wait a little longer, two Gold players earned their MLR debuts in the 45-36 loss, including a pro rugby debut for 2024 MLR Draftee Dalton Musselman! A Pennsylvania native, Musselman Captained the Penn State Rugby team for 3 of his 5 years there, and was selected 18th overall by the Gold in the 2024 Draft. The USA U23 fly-half came off the bench for the final 10 minutes, and bagged a try assist on Harley Wheeler’s 78th minute try. Making his MLR debut off the bench alongside Musselman, although with a tad more experience, was former All Blacks 7s and Highlanders utility back Vilimone Koroi, who had been suspiciously absent from NOLA Gold lineups through the first half of the 2025 season. Congratulations to both Dalton Musselman and Vilimone Koroi on their MLR debuts!

Result Irregularities!

It took roughly 120 games, but the first draw of the 2025 Major League Rugby season is in the books! The Seattle Seawolves battled to a 26-26 draw with Western Conference rivals Rugby FC LA at Starfire Stadium. Rugby FC LA had the opportunity to take the win following Jason Damm’s late try which coincidentally, is the 100th try in RFCLA history. RFCLA‘s sharpshooter from the tee, Christian Leali’ifano, had already left the game so the conversion fell to Gonzalo Bertranou, who’s attempt sailed wide.

Seattle and LA battle to a 26-26 tie, the first tie of the 2025 season.

This is the 2nd draw in team history for both the Seattle Seawolves and Rugby FC LA, with LA’s first draw being the most recent stalemate in MLR prior to this game, a 22-22 tie against Old Glory DC in Round 6 of the 2024 season. This is the 10th draw in league history and of those 10 ties, nine have finished with scores in the 20s, and three have finished with a score of 26-26!

The first draw of 2025 wasn’t the only unusual result of Round 12. As mentioned already in this article, the Chicago Hounds and Miami Sharks battled to a 14-7 final score at SeatGeek Stadium, a remarkably low scoring affair for Major league Rugby. In fact, this is the lowest scoring game of the 2025 season and, by a remark coincidence, the lowest scoring game since the Dallas Jackals defeated the Seattle Seawolves, also by a score of 14-7 in Round 12 of the 2024 season! Same round, same score, similar team names (Jackals to Hounds, Seawolves to Sharks), what are the chances?!

Unsurprisingly, the combined score of 21 makes this result the lowest scoring game in both Chicago Hounds and Miami Sharks franchise history, but that didn’t stop MLR’s most prolific try scorer from getting on the board. Dylan Fawsitt scored his 62nd MLR try and his 20th for the Chicago Hounds, becoming just the 2nd player to pass 100pts scored with the franchise! Fawsitt sits behind fellow Irish-born USA Eagle Luke Carty (now with the NOLA Gold) on 127pts, and moves ahead of Adriaan Carelse, who has been sat on 97pts for much of the season with Chris Hilsenbeck taking the lead on kicking duties. Congratulations, Dylan!

Lochore sets 2025 High for Tackles!

Three games in 8 days proved to be too much for the Utah Warriors as they fell 28-12 to Old Glory DC in their 2nd game of Round 12. The Warriors picked up a pair of victories during their ‘Storm Week’ however, including a back and forth win over the San Diego Legion during the week! In this first Utah game of Round 12, Frank Lochore recorded 29 completed tackles to set a new 2025 single-game high for tackles by a player, contributing almost 15% of the Warriors’ 210 tackles by himself!

Utah’s Frank Lochore sets new season high for tackles made in a game

Not only is 29 tackles in a single game a new season-high, it’s tied with 3 other players (Matt Heaton: Rd 5 2020, Cory Daniel: Rd 4 2022, and Thomas Tu’avao: Rd 8 2023) for the 3rd highest tackle count in Major League Rugby history! Lochore’s total has only been bettered by Utah teammate Dylan Nel’s 30 tackles in Round 7 of the 2024 season and MLR’s current record holder: Matt Heaton, who completed 32 tackles for Rugby ATL in Round 2 of the 2022 season. Congratulations, Frank!

Wrapping Up

Four MLR debuts, a new member of the half-century club, and some impressive standout stats in this week’s edition of Midweek Milestones! There are no midweek games this week, giving teams a valuable break before a 6-game Round 13 kicks off on Friday night, running through Tuesday! How many standout stats will the next round of MLR action bring? You’ll have to wait for next week’s Midweek Milestones article to find out!

Thank you for reading this edition of NARDB’s Midweek Milestones article! If you like this series, please get in touch on social media or share this article to help highlight these achievements! If there’s anything that has been missed that you feel is worth mentioning, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB or James on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! NARDB also has a Youtube channel: NARStats!