In previous years, the holidays just a week away would mean that Major League Rugby training camps would be opening soon and the new season would be kicking off in roughly 8 weeks time. In previous years, we might even know what the jerseys for each team would look like for the new season, but 2026 will not be like previous years. With the season kicking off with the California Legion hosting Anthem RC in Orange County on March 28th, the holidays are still 3 months away. Luckily for MLR fans, this doesn’t mean that things are quiet around the league, as Player Moves are still flying in ahead of what is sure to be a pivotal season for Major League Rugby.
Welcome back to NARDB’s Player Move Summary Article series! These weekly articles aim to keep fans up to date on every single player announcement to, from, and all around Major League Rugby ahead of the 2026 season. Every Player Move is covered, and additional information about each player is provided along with context as to where they may fit in with current rosters. This series only covers the players announced by the teams themselves, but that doesn’t mean that NARDB isn’t listening to any rumours that are out there. As always, the summary graphic for Player Moves between December 15th to 21st, 2025, followed by the re-signings section:
Re-Signings
The first re-signing of the week was in the Nation’s Capital on December 17th, when Old Glory DC announced the return of their 2025 Captain Rob Harley for his 3rd season in Major League Rugby in 2026. The long time Glasgow Warrior and capped Scotland International joined Old Glory DC ahead of the 2024 season after a few seasons in France with Carcassonne and Colomiers in the Pro D2. In his two seasons of Major League Rugby, Harley has started 28 of his 29 appearances for the Flags completing 370 tackles in total, averaging 12.8 tackles per game and recording a pair of 180+ tackle seasons. He Captained the side in 2025, completing 181 tackles in 14 games and earning a pair of MLR Team of the Week selections on the way to their 3rd straight postseason appearance. Capable of playing in the back row, Harley played lock for the Flags in 2025, and will once again link up with Tevita Naqali and Bill Whiteside in the DC second row, as well as new addition and 2023 1st overall pick, Rick Rose.
Later on that same day, the Chicago Hounds (probably last week’s busiest team as you will find out as you keep reading) announced the return of USA capped prop and Major League Rugby veteran Faka’osi Pifeleti for his 2nd season with the Hounds in 2026, the ninth MLR season of his career. Born in California, Pifeleti developed in the Saracens system in England alongside his brother Kapeli before entering MLR with the San Diego Legion ahead of the league’s inaugural 2018 season. He earned his test debut for the USA as Eagle #549 against the All Blacks in 2021 and with the exception of 2022 when he played with the Austin Gilgronis, Pifeleti represented the Legion from 2018-2024, starting 42 of his 59 games for the team and scoring 7 of his 9 career tries. He was a part of the 2023 San Diego Legion team that recorded the best regular season in league history with a 15-1 record, and started the 2023 Championship Final where the Legion fell to the New England Free Jacks by a single point. This was Pifeleti’s 2nd final after he also started the 2019 Championship game for the Legion. Across 8 seasons in Major League Rugby so far, Faka’osi Pifeleti has started 64 of his 87 appearances including a career high 15 starts in his debut season with the Chicago Hounds in 2025 where he also recorded 110 tackles, the first 100+ tackle season of his career.
The Seattle Seawolves announced their first re-signing of the week on 16th December, confirming the return of 2025 All-MLR 1st XV selection Divan Rossouw for his 3rd MLR season in 2026. Already a 2x All-MLR selection and 2024 Runner-up with the Seawolves, the capped Namibian international has proved lethal on both sides of the ball through his first two seasons in MLR. He finished 2nd league-wide for metres gained in 2024 with 1,492m (including 142m gained in the 2024 Championship Game alone) and 4th league wide in 2025 with 995m gained. This puts his career total at just shy of 2,500m gained in only 35 games (all starts) for the Seawolves, scoring 14 tries including a high of 8 in 2025. Defensively, Rossouw has recorded a pair of 100+ tackle seasons with 222 in total, and was named as the Seattle Seawolves Coaches’ Player of the Year for 2025. Although Rossouw will use a valuable International PLayer slot in 2026, with a resume like his it’s unlikely that many fans will mind. Rossouw is the first back three player announced by the Seawolves ahead of the 2026 season, and what a way to start!
A few days after announcing the return of Divan Rossouw, the Seattle Seawolves confirmed the return of MLR original Mason Pedersen for his ninth season in the competition, and 5th with the Seawolves. The California native has represented two teams during his MLR career, with two stints at each. He entered the league with the Austin Elite, playing there from 2018-2019 before joining the Seattle Seawolves for the 2020 season. Once that year’s campaign was cancelled due to COVID-19, Pedersen returned to Austin, playing with the rebranded Austin Gilgronis from 2021-2022 before returning to the Seawolves following the Gilgronis’ disqualification and subsequent withdrawal in 2022. Although he missed the entier 2024 season due to injury, Pedersen earned 15 appearances in 2025, recording 84 tackles (5 off his career high set in 2022) and passing 1000m gained in his career. To date, Mason Pedersen sits on 38 starts in 80 Major League Rugby appearances across 8 seasons, with 6 tries scored and 446 tackles completed. He will join new acquisition Ezekiel Lindenmuth in the Seawolves front row.
Intra-League Moves
Early in the week, Anthem RC announced a pair of additions on loan from the Chicago Hounds, starting with the Hounds’ 1st Round pick in 2025, Elias Garza on December 15th. Prop Garza went to high school in South Carolina despite hailing from Texas, and enrolled at Life University where he represented the Running Eagles from 2020-2025, earning a National Championship appearance in 2025. Garza’s performances with Life U earned him a spot on the USA U23s tour of South Africa under Anthem RC head coach Agustin Cavalieri who must have liked what he saw from the front row. After being drafted 6th overall by the Chicago Hounds, Garza spent the fall of 2025 with the Hounds academy, and now heads back to Carolina on a season-long loan with the hopes of getting some decent game time under Cavalieri once again.
The following day, Anthem RC announced that they had also acquired prop Alex Hernandez on loan from the Chicago Hounds. Selected in the 3rd Round (34th Overall) by the Hounds in the 2024 Draft, Marian University product Hernandez played with the Chicago Hounds academy in the fall of 2024, one year prior to Elias Garza, earning a MLR contract for the 2025 season. In April 2025 he was loaned to Anthem RC for 4 weeks, where he earned his pro debut against the Seattle Seawolves in Round 11. His loan with the Rising Stars was extended for the rest of the 2025 season, and Hernandez earned 7 MLR appearances including 4 starts for Anthem RC, recording 39 tackles completed. Now, Alex Hernandez is headed back to Anthem RC on loan from the Hounds for the 2026 season after playing with the Hounds Autumn Performance Squad in the fall of 2025. The returns for both Elias Garza and Alex Hernandez are currently unknown, as MLR have removed the Trade Wire from public view.
Capping off Anthem RC’s shopping trip to the windy city, on 17th December they announced the addition of 6’6 English lock James Scott on a permanent move from the Chicago Hounds to Charlotte. The former Worcester and Glasgow Warrior joined the Chicago Hounds ahead of the 2024 MLR season after playing under Rob Webber (the Hounds assistant coach at the time) with the Jersey Reds, winning the 2022/23 English Championship title. Across his two seasons in Chicago from 2024-2025, Scott started all 34 of his appearances and recorded over 150 tackles in both years including a high of 209 in 2025 when he finished 9th league-wide. Offensively, Scott has 5 career MLR tries on just under 400m gained in possession and will be entering his 3rd MLR season in 2026, joining the likes of 1st overall draft picks Sam Golla (2022) and Will Sherman (2025) in the Anthem RC 2nd row.
Moving from players heading out of Chicago, to players moving to the Chicago Hounds. On 16th December the Hounds announced that they had added MLR veteran and long time San Diego Legionnaire Tiaan Loots to their roster for the 2026 season. Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Loots first entered Major League Rugby ahead of the 2020 season when he moved from the Dragons of the URC to the Houston SaberCats, starting all 4 of his appearance for the ‘Cats before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season after only 5 rounds. Loots returned with the San Diego Legion the following year and represented them for 5 seasons from 2021-2025, earning 48 of his 52 MLR appearances to date and scoring 13 of his 14 career tries. He enjoyed a standout year in 2022 when he set career highs in metres gained (988m) and tackles made (141), but it was his next two seasons that really stand out. Loots was a part of the San Diego Legion team that went 15-1 during the 2023 regular season (still the best regular season in MLR history), falling to the New England Free Jacks in heartbreaking fashion in the Championship Final. The following year, Loots scored 6 tries in only 10 games to earn a 2024 All-MLR 2nd XV selection.2026 will be Tiaan Loots’ 7th season in MLR, and he sits on just over 3,400m gained and 435 tackles completed with 14 tries scored and 41 starts in 52 games in his career. He will join the likes of Mark O’Keeffe and former Legion teammate Tavite Lopeti in the Chicago Hounds midfield in 2026.
Not content with picking up just Tiaan Loots from the San Diego Legion, a few days later on December 19th the Chicago Hounds announced the addition of freshly capped USA Eagle Brandon Harvey on a rare 2yr deal that will see the 6’6 lock stay in Chicago through the 2027 MLR season. The Cardiff Met graduate and former USA U20 man earned his test debut for the USA as Eagle #598 against Georgia in Batumi early in the Fall, after spending the last two seasons with the San Diego Legion. Harvey started 7 of his 9 appearances for the Legion, gaining over 130m in possession and completing 75 tackles. A promising player at only 23yo, Harvey will be hoping for more game time with the Chicago Hounds, playing alongside the likes of Malcolm May and Nathan den Hoedt in an all-new Hounds 2nd row (so far).
In between the signings of Tiaan Loots and Brandon Harvey, the Chicago Hounds also announced the addition of USA Eagle #562 Jake Turnbull who (like now-teammate Faka’osi Pifeleti) enters his ninth Major League Rugby season in 2026. Originally from Australia, Turnbull moved to Denver, CO in 2015 and played with the Glendale Raptors before they turned professional, and represented the Denver Stampede in the short lived PRO Rugby competition in 2016. After returning to Australia to complete his education, Turnbull entered MLR with the Houston SaberCats ahead of the inaugural season in 2018. Turnbull has represented the SaberCats (2018-2019), Old Glory DC (2020), the Austin Gilgronis (2021-2022), Seattle Seawolves (2023) and Anthem RC (2024-2025) in his MLR career so far with the Chicago Hounds will become the 6th different team that he has played with in the competition, believed to be a league record. Turnbull enjoyed stand-out seasons with Anthem RC, scoring 5 of his 14 tries and completing 260 tackles in 28 games (23 starts) to take his career total to 689. He is almost guaranteed to become a Major League Rugby centurion in 2026 as he is currently sat on 97 appearances, starting 50 times to date and gaining just under 1,900m as a front row.
Anthem RC and the Chicago Hounds had a busy week swapping players with each other, but this wasn’t the only business done by Anthem. On 19th December the Rising Stars announced the addition of US-eligible prop Alessandro Heaney for their 2026 campaign. Raised between the UK and Ireland to an Italian mother and Boston-born father, Heaney returns to Major League Rugby for his 3rd season after spending the last two years in Rugby FC LA. He earned 19 appearances with RFCLA, the vast majority of which were in the 2025 season when injuries to the LA front row gave Heaney a ‘baptism by fire’. From 4 appearances off of the bench in 2024, he skyrocketed to 12 starts in 15 games, earning a pair of MLR Team of the Week selections and gaining over 100m in possession (as a prop) and completing 118 tackles. This was almost twelve times his tackle total from his debut season (10)! Although NARDB is classing this move as an intra-league signing, Heaney has been playing in England with CHAMP rugby side the Cornish Pirates alongside MLR alum Tomiwa Agbongbon. Heaney is the 6th prop announced by Anthem RC ahead of the 2026 season, and the 3rd this week alongside loanees Alex Hernandez & Elias Garza, announced above.
Draftees Turning Pro
On the 15th December, the New England Free Jacks announced that they had signed a trio of 2025 MLR Draftees to Major League Rugby contracts for their 2026 title defence, starting with 10th overall pick Tevita Mapa. Born in Oakland, California, Tevita Mapa was raised in New Zealand and began playing rugby in Australia in the Melbourne Rebels and Queensland Reds youth systems. Following his high school graduation in Brisbane in 2023, he represented the University of Queensland Elite Mens 7s, and earned his Premier Grade debut with Brothers RC. Later that year, Mapa returned to the United States, enrolling at Life University, helping the Running Eagles to the 2023 ARP title. Following his graduation from Life, Mapa declared for the 2025 MLR Draft where he was selected with the 1st pick of the 2nd Round (10th Overall) by the New England Free Jacks.
Alongside Tevita Mapa, the New England Free Jacks announced the addition of American International College graduate Filimone Manu for the 2026 season. Born in Hamilton, New Zealand, Manu went to high school in South Carolina and enrolled at AIC in 2023, helping the Yellow Jackets to back-to-back Liberty Conference postseason appearances. He was named an NCR All-American in both 2023 and 2024, and was named to the Collegiate Rugby All-Stars Men’s National Shield Challenge in 2025. Following his graduation in 2025, he toured Scotland with the New England Independents and despite being a Free Jacks academy product, in the 2025 MLR Draft he was selected 15th overall by the Utah Warriors. He was selected for the USA Falcons squad for the 2025 Rugbytown Sevens before playing for the New England Independents at the New York 7s. With the Utah Warriors withdrawing from Major League Rugby, it’s not clear if the Warriors intended to sign Filimone Manu for 2026, or if he was always going to end up with the team that developed him, the New England Free Jacks.
Finally, along with Tevita Mapa and Filimone Manu, the New England Free Jacks confirmed the signing of scrum-half Remy Thomson for the 2026 Major League Rugby season. Born and raised in England, Thomson played with Hartpury College before making the move Stateside to Ohio when he enrolled at Notre Dame College. Thomson captained the rugby side to a National Championship in 2023, and when NDC closed in 2024, he and the rest of the rugby team moved to Walsh University where he was selected as an NCR All-American in 2024. Thomson declared for the 2025 MLR Draft following his graduation, and was selected with the final pick of the draft, 26th overall, by the New England Free Jacks.
Departures
Moving on to players heading away from Major League Rugby to ply their trade elsewhere. On 19th December 2025, NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu in D2 of Japan’s Rugby League One announced the addition of former New England Free Jacks back row Kaipono Kayoshi for the remainder of the 2025/26 season. The California native was drafted 4th overall by the Free Jacks in the 2024 MLR Draft out of St. Mary’s College, and represented New England during the 2025 season, earning 1 start in 3 appearances and completing 17 tackles en route to the 2025 MLR Shield. He will join a number of MLR alumni at the Green Rockets including former Free Jack Reece MacDonald, as well as ex-Utah Warriors Dylan Nel and Frank Lochore under former Warriors Head Coach Greg Cooper. Very best of luck in Japan, Pono!
Moving from Japan to France. In early October, Top14 side Stade Francais announced that they had acquired USA Eagle #553 Jack Iscaro as a Medical Joker during their 2025/26 campaign. Iscaro has been effective during his time in Paris, starting 3 of his 6 appearances between the Top14 and the European Challenge Cup, and Stade Francais clearly agreed as on December 19th, the club announced that they had signed Jack Iscaro on a full time contract until the end of the 2026/27 season. While this is fantastic news for Iscaro, it does rule him out of returning to Old Glory DC any time soon. However, Old Glory fans, and USA Rugby fans in general, should be proud that one of their Eagles is impressing at the top levels of European rugby. Congratulations, Jack!
Wrapping Up
Another busy week around Major League Rugby as 5 teams get some last minute Christmas shopping done, including a lot of business both ways between Anthem RC and the Chicago Hounds! The New England Free Jacks have announced 30 players so far (almost their entire 2026 roster) while California Legion stay silent on almost everything with 0 players publically confirmed. One would think that we will get a full roster reveal in the new year. That being said, MLR’s 2026 season doesn’t kick off until late March so there is still plenty of time to announce Player Moves in early 2026.
Thank you very much for reading this week’s Player Moves Article! As we are days away from St. Nick’s annual house call, it’s likely that this week will be quieter that pervious weeks but nevertheless, as regular readers will know, these article are posted on the site and on social media every Monday so keep an eye out for this week’s summary at the same time on December 29th! If there are any Player Moves that you notice, or just to say what you think about these articles or the site, you can let NARDB/James know on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Finally, if you’re looking to jump into the offseason sales or pick up some discounted merch, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!
