Autumn turns to Winter as Major League Rugby’s tumultuous 2025/26 offseason trundles on and of course, Happy Thanksgiving to all! Let’s be thankful that there was no bad MLR news last week, and we still have a professional men’s league in the United States. Continuing the pattern of the last few weeks, five of the 6 teams stayed busy over the last 7 days and this article will dive into every single Player Move from around the league last week, with the California Legion remaining quiet yet again.
Welcome back to NARDB’s Player Move Summary Article series! Every week, these 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, which we are hoping to more details about very soon. Although NARDB does keep one ear to the ground for rumours, this series only covers moves that have been officially announced by teams. As always, the summary graphic for Player Moves between November 24th to 30th, 2025, followed by the re-signings section:
Re-Signings
The New England Free Jacks appear to be announcing their 2026 roster in batches, and kicked off last week’s re-signings with another trio of US-eligible returnees starting with 2024 MLR Player of the Year, Wayne van der Bank. the South African centre returns for a 5th season with the Free Jacks and will be classed as a domestic player in 2026 having met the 5yr residency threshold for US-eligibility. Van der Bank has scored 16 tries in his 57 game MLR career (48 starts) since 2022, including 10 tries in 16 games during his spectacular 2024 season when he also set career highs in metres gained (1,333m) and tackles (187). Unsurprisingly, he took a step back in 2025 with 1 try and 8 starts in 14 games, but he did pass both 3,000m gained and 550 tackles in his MLR career and helped the Free Jacks to their, and his, 3rd successive MLR Shield as he came off the bench in the Championship Final to secure a 28-22 victory over the Houston SaberCats. Already a key player for the Free Jacks, Wayne van der Bank’s value has only gone up now that he is US-eligible on residency. Will we see him in a USA jersey in 2026?
Along with the return of Wayne van der Bank, the New England Free Jacks also announced the return of Tongan prop Tevita Sole, who is also playing in his 5th Major League Rugby season in 2026. Like van der Bank, this would make the 26yo US-eligible based on residency and therefore classed as a domestic player next season. A 3x MLR Champion, Sole has 37 MLR appearances including 6 for the Miami Sharks on loan in 2024, before returning to the Free Jacks to come off the bench in the 2024 Championship Final. He set career highs in appearances (12) and starts (5) in 2025, completing 60 tackles to pass 200 in his career (222) and scoring his 2nd career MLR try. Joining van der Bank and Tevita Sole on the New England Free Jacks roster for 2026 is Boston-born winger Killian Coghlan, returning for his 3rd MLR season. Raised in Ireland, Coghlan started more games in 2025 (5) than he appeared in the year before (4), recording 200 of his 210m gained and 23 of his 29 career tackles in a solid year to help lift his 2nd successive Shield in 2025.
On November 25th, Anthem RC once again got involved in re-signings, announcing the return of 2024 MLR Rookie of the Year and All-MLR Honorable Mention, Junior Gafa. The 24yo former Brown University football player was drafted 23rd overall by the New England Free Jacks in the 2023 MLR Collegiate Draft before being loaned, then permanently acquired, by Anthem RC. Gafa already has 6 tries and over 1,500m gained in his 25 game MLR career (all starts), averaging 111 tackles per season through his first two years in the competition. He started all 12 of his games in 2025, scoring 2 tries with over 400m gained and just shy of 100 tackles completed. Junior Gafa is a really promising US centre so it’s superb for Anthem RC to lock him up for the 2026 season where he is currently the only out-and-out centre. He was included in the USA’s Extended Player Squad for 2025, but has yet to make his test debut for the Eagles.
Anthem RC weren’t quite finished with their Player Moves for the week with Junior Gafa, however. On 29th November the Rising Stars announced the return of a pair of young US talents for their 2nd MLR seasons in 2026, starting with Charlotte native Alejandro Martinez Tapia. The 23yo back row is a Lindenwood University alum, where he earned All-American First Team honours in 2024. Signed to a homegrown player contract for the 2025 season, Alejandro Martinez Tapia started 9 of his 12 appearances for the Rising Stars, completing 90 tackles and gaining over 175m in possession. Also returning to Anthem RC for their 2026 campaign is 23yo Georgia-born centre EJ Freeman, who was drafted 12th overall by Anthem in the 2024 MLR Draft out of the University of Arizona. Freeman started 7 of his 13 appearances in 2025 and had a decent case for Rookie of the Year votes early in the season. He scored 1 try and completed over 70 tackles for Anthem in his debut season. With both Alejandro Martinez Tapia and EJ Freeman only 23 years old, they have plenty of time to build on already solid talents. They are exactly the kind of players that Anthem RC is looking for.
Moving North to Washington, DC, on November 26th Old Glory DC announced their first player of the week when they confirmed that English back three player Perry Humphreys would be returning for his 3rd year with the Flags in 2026. Although Humphreys signed a 2yr contract extention part way through the 2025 season, Major League Rugby’s shift towards more of a focus on domestic players, coupled with a chaotic off-season, may have interfered with that. However, that doesn’t look to be the case and the Worcester Warriors centurion is back in the nation’s capital. Humphreys has started all 23 of his MLR games for Old Glory DC so far, with over 1,100m gained and an even 100 tackles completed. He scored 6 of his 8 MLR tries in 2025, where he set a career high with 594m gained and earned 3 MLR Team of the Week selections.
The Flags weren’t quite finished there though. On 28th November, the day after US Thanksgiving, Old Glory DC announced the return of capped Scotland international Damien Hoyland for his 3rd season in Major League Rugby. The former Edinburgh centurion has started each of his 25 MLR games for Old Glory DC since entering MLR in 2024, averaging 83m per game so far for over 2,000m gained in his career already. Wing/Full-back Hoyland set a career high with 1,073m gained in 2025 and was one of only 3 players league-wide to record over 1,000m during the 2025 season. His return to MLR in 2026 comes as something of a surprise, as earlier in the off-season the Scottish Rugby Union announced that Damien Hoyland was one of 6 centrally contracted players for their Sevens program, which many fans figured would rule him out of the MLR season, but thankfully for Old Glory DC fans, that’s not the case.
Intra-League Moves
The Seattle Seawolves announced the first new addition from within MLR last week on 25th November when they announced the addition of former Houston SaberCats lock and capped USA Eagle Marno Redelinghuys for their 2026 campaign! Born and raised in South Africa, the 32yo lock/back row entered Major League Rugby in 2020 with Rugby ATL, earning 17 starts in 19 games for the RATLers between 2020-2021 and finishing as MLR Runners-Up in 2021, with Redelinghuys starting in the 2021 Championship Final against the LA Giltinis. Following the 2021 season, Marno Redelinghuys moved to the South-African heavy Houston SaberCats where he played between 2022-2025. While with the ‘Cats, Redelinghuys started 46 of his 51 appearances in black & yellow, recording over 100 tackles in his last 3 successive MLR seasons and tying his career high in appearances (17) and starts (15) in 2025 to help the Houston SaberCats earn their first two postseason victories as they advanced to the 2025 Championship Final where they fell to the New England Free Jacks. Redelinghuys also started in this final, becoming a 2x MLR Runner-Up. He became US-eligible on residency in 2025, and a stellar 2025 season led to his inclusion in the USA’s squad for their July tests, where he earned his test debut as Eagle #588 against Belgium on 5th July.
Redelinghuys wasn’t the only Houston SaberCats forward to find a home for 2026 last week, however. On 26th November Anthem RC announced their first international player of the off-season, 2021 Major League Rugby Forward of the Year, Johan Momsen! Although not classified as a domestic player, Momsen is no stranger to MLR. He signed with Rugby ATL ahead of their inaugural season in 2020, and was superb for the RATLers the following season when they finished as MLR Runners-Up to the LA Giltinis, with 5 tries in 17 games along with 500m gained and over 200 tackles. The South African lock/back row represented Rugby ATL until their relocation to LA in 2023, and signed with the South African-heavy Houston SaberCats. He represented the ‘Cats for two seasons, starting 29 of his 32 games in black & yellow, and recorded a career high 220 tackles in 2025 when he appeared in all 19 of Houston’s games as they secured their first ever playoff victory and advanced to the 2025 Championship Final. In his 6 seasons in MLR so far, Johan Momsen is a 2x Runner-Up and 4x All-MLR selection. In total, Momsen has 16 tries in 85 MLR appearances (78 starts) since 2020 and has racked up just under 2,500m gained in possession as a forward. He currently sits as MLR’s 3rd highest tackler ever with a whopping 961 tackles completed, averaging 11.3 per game. His experience will be invaluable to a young Anthem RC pack in 2026, a brilliant pick-up for the Rising Stars.
Later on the 26th, the New England Free Jacks made a big splash with the announcement that they had signed two stand-out MLR veterans for their 2026 campaign, starting with long time Old Glory DC back row Jama Fa’anana-Schultz! A month ago, DC announced that ‘JFS‘ would be leaving the team after spending 6 seasons there between 2020-2025, and now we know his destination for next season: Quincy. Fa’anana-Schultz has 70 MLR appearances to date (67 starts) between his time in DC and his debut MLR season with the Houston SaberCats in 2019. He’s scored 16 tries including a high of 4 in 2025 when he passed both 3,000m gained in possession and 650 tackles made in his career. Although he had struggled with discipline earlier in his career, Fa’anana-Schultz appears to have rectified that in recent seasons and even enjoyed stints as the Old Glory DC Captain. JFS will fit nicely into the Free Jacks back row, a replacement for the likes of Jed Melvin who has been included in the Blues training squad in Super Rugby. As a capped US Eagle (#534), Fa’anana-Schultz has the added bonus of being a domestic player in 2026.
Alongside the signing of Jama Fa’anana-Schultz, the New England Free Jacks also announced the addition of former Utah Warriors fly-half Joel Hodgson for their 2026 campaign. A PREM Rugby centurion with the Newcastle Falcons, English 10 Hodgson spent 3 seasons with the Utah Warriors from 2023-2025, scoring 329pts in his 49 games with a 64.61% success rate from the tee and 12 tries scored including 7 in a stellar 2025 season. Hodgson is a 2x All-MLR selection and has gained over 2,000m in his MLR career so far with 298 tackles, averaging (as near as makes no difference) 100 tackles per season for the Warriors, unusually high for a fly-half! Although not classified as a domestic player like Fa’anana-Schultz, Joel Hodgson is a great pick up for the Free Jacks, and fills the sizeable hole left by the departure of Jayson Potroz. NARDB understands that this signing was made before the news of the Utah Warriors’ withdrawal from MLR earlier this month.
To finish last week’s intra-league moves, on 30th November Old Glory DC announced that they had signed former NOLA Gold winger Harley Wheeler for their 2026 campaign. A Life University alum, Wheeler signed with the NOLA Gold ahead of the 2020 season and appeared in every game during the COVID-shortened season. A former USA U20 and USA Falcons player, Harley Wheeler returned to MLR for the 2022 season after a year away from the competition, and represented the NOLA Gold again from 2022-2025. In total, Wheeler has scored 10 tries in 43 MLR appearances (33 starts) across 5 seasons with the Gold, including a high of 6 in 2022, and 2 in just 5 games during the 2025 season. Following the announcement that the NOLA Gold would be withdrawing from MLR in August 2025, Harley Wheeler became a free agent. He will be playing in his 6th season in Major League Rugby in 2026, and his 1st not for New Orleans.
New Signings
The Chicago Hounds also announced a new addition for their 2026 season, but this one came from outside of Major League Rugby. On 24th November the Hounds announced the addition of South African-born Australian hooker Theo Fourie, who joins from the Queensland Reds in Super Rugby. Having moved to Australia with his family when he was young, Theo Fourie played with Souths Rugby in Queensland where his head coach was Todd Dammers, who is currently serving as an Assistant Coach with the Chicago Hounds. Fourie joined the Reds academy side in 2019 and was chosen for the Wallabies U20s in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic got in the way. He joined the Melbourne Rebels as a Training Squad player in 2021 and eventually made his Super Rugby debut in 2023. Since then, he has represented the NSW Waratahs (2024) and the Queensland Reds (2025) in Super Rugby. Welcome to MLR, Theo!
Departures
On November 25th, 2025, French side US Carcassonne announced the addition of South African Hooker Kerron van Vuuren as a medical joker. A former regular with the Sharks of the URC, van Vuuren spent 2025 with the Seattle Seawolves, where he completed exactly 100 tackles and scored 2 tries in 11 games, starting 9 times, to help the Seawolves squeeze into a postseason spot by a single point. Van Vuuren heads to France to cover for Ian Boubila, who is out until ‘late 2025’ with a knee injury. This leaves the door open for van Vuuren to return to MLR in 2026 but with MLR’s shifting stance towards international players, this may prove unlikely. Regardless, very best of luck in the Pro D2, Kerron!
Wrapping Up
That does it for all the Player Moves around Major League Rugby from last week, and another bumper edition of NARDB’s Player Moves Summary article series! As with the last few weeks, 5 of the 6 teams were very active, with the exception of the California Legion. Another 8 re-signings including a former Player of the Year for the New England Free Jacks, and former Rookie of the Year for Anthem RC. 5 familiar players will be plying their trade for different teams in 2026 including a former Old Glory DC captain, and 2021 Forward of the Year. A new face arrives in Chicago from Super Rugby, a former Seattle Seawolves hooker heads to France, and a true MLR Legend hangs up the boots!
Thank you very much for reading this week’s Player Moves Article! These article are posted on the site and on social media every Monday, so be sure to check back next week for all the lastest moves! 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!