Month: February 2026

MLR Player Moves Summary: February 9th, 2026 – February 15th, 2026

NARDatabase

James Deeley

With the Superbowl now in the rearview and the Six Nations in full swing, it’s rugby’s time to step up. Although we are still around 6 weeks away from the 2026 season kicking off on March 28th, there will be plenty of news and plenty to talk about between now and then including jerseys, pre-season, training camps, and of course the final few Player Moves, which is the purpse of this article!

Welcome back to NARDB’s Player Moves Summary series, covering all the Player Moves around the league last week! As regular readers are well aware, this series aims to keep fans up to date on every single player announcement to, from, and all around Major League Rugby ahead of the 2026 season. This week’s article kicks off in the now-traditional way, with the summary graphic for Player Moves announced between February 9th and February 15th, 2026, followed by the Intra-league moves as for the 2nd week in a row:

Summary Graphic of Player Moves around Major League Rugby between February 9 – February 15, 2026!

Intra-League Moves

The California Legion remain the busiest team in MLR, and once again kicked off last week’s Player Moves by announcing the addition of a Rudy Scholz Award nominee and 2025 MLR Runner-Up with the Houston SaberCats, back row Ronan Murphy! The California native played with the Gaels at St. Mary’s College to earn the Rudy Scholz nomination, before heading to Ireland to attend Trinity College in Dublin in 2021, continuing his rugby journey while there. After returning from Ireland Murphy dipped his toe into Major League Rugby for the first time, signing with the Austin Gilgronis for the 2022 season and earned his pro debut, starting all 3 of his appearances before the AGs were disqualified from the MLR season, folding shortly after. Rather than return to MLR, Ronan Murphy signed with the American Raptors in Colorado for their fall season at the end of 2022, earning a full contract with the team for their 2023 Super Rugby Americas campaign where he earned a number of SRA Team of the Week selections. Following a year playing with the Raptors in the South American top tier, Ronan Murphy returned to Major League Rugby with the Houston SaberCats ahead of their 2024 campaign, where he enjoyed a career year in Texas. He appeared in all 17 games for Houston in his debut year with the team, starting 15 times and scoring 6 tries on 440m gained while also completing a very impressive 172 tackles made to finish as the 4th highest tackler league-wide that season. Murphy would return to the SaberCats for a 2nd season in 2025 but struggled with injury. He still added a 7th career MLR try on another 72m gained, and started 2 of his 6 appearances to help the SaberCats to a 14-2 regular season record, and finished the year as a MLR Runner-Up following defeat to the New England Free Jacks in the 2025 Championship Final. With the Houston SaberCats’ surprise withdrawal from MLR during the 2025/26 offseason, Murphy returns to his home state with the California Legion for their inaugural season in 2026. Ronan Murphy joins a stacked Legion back row, and will compete with the likes of USA Eagles Christian Poidevin & Jason Damm, as well as former RFCLA players Ben Houston and Ben Sugars.

Unsurprisingly, the California Legion would announce the signing of yet another former Rugby FC LA player a couple of days later on February 11th, when they confirmed the signing of Major League Rugby veteran Jurie van Vuuren for his 7th season in the competition in 2026! The former Springboks U20 forward played with The Stormers in Super Rugby (at the time) and both Western Province and the Southern Kings in the Currie Cup before entering MLR with the Utah Warriors in 2020. Van Vuuren would represent the Utah Warriors for 4 seasons, earning 51 appearances in that time (43 starts) and scoring 8 tries on over 1,600m gained while completing 544 tackles made including a high of 199 in 2021, and 3 seasons with over 100 tackles made. During the MLR off-seasons, Jurie van Vuuren played with the Tel Aviv Heat in the Rugby Europe Super Cup so it wasn’t surprising that, when a consortium with significant overlap with the ownership of the Heat took over Rugby ATL and relocated them to Los Angeles, van Vuuren signed with the newly rebranded Rugby FC LA for their inaugural season in 2024. He would represent RFCLA for a further 2 seasons, his 5th & 6th in MLR, starting all 17 of his appearances and adding another 173 tackles including a 4th 100+ tackle season in 2025 when he recorded 133 to pass 700 in his 68 game MLR career through 6 seasons. Van Vuuren added another 2 tries to reach 10 in his career, and over 200m gained to pass 1,800m gained in his career. Jurie van Vuuren started all 13 of his appearances for RFCLA in 2025 under Stephen Hoiles, so will likely earn a number of starts under Hoiles with the California Legion in 2026. He is listed on the Legion’s signing announcement as a number 8 so would join Ronan Foley in competing for game time among a stacked Legion back row.

The final California Legion Player Move from last week came on 15th February when the team announced that they had signed US-born Australian scrum-half Tas Smith to their 2026 squad. Born in New York but raised in Australia, Smith has been selected for both the USA U20s and Australia U20s, but was unable to attend due to COVID-19. He first entered Major League Rugby with the LA Giltinis in 2022, earning 6 starts in 14 games under Stephen Hoiles before the team was disqualified at the end of the season. Smith returned to Australia to complete his studies at the University of Sydney in 2023, but returned to Los Angeles once again in 2024, signing with Rugby FC LA. Over 2 seasons from 2024-2025, Tas Smith appeared in 32 of the franchises 33 games, starting 10 times and scoring 2 tries, also recording a career high 77 tackles in 2024. Having played under Stephen Hoiles at both the Giltinis and RFCLA, it is no surprise that the 24yo has joined the California Legion ahead of their inaugural 2026 season. Smith is the 9th former RFCLA player to join the Legion for 2026, and will likely play behind 2025 MLR Back of the Year Gonzalo Bertranou.

On February 10th, Old Glory DC announced the first Player Move not related to a West Coast team when they announced the addition of former NOLA Gold standout Jordan Jackson-Hope for his 3rd Major League Rugby season in 2026! The Australian centre represented the Junior Wallabies at the 2016 Junior World Championship and made his Super Rugby debut that same year with his local team, the ACT Brumbies. The Canberra native represented the Brumbies in Super Rugby from 2016-2019 before heading to Japan and playing with the Toyko Shokki Shuttles in the JRLO – D2. He also enjoyed a spell with the Sunwolves in Super Rugby in 2020, and represented Tokyo Gas from 2020-2022. Following his time in Japan, Jordan Jackson-Hope headed stateside and signed with the NOLA Gold for their 2023 MLR campaign, and represented the Gold for 2 seasons between 2023-24 where he was a consistent standout in the midfield. Jackson-Hope started all 25 of his games for the NOLA Gold across 2 seasons, gaining over 850m each season and scoring 8 tries in total including 6 in 2024 alone. He completed 238 tackles in total (well over 100 each season) and was named to the MLR Team of the Week 5 times during the 2024 season. Jackson-Hope started the first (and only) playoff game in NOLA Gold team history, gaining over 50m and scoring a try as the Gold fell to the Chicago Hounds in the 2024 Eastern Conference Semifinal. He was named as NOLA Gold’s Player of the Year in both 2023 and 2024, and was selected for the All-MLR First XV for the 2024 season. Following a year away from MLR during which he focused on training and coaching, Jordan Jackson-Hope now joins Old Glory DC for his 3rd season in the competition and will likely be a first-choice 12 for the Flags in 2026, joining former NOLA Gold teammate Ross Depperschmidt in the midfield, as well as possibly Jason Emery and John Powers.

The Seattle Seawolves announced their first intra-league move of last week on February 12th, when they confirmed the signing of US-eligible Irish winger Michael Hand for his 3rd Major League Rugby campaign in 2026! Born in Connecticut but raised in Ireland, Hand played rugby and was a 4x100m sprinter growing up. He attended UC Cork and represented Cork Constitution in the All-Ireland League following his graduationin 2023. At the tail end of that year, the Chicago Hounds announced that they had signed Michael Hand for the 2024 MLR season but before he could earn his MLR debut with the Hounds, he was loaned to the Miami Sharks where he started 6 of his 8 appearances, scoring 3 tries for the Sharks on over 200m gained. Still under contract with Chicago, Hand returned to the Hounds the following season and started all 5 of his appearances during their impressive 2025 season, gaining a career high 310m gained including 86m in the Hounds’ Round 3 drubbing of the New England Free Jacks, scoring a 4th career try and earning his first MLR Team of the Week selection in that game. He suffered a hamstring injury later in the season which impacted his gametime, however. With 4 tries on over 500m gained in 13 MLR games across 2 seasons, Michael Hand is one to watch out for and may even get on the USA Eagles’ radar if he can get some quality game time in Seattle. He will join a Seawolves back three roster that includes Divan Rossouw, Ina Futi, Duncan Matthews, and a new Seawolves signing covered below…

New Additions

In what is a rarity for the 2025/26 Major League Rugby offseason, the Seattle Seawolves announced that they had signed a completely new addition to the league in US-eligible Italian winger Matthias Douglas! Born and raised in Italy but US-eligible through his father, Douglas developed in the Italian domestic leagues, primarily in the Mogliano Veneto system where he played in the Top flight of Italian domestic competition, the Serie A Élite. Douglas has featured for the Italian age grade sides at U18, U20, and U23 level, scoring a try against France during the 2023 U20 Six Nations while playing with URC’s Benetton. That same year he also represented the Italian Sevens side in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in 2023. The following year, Matthias Douglas returned to Mogliano Veneto and continued to represent Italy at age-grade level, this time with the U23s before heading to Australia in 2025 to join the Wests Bulldogs, playing Premier Grade rugby in Queensland before returning to Italy with Rangers Vincenza, another Serie A Élite. The 22yo enters Major League Rugby from Vicenza, and will join Michael Hand in a strong Seattle Seawolves back three.

Wrapping Up

For the 2nd week in a row there were no re-signings among last week’s Player Moves, and for the 2nd week in a row the California Legion are the busiest team around the league after leaving it late to begin their announcements. The new-look Legion added another pair of former RFCLA players to take their running total to 9 of the 16 players already announced by the team which includes the addition of former Houston SaberCats back row Ronan Murphy, also announced last week. The Seattle Seawolves also stayed busy with the addition of a pair of new wingers for the 2026 season, and Old Glory DC are the first non-West Coast team to announce a Player Move in 2 weeks with the addition of former NOLA Gold standout Jordan Jackson-Hope!

Thank you, as always, for reading this week’s Player Moves Article! We’re no doubt at the tail end of Player Moves ahead of the 2026 season, but the California Legion still have plenty og players to announce yet. Be sure to check back here next Monday (16th February) to find out more about all of this week’s news. If there are any Player Moves that you notice, or just to say what you think about these articles or the site in general,, 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 pick up some new rugby gear, visit rugbynow.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!

MLR, USRPA, and a CBA: What does it all mean?

NARDatabase

James Deeley

On 11th February 2026, Major League Rugby (MLR), the United States Rugby Players Association (USRPA), and the Major league Rugby Players Association (MLRPA) announced that they had unanimously ratified the first ever Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in American Rugby history!

This is undoubtedly a huge step for MLR and for professional rugby in North America, but what exactly is a CBA? What does the CBA contain/involve? and what does this agreement mean for the players and for fans? This article intends to tackle all of the acronyms and jargon, and lay out why this is such a big deal, especially going into a critical 2026 season. This article will cover CBAs as they apply to sports specifically, rather than in the wider employment market.

What is a CBA?

Starting off with the basics, A CBA or Collective Bargaining Agreement is a contract between a union (in this case, USRPA) and an employer (in this case, MLR) that guarantees certain standards and securities. In sports, this most commonly affects the players within a certain league. Players will choose to work with the league in a group (collectively) on these agreements as their bargaining power is far stronger as a group than as individuals. A league will be less likely to accept an individual’s request (however reasonable) even if it means that player not signing in the league, but if a large group of players present a reasonable set of demands the league is more likely to take notice as without players, there is no league.

CBAs almost always have an ‘expiry’ date’, in that they are negotiated between a league and their players for ‘X’ number of years. For leagues that have a CBA in place, when it comes to negotiating a new CBA ahead of the expiry date of the current CBA, things can get tense. If no agreement can be found between the players and the league to either instate a CBA or ratify a new agreement, this can become a labour dispute and can result in a lockout, shutting a league down. Across the ‘Big 4’ North American leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) there have been numerous strikes or lockouts due to a failure to agree on a new CBA. Notably, the 2004/05 NHL lockout cancelled the entire season, and roughly half a season was lost in 2012/13 due to labour disputes, but this is not unique to hockey. The NFLPA strikes in 1982 & 1987 affected those seasons, the 1998/99 and 2011/12 NBA seasons had to be shortened due to lockouts, and more recently, a lockout in the MLB in 2021/22 didn’t cancel any games, but forced Opening Day of the 2022/23 season to be pushed back a week.

While this may seem extreme to some, a CBA means a great deal to the athletes that put their bodies on the line in these sports during what is a relatively short career even for stars. If an athlete is going to risk their health and well being in a professional sports league, they will need certain guarantees. For example, if a player gets injured during the season, will they still earn an income even if they are unable to play? Will healthcare costs be taken care of to recover from that injury? If a player is traded, will relocation costs be covered by the league, Players’ Association, or team(s)? Who owns a player’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and the ability to profit from the commercial use of that? A CBA provides all kinds of basic rights and protections for the players within a union or Players’ Association, even covering basic issues like minimum compensation and access to healthcare.

To summarise, in a sporting landscape a CBA provides members of a Union or Players’ Association with basic rights and protections to guarantee that they can live while playing in a professional league, and make a decent career while doing so. Generally speaking it improves conditions for the players and can serve as an incentive or attraction for players considering a career in that sport or pro league. As mentioned earlier, a professional sports league cannot exist without it’s players, and a CBA ensures that these players can exist. With that being said, let’s move into the specifics of this historic CBA between MLR and the USRPA.

The MLR x USRPA Collective Bargaining Agreement

Before digging into the details, some clarification may be necessary. This historic CBA is between MLR and the USRPA. Some more ‘in the know’ fans may be wondering what the difference is between the USRPA, and the Major League Rugby Players’ Association, the MLRPA. With former MLR player and USA Eagle Chris Mattina at the helm of both as Executive Director, it seems that the MLRPA is simply a bargaining unit of USRPA. To alleviate any concerns that the USRPA may not include any foreign players within MLR, their statement regarding the new CBA confirms that ‘The bargaining committee of over 20+ Players consisting of USA Eagles, Canadians, Internationals, and Player leaders were the heart and voice of this agreement.’ so this agreement affects all players within Major League Rugby regardless of eligibility.

With that cleared up, let’s dive into the weeds of what we know about the CBA so far. This was by no means a quick process. The USRPA was founded in late 2016 (prior to the start of MLR) with it’s MLRPA bargaining unit formed in mid-2023, but was only formally recognised by MLR in January of 2024. In June 2025 the USRPA announced that Chris Mattina had been named as Executive Director, and that his ‘initial priorities include leading the MLRPA through it’s first-ever Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations with Major League Rugby’. In the roughly 6 months since Mattina’s appointment, the USRPA and MLR have been in constant negotiation through labour group Sports Solidary and it’s president, Harry Marino in order to get this first-ever CBA in place prior to the 2026 campaign, and congratulations to everyone involved in making this a reality.

‘This CBA formalized key protections and provides stability so Players can focus on performing at the highest level’ – Chris Mattina, USRPA Executive Director

Although the announcement from MLR was short on details, Alex Goff of Goff Rugby Report (who broke the news of this CBA first) was able to provide a bit more information in his article. Goff writes that ‘this CBA provides every MLR Player with increased salaries alongside several other new rights and protections, including rights for injured players and free agents, health and safety protections, and the establishment of a clear discipline policy and neutral grievance procedure‘.

The USRPA themselves were the first to provide some concrete details about what is included in this new CBA, and divided it into 4 categories: Economic, Health & Safety, Player Rights & Representation, and Fair Discipline & Grievance Procedures. The USRPA revealed that the new CBA secured Economic wins such as an immediate $2,000 lump sum payment for every player, as well as an increase to the minimum weekly compensation for all players and a team assistance to help players find housing in their new cities, if needed. On the Health & Safety front, the new CBA ensures that injured players will remain under contract and continue to earn their full salary and enjoy full benefits as if they were fully fit, with guaranteed access to doctors, trainers, medical health clinicians, and a surgeon of the player’s choosing if required and full compliance with World Rugby safety protocols such as minimum rest periods between matches and Graduated Return to Play (GRTP) protocols for head injuries. In regards to player rights and representation, the CBA also guarantees certain rights to Free Agents not currently under contract and although the release does not specify what these rights are, it’s hard to view that as a negative in any way. This is in addition to returning core NIL rights, allowing players to profit and benefit of their own images which in turn may help to promote bigger personalities that the North American sports landscape loves so much. And finally (at least, publically), the CBA ensures that written notice is required for any disciplinary action against any player, and that any fines are stayed (paused) during grievances, with those grievances settled by a neutral and impartial arbitrator.

Per Irving Mejia-Hilario’s article in the Sports Business Journal, the new CBA is valid for 2 years and covers the 2026 & 2027 MLR seasons. Considering it took the best part of 6 months to negotiate, this is relatively short when compared to other CBAs around North America. The most recent NHL CBA, ratified in July 2025 for the 2026/27 season, will run through to September 2030 (4 seasons). NFL’s current CBA was ratified in 2020 and also runs through the 2030 season. the NBA CBA runs from the 2023/24 season through (you guessed it) 2029/30, and the MLB CBA covered 5 seasons from 2022-2026. Even within the sport of rugby, the Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) in Australia ratified a CBA that would run from January 2023 to November 2026, and in England, there is a ‘Men’s Professional Game Partnership’ (MPGP) between the RFU, PREM Rugby, and the Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) from 2024-2032, 8 years in total. So the question is, why is the first ever CBA between MLR and USRPA so short?

As you may have noticed, MLR has had a rough time of things lately, contracting from 11 teams in the 2025 season to just 6 in 2026. With the league in such a precarious state, the 2026 season is critical and it’s in the best interests of both MLR and the USRPA that it recovers, and so there is no point negotiating a 5-10 year agreement when the MLR landscape is in turmoil. A longer term CBA is far better negotiated when the league has regained stability and bounced back financially. This short term CBA helps to stabilise the league, and will contribute to the success of MLR whcih will put the USRPA in a better position to negotiate in 2 years time. To put it simply, if this CBA was for 10 years (an extreme case), but by 2030 MLR is profitable and growing ahead of the 2031 home RWC, the Players’ Association would potentially be losing out on securing more benefits for their members until they were able to negotiate once again. When you remember that prior to this, there was NO CBA and very little guarantees for players in the league, a short, 2yr first CBA is a very savvy move given the present state of MLR. What’s more, the details released by USRPA highlight the ability for the Union to ‘reopen economic terms next offseason if the League’s finances improve’. Meaning that should MLR enjoy a wildly successful 2026 season (fingers crossed!) and meet financial goals (that have not been disclosed), USRPA can renegotiate player compensation to adjust for that during the 2026/27 offseason. the Players’ Association have put themselves in a great position, and they have done so by working in cooperation with Major League Rugby who, to their credit, seem to understand that without the players they have nothing.

What does this mean for MLR?

It seems approriate to reiterate that this is the first CBA in Major League Rugby history, and the first CBA for rugby in North America at all. Prior to this, there was no guaranteed welfare, financial, or represensational rights for players. Yes, there were vague ‘industry standards’ prior to this agreement, but nothing set in stone. As a result, players could be dropped, wages may not be paid to injured players, traded players would have to relocate themselves, and all sorts of other potential nightmares that doesn’t even touch on the worst-case scenario of teams folding, which MLR knows a little bit about, unfortunately. This historic CBA changes that. It lays that foundation for player rights, securities, and guarantees that all future CBAs between MLR and the USRPA can build on. As mentioned above, the USRPA announced that the CBA contains a clause that allows the Union to ‘reopen economic terms next offseason should league finances improve’, which more closely ties player salaries and compensation to the success of the league. It means that both sides are rowing together to achieve the same goals: The success of professional rugby in North America.

‘Make no mistake – this is a momentous achievement for the sport in the U.S., as reaching the first CBA for American rugby provides clarity heading into the 2026 season and demonstrates a commitment to finding common ground as MLR seeks to grow the game in the U.S.’ – Graeme Bradbury, MLR Co-President

For fans, this doesn’t really change anything in practice, but it means a huge deal and show the commitment from both MLR and the USRPA to pro rugby in the US. It should settle some nerves following the worst offseason in league history full of chaos that has filled not only fans, but also players and executives with uncertainty ahead of a critical 2026 season, the announcement of this new CBA is a refreshing sign of co-operation between MLR and it’s players. It serves as a commitment from both sides to their mutual success and while lockouts were touched on early in this article, this historic CBA ‘was a really good-faith negotiation with the league’ said Chris Mattina to the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly. From a fan perspective, there really is no downside to the players improving their conditions within the the MLR environment. Given the short duration of this CBA, it’s likely that we will hear more on this subject following the 2026 season but for now, both MLR and the USRPA are shoring up the foundations of the league, stabilising ahead of what must be the most important season in league history so far.

MLR Player Moves Summary: February 2nd, 2026 – February 8th, 2026

NARDatabase

James Deeley

As we enter February and teams continue tweaking with their roster and preparing for Training Camp to open any day now, Major League Rugby fans have begun to ask about jerseys for 2026 and it’s a fair question. The first game of the critical 2026 season is under 50 days away, and so far only the New England Free Jacks have given us a peek at what they will be wearing. With more news on that surely coming imminently, this article is more interested in the players wearing those jerseys, than the jerseys themselves.

Welcome back to NARDB’s Player Moves Summary series, covering all the Player Moves around the league last week! As regular readers are well aware, this series aims to keep fans up to date on every single player announcement to, from, and all around Major League Rugby ahead of the 2026 season. This week’s article is very west-coast themed, and because there were no re-signings last week, this article kicks off with the summary graphic for Player Moves announced between January 26th and February 1st, 2026, followed by the intra-league moves:


Summary Graphic of Player Moves around Major League Rugby between February 2 – February 8, 2026!

Intra-League Signings

As is the pattern these last few weeks, the California Legion kicked off last week’s player move with the announcement that they had added yet another former Rugby FC LA player to their squad for the 2026 Major League Rugby season. Hooker Ben Sugars will return for a 2nd season in North America for the California Legion’s inaugural campaign. The Englishman attended the University of Nottingham and played in the BUCS university competition before playing in the English Championship with the Yorkshire Carnegie (now Leeds Tykes) and Nottingham between 2019-2022. Following 3 years in the English 2nd tier, Sugars headed to Australia and joined Randwick in 2023, helping the club to the Shute Shield title over the Northern Suburbs that year. He was a standout at Randwick which drew the attention of the injury-stricken NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby. Sugars was called up by the Waratahs for their 2024 campaign and earned his Super Rugby debut during Round 12 of the 2024 season, earning 4 appearances for the team that season. Following his stint in Super Rugby, Sugars headed from Australia to the States to join Rugby FC LA for their 2025 MLR season under his former Randwick head coach, Stephen Hoiles. In his debut MLR season, Ben Sugars started 11 of his 15 appearances including RFCLA’s first (and as it turned out, last) playoff game in their 27-21 defeat to the Houston SaberCats in the Western Conference Semifinal. Sugars scored 2 tries on 239m gained for RFCLA recording an impressive 135 tackles completed for an average of 9 per game. Sugars now re-unites with Stephen Hoiles under a new banner, that of the California Legion. He also joins former University of Nottingham teammate Ed Timpson, who was announced by the Legion at the end of January, and will compete for the 2 jersey with USA Eagle Joe Taufete’e.

@legion.rugby via Instagram

The following day, the California Legion announced their 2nd signing of the week with the addition of New Zealand fullback Rory van Vugt for his 5th season in Major League Rugby, over 2 stints. Following a touch rugby career during which he represented New Zealand, van Vugt joined the Southland Stags in New Zealand’s NPC competition and has played with them ever since including during the MLR off-season. Rory van Vugt first entered Major League Rugby with Rugby ATL for their inaugural season in 2020, starting 3 games before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the season after only 5 rounds. He returned for the RATLers in 2021, and in his first full MLR season he scored 2 tries in 13 games (all starts), completing 64 tackles and gaining over 600m gained to help Rugby ATL reach the 2021 Championship Final, falling to the LA Giltinis. With the 2021 season over, van Vugt returned to New Zealand and signed with the Highlanders in Super Rugby for the 2022 season. After a couple of years back home, van Vugt returned to Major League Rugby with Rugby FC LA for their inaugural season, newly relocated and rebranded from Atlanta. He represented RFCLA for two seasons, starting 22 of his 23 games between 2024-2025 and scoring 8 tries on over 1400m, including 6 tries on 850m gained (both career highs) in 2025 alone, starting all 14 of his games including RFCLA’s first and only playoff appearance in the Western Conference Semifinal. Primarily a fullback, van Vugt played on the wing a fair amount for RFCLA, and while likely a first choice at 15 with Reece MacDonald now playing in Japan, van Vugt would be competing with the likes of Ryan James and draftee Oscar Treacy on the California Legion wing.

Surprise surprise, the California Legion announced a 3rd new addition for their inaugural Major League Rugby season on 5th February, 2026 when they announced that they had signed Australian back row Ben Houston for the 2026 campaign, marking his 2nd season in the competition. The 6’4, 270lb Number 8 represented the famous Randwick club in the Shute Shield prior to entering MLR, playing with the Galloping Green from 2019-2024, Captaining the side to their first Shute Shield title in 19 years in 2023 and playing under former Giltinis and RFCLA head coach, Stephen Hoiles. When Hoiles became RFCLA’s Coach ahead of the 2025 season, he recruited Ben Houston who enjoyed a stand-out debut MLR season that year. He started all 14 of his appearances for LA, scoring 8 tries on over 625m gained including 1 in their lone playoff appearance in the Western Conference Semifinals, and completed an impressive 160 tackles in total. Houston returned to Randwick during the MLR off-season but with Stephen Hoiles now leading the new-look Legion, he returns to California for a 2nd season in MLR. Houston re-unites with Randwick teammate Ben Sugars, and will be competing for gametime with the likes of USA Eagles Captain Jason Damm, former RFCLA teammate Ed Timpson, and USA Eagle and former Randwick teammate Christian Poidevin in the Legion back row.

Not done there, on February 7th the California Legion announced the signing of their 4th former Rugby FC LA player of the week when they confirmed the addition of crossover athlete Justus Tavai for his 2nd Major League Rugby season in 2026. The Californian prop developed on the gridiron, and was a defensive tackle for the University of Hawai’i (2018-21) and for San Diego State (2022). Tavai declared for the 2023 NFL draft but went unsigned, although this did not stop him reaching the NFL. He signed with the New England Patriots in 2023 where he linked up with his brother, Patriots linebacker Jahlani Tavai. Justus’ rugby career began in 2024 when he joined the American Raptors crossover program and represented them in the Super Rugby Americas competition that year. Following the cessation of the American Raptors as a pro team, Justus Tavai returned to his native California, continuing to play rugby with Belmont Shore RFC, which served as a sort-of feeder team to RFCLA. Sure enough, in April 2025, part way through that years’ MLR season, Rugby FC LA announced the addition of Justus Tavai for the remainder of the season due to injuries in their front row, and he earned his MLR debut in a narrow loss to the reigning Champion New England Free Jacks in Round 11. In his debut season in Major League Rugby, Tavai earned 4 appearances for RFCLA including a first career start, and recorded a pair of tries and 20 tackles made. Likely a depth option at tighthead, Tavai is the first out-and-out prop announced by the California Legion for their inaugural 2026 campaign.

Not to let their west coast rivals have all the fun, on 3rd February Seattle Seawolves confirmed their first Player Move of the week when they announced the addition of Uruguayan international prop Ignacio Péculo for the 2026 MLR season. Born in Argentina, Péculo moved to Uruguay at a young age and represented the Los Teros U20s from 2018 until 2020, where he also represented the Los Teros XV and earned his full test debut for Uruguay against Spain, all in the same year. Below international level, Péculo played with Uruguay’s Super Rugby Americas franchise, Peñarol, between 2020-2023, claiming back-to-back SRA titles between 2022-23. Following the 2023 campaign, Ignacio Péculo moved north. the tighthead prop signed with the Chicago Hounds ahead of the 2024 Major League Rugby season, earning a total of 31 MLR appearances for the team over two seasons between 2024-2025, starting 9 times. He set career highs for appearances (17) and tackles (93) in 2025, passing 150 career tackles completed and scoring a 2nd career MLR try in the Hounds’ thrilling Eastern Conference Semifinal victory over Old Glory DC. Following 2 years in the windy city, Péculo now heads west to join the Seattle Seawolves, where he will compete with MLR veteran Mason Pedersen for the starting tighthead spot in 2026.

@seawolvesrugby via Instagram

A couple of days later, the Seattle Seawolves followed up their signing of Uruguayan international Ignacio Péculo with the addition of Welsh playmaker Dorian Jones for his 3rd season in Major League Rugby and first with the Seawolves in 2026. The son of former Canadian Men’s Team Head Coach Kingsley Jones, Dorian’s professional career began in his native Wales, representing the Newport Gwent Dragons in the Pro14, playing there between 2013-2018 and earning over 70 appearances before moving to England for a stint with the Worcester Warriors in the Premiership. Following his time with Worcester, Dorian Jones headed to France to join Soyaux Angoulême in the Pro D2, spending 3 seasons there before a short spell with Nice in the 3rd Tier Nationale in 2021, then back to the Pro D2 with Carcassonne from 2021-2023. After spending 5 years in France, Jones made the move across the pond and signed with the NOLA Gold ahead of the 2024 Major League Rugby season, representing the Gold for 2 seasons between 2024-2025. Although Jones only earned 12 appearances with the Gold due to struggles with injury, he started every one of his games and racked up an impressive 93pts in total, leading the team in points scored in 2025, with 55pts in 7 games. Jones scored 1 try on 374m gained and completed over 50 tackles in total, and recorded an impressive 74.51% success rate from the tee during his time in New Orleans. Jones how heads northwest to join the Seattle Seawolves for their 2026 campaign, where he will likely play behind former Houston SaberCats fly-half Davy Coetzer as the back-up 10, but may earn the odd start if Coetzer plays at 15.

As if competing with the California Legion last week, the Seattle Seawolves announced their 3rd intra-league signing of the week on 6th February when they confirmed the return of Major League Rugby veteran prop LaRome White for his NINTH season in 2026. The Louisville, Kentucky native began his rugby journey in 2010 and continued to play during his time at the University of Kentucky between 2012-2015. White’s professional journey began with the Seattle Seawolves in MLR’s debut season in 2018, helping the team to life the tournament’s first Shield before signing with the Austin Elite for the 2019 season. He spent 4 seasons with the Elite/Gilgronis between 2019-2022, earning 46 appearances and a career high 7 starts in 2019. Following the disqualification and subsequent folding of the Gilgronis, LaRome White was selected by, and signed with, the Chicago Hounds in the dispersal draft, where he earned a career high 14 appearances for the Hounds in their inaugural MLR campaign in 2023 and returned to the team for the 2024 season, but was traded from the Hounds to the Houston SaberCats early in the season, where he spent the next two seasons. White earned 24 appearances for the SaberCats including 11 during their 2025 campaign where they finished as MLR Runners-Up. Throughout his 8 seasons in MLR to date, LaRome White has earned 77 appearances and represented 4 different teams, scoring 4 tries on over 900m gained, and completed over 300 tackles in his career so far. Now prime front-row age at 31, loosehead prop LaRome White will likely serve as a reserve front row but may earn the odd start while competing for gametime with the likes of Dewald Donald and recently capped USA Eagle Ezekiel Lindenmuth.

@seawolvesrugby via Instagram

Departures

On the subject of the Seattle Seawolves, on 6th February 2026 it was confirmed that 2024 Runner-Up Huw Taylor would not be returning for a 3rd season with the team in 2026. The Welsh-qualified English forward represented England U18 & U20s in the early days of his career, winning the Junior World Cup with the England U20s in 2016 while playing with the Worcester Warriors, whom he represented between 2014-2018. Following this he headed to Wales to play with the Dragons in the URC, playing there from 2018-2023. Taylor was a player/coach with Super Rugby Cymru side RGC1404 when he signed with the Seattle Seawolves ahead of the 2024 season, and earned 14 appearances during his debut season with the team, starting all 3 of the Seawolves’ playoff games that year and recording a huge 43 tackles in the postseason including 23 in their Western Conference Semifinal victory over the San Diego Legion. Taylor finished 4th league-wide in tackling that year, with a huge 192 tackles completed in total. He returned for a 2nd season with the team in 2025 and recorded another season with over 100 tackles, completing 111 in 11 games (7 starts). Across his 2 seasons with the Seawolves, Huw Taylor scored 3 tries on just under 500m gained in possession and recorded 303 tackles made in 25 games (20 starts), averaging an impressive 12.1 tackles per game. Following the 2025 season, he headed to Australia to play with the Hunter Wildfires in the Shute Shield Competition and just last week it was confirmed that Taylor was returning to the UK to join Plymouth Albion RFC in the English National League 1, the 3rd tier. Very best of luck, Huw!

@Albion_RFC via Twitter/X

Wrapping Up

As mentioned in the introduction, this week’s Player Moves Summary article has a very West Coast flavour with every single move related to either the California Legion or the Seattle Seawolves! With 4 new additions from Rugby FC LA, it is becoming clear that the California Legion will essentially be RFCLA but with the San Diego Legion branding, with a few of the Legion’s stand-outs mixed in. They are yet to announce a player who was not representing either LA or San Diego last season, although the bulk of the California Legion roster is yet to be announced. The Seattle Seawolves added a pair of new faces to their roster from the Chicago Hounds and NOLA Gold as former Seawolves forward Huw Taylor returns home to the UK.

Thank you, as always, for reading this week’s Player Moves Article! It seems that announcements have dried up all of a sudden, but no doubt the California Legion will still be going strong for a few weeks yet. Be sure to check back here next Monday (16th February) to find out more about all of this week’s news. If there are any Player Moves that you notice, or just to say what you think about these articles or the site in general,, 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.

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MLR Player Moves Summary: January 26th, 2026 – February 1st, 2026

NARDatabase

James Deeley

January has flown by and February has arrived and with it, Major League Rugby training camps! Players are heading to their teams and cities for 2026, and Training Camp will open in the next few weeks! One would hope that each team has announced their entire 2026 roster by then, but with MLR that’s never a sure thing. Welcome back to NARDB’s Player Moves Summary series, covering all the Player Moves around the league last week, January 26th to February 1st, 2026!

As regular readers are well aware, 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. This week’s article kicks off as they all do, with the summary graphic for Player Moves announced between January 26th and February 1st, 2026, followed by last week’s re-signings:

Summary Graphic of Player Moves around Major League Rugby between January 26 – February 1, 2026!

Re-Signings

The Chicago Hounds kicked off last week’s Player Moves on January 26th by confirming that Premiership Rugby and Champions Cup winner Ollie Devoto would be returning for a 2nd season with the Hounds and in Major League Rugby in 2026! The English centre earned his Premiership debut with Bath at the age of 18 due to an injury crisis at the club, and would earn over 70 appearances between 2012-2016 as well as representing the England U20s and England Saxons (England A), and earning his test debut for England during their 2016 Summer Tests. The following year, Devoto signed with the Exeter Chiefs and would go on to earn over 100 appearances for the club between the Premiership, Premiership Rugby Cup, and Champions Cup between 2016-2024. His impressive list of achievements with the Chiefs includes 3x Premiership Runner-Up (2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21), 2x Anglo-Welsh/Premiership Cup Titles (2017/18, 2022/23), 2x Premiership Champion (2016/17, 2019/20), and to top it off, a Champions Cup winner (2019/20). Devoto headed across the pond following his departure from Exeter, signing with the Chicago Hounds ahead of the 2025 MLR season, but this wasn’t just a holiday prior to retirement. Devoto started all 16 of his appearances for the Hounds in 2025 (of the 18 that the team played) and scored 3 tries on over 450m gained, also completing an impressive 154 tackles in total including 30 in the playoffs alone as the Hounds advanced to the Western Conference Final, where they fell to the New England Free Jacks in a heartbreaker. Although he didn’t lift the Shield, Devoto’s stellar debut MLR season didn’t go unnoticed. He was named the Chicago Hounds Back of the Year for 2025, as well as an All-MLR Second XV selection for his performance. Devoto will join the likes of USA Eagle Mark O’Keeffe and new acquisitions Tiaan Loots & Tavite Lopeti in the Chicago midfield.

@chicagohoundsrugby via Instagram

The Seattle Seawolves made some noise with their first move of the week on 28th January, announcing the return of fan-favourite Seawolves veteran Lauina Futi for his 6th season with the team in 2026! Born in American Samoa, Futi grew up playing football as a running back, recording two undefeated seasons and back-to-back championships at Tafuna High School. He continued his football career after moving to California in 2014, playing with Allan Hancock College between 2014-2015 before moving to moving to Idaho and picking up rugby, then moving to Seattle in 2018 and joining Seattle RFC. He entered Major League Rugby with the Seattle Seawolves in 2021, and has proven an electric presence on the wing across his 5 seasons of competition so far. He has gained over 500m each season of his career, including a career high of 1,495m in 2023 when he finished 2nd league-wide and scored a career high 9 tries. On the subject of tries, Futi sits on 27 tries scored in 66 games (53 starts) after adding 6 in 13 games during the 2025 season, and is currently T-9th all-time in MLR tries scored with Mika Kruse, his 2025 teammate. 2x MLR runner-up Futi has recorded 3 hat tricks for the Seawolves in his career, one of only 2 players to record a ‘hat trick of hat tricks’ along with former Utah Warriors speedster Joe Mano. The fan favourie American Samoan is almost guaranteed to increase his try tally in the 2026 season, and re-joins the likes of Divan Rossouw in the Seawolves back three for 2026, with another signing announced shortly after…

The following day, the Seattle Seawolves announced their second returning back-three player of the week in South African fullback Duncan Matthews, who will join Divan Rossouw and Ina Futi in the back three for his 5th Major League Rugby campaign for the Seawolves in 2026. A native of Atlantis on the Western Cape, the former Springboks U20s man represented the Blue Bulls and Golden Lions in the Currie Cup before making the move to the US and joining the Seattle Seawolves for the 2022 MLR season. Matthews exploded in his debut season, with 7 tries in 16 games (all starts), and a massive 1,489m gained which led the entire league that year and remains his career high today. Matthews gained over 200m in his 2 playoff games for the Seawolves but played no part in the 2022 Championship Final, in which the Seawolves fell to Rugby New York. He was named to the All-MLR First XV for his efforts in his debut season. Over the next 2 years from 2023-2024, Matthews added another 4 tries in 18 games and over 1,600m gained as a reliable, effective runner for the Seattle Seawolves and featuring as a starter in the 2024 Championship Final where the Seawolves fell to the New England Free Jacks. His 4th year with the team in 2025 was another stand-out season for Matthews, adding 6 tries and recording over 1000m gained for the 2nd time in his career, finishing with 1,152m to lead the entire league for the 2nd time in his career and earning his 2nd All-MLR selection with a Second XV nod, as well as Seattle Seawolves Back of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year honours.. In his first 4 seasons with the Seattle Seawolves, 2x MLR Runner-Up and 2x All-MLR player Duncan Matthews has started every single one of his 47 appearances, scoring 17 tries and 89pts for the team on over 4,200m gained with over 150 tackles completed.

@seawolvesrugby via Instagram

Intra-League Signings

Old Glory DC kicked off the week’s intra-league signings on 26th January when they announced that they had signed former Dallas Jackals and Anthem RC hooker Connor Robinson for 2026. A Massachusetts native, Robinson developed in the New England Free Jacks system as well as with Mystic River RFC, but an injury crisis for the Dallas Jackals catapulted him into Major League Rugby during the 2022 season. Although he would only earn 1 appearance for the Jackals that year (his pro debut!), he would return for a second season in Dallas in 2023, earning a further 9 appearances off the bench and scoring his first MLR try. Following 2 seasons in Texas, Robinson joined the newly created Anthem RC franchise ahead of their inaugural season in 2024, and was the regular first-choice hooker there. Robinson started 20 of his 25 games for Anthem RC across 2 seasons, 11 of which came in 2025 when he scored a career high 4 tries. He recorded over 100 tackles in both seasons with the Rising Stars, taking his career total to 281 completed and just shy of 400m gained in 35 appearances (20 starts), with 7 tries scored in total. Connor Robinson has a decent chance of getting solid game time with the Flags, joining Welsh international and fellow new arrival Kirby Myhill, as well as existing DC hooker KoiKoi Nelligan in competing for the 2 jersey. It’s possible that Nelligan and Robinson compete for the starting places, with 33yo veteran Myhill serving as backup.

The Flags would follow up the addition of Connor Robinson with their second front row signing of the week, adding Australian loosehead prop Liam Fletcher to their squad for 2026. The Brisbane native developed his game with both the Souths and Brothers clubs in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition, helping the latter to back-to-back Hospital cups between 2023-2024 before heading to the States to join the Chicago Hounds for the 2025 Major League Rugby season. In his debut season in North America, Fletcher would feature in 12 of the Chicago Hounds’ 18 games including both of their playoff matches, and completed 12 of his 60 tackles that year as a reserve in the Hounds’ heartbreaking Eastern Conference Final defeat to the New England Free Jacks. Fletcher scored his first MLR try for the Hounds and recorded over 100m gained (not bad for a prop), and now heads to the nation’s capital for his 2nd year in the competition. Although Fletcher will take up a valuable foreign player slot on the Flags’ gameday roster, the 26yo prop has proven himself a reliable and effective reserve front row. Will he transition into a starter with Old Glory DC in 2026? Who knows. Fletcher is the 6th prop announced by the Flags for 2026 along with fellow looseheads Bart Vermeulen and Canadian international Cali Martinez, and tightheads Paul Mullen, Patrick Beattie, and 2025 MLR Draftee Connor Devos. One would expect Martinez to be DC’s go-to loosehead, but even though it’s shorter than previous years, it’s still a long season.

The California Legion would make a splash with their first announcement of the week, also on the 26th January. The newly formed Legion confirmed the return of Los Pumas veteran scrum-half and 2025 MLR Back of the Year Gonzalo Bertranou for his 2nd season in Major League Rugby after representing Rugby FC LA in 2025. A true rugby veteran who signed with RFCLA to rekindle his international career for Los Pumas (which worked!), Bertranou earned his test debut for Argentina back in 2016, years before MLR had played a single game. He has racked up over 60 test caps to date and has represented his country at two Rugby World Cups, Japan in 2019 and France in 2023 when Argentina finished 4th. below international level, Bertranou is a veteran of both the URC and Super Rugby, playing with the Jaguares for their entire Super Rugby tenure from 2016-2020 before heading to the URC (Pro14 at the time), first with Benetton then the Dragons from 2021-2024. He was a standout in his debut season in MLR in 2025, appearing in 16 of RFCLA’s 17 games that season, and starting 15 times. A true general in control far more often than not, Bertranou could change games or serve as the catalyst for someone else to do the same with spectacular game management. He racked up nearly 700m gained (as a scrum-half!) and scored 6 tries, along with consistently flawless kicking and solid defence when required with 59 tackles made. For his outstanding season, Bertranou was deservingly named 2025 MLR Back of the Year, and selected as a part of the 2025 All-MLR First XV. He is the first scrum-half announced by the California Legion so far, and the 6th player in total.

@legion.rugby via Instagram

Not done there, the very next day the California Legion followed-up the signing of the 2025 MLR Back of the Year with the signing of a 2020 NFL draftee for his 3rd season in Major League Rugby in 2026. Selected in the 6th round of the NFL draft, New England Patriots draftee and former Titans player Cassh Maluia has joined the California Legion for the 2026 Major League Rugby season, his 3rd year in the competition. Following his time in the NFL, Maluia joined the Colorado XOs crossover program (formerly MLR’s Colorado Raptors, later the American Raptors) developing his game in Glendale, CO until 2023. He entered Major League Rugby with the Chicago Hounds in 2024, earning his MLR debut and 2 starts in 7 games during his debut season, scoring a first MLR try and over 150m gained in a depth role for the Hounds. His performance for the Hounds earned the California native a spot with the San Diego Legion for the 2025 season, where he recorded career highs almost across the board with 6 starts in 9 games, adding a 2nd MLR try on 187m gained, and doubling his 25 tackles from 2024 to 50 in 2025. Maluia has started 8 of his 16 MLR appearances over 2 seasons, scoring 2 tries on over 300m gained with 75 tackles completed, proving himself as a reliable, domestic qualified depth option in the midfield. With San Diego now morphing into the California Legion along with Rugby FC LA, Maluia remains in his home state of California representing the Legion’s new iteration in his 3rd MLR season in 2026, and is the first of two centres announced by the California Legion last week.

The third announcement of the week for the California Legion and the second of the two centres announced was a big one. On 28th January, the new look Legion announced the addition of 2021 Champion and 2x Major League Rugby Back of the Year Billy Meakes for his 6th season in the competition in 2026. The former Gloucester and London Irish centre entered MLR with the LA Giltinis for their inaugural season in 2021, starting all 12 of his games en route to the 2021 Shield. He represented the Giltinis for their entire short tenure in MLR, recording 5 tries in 27 games (all starts) over 2 seasons, recording a massive 2,466m gained and over 250 tackles made to earn back-to-back MLR Back of the Year awards, the only player in league history to do so. Following the disqualification and subsequent folding of the LA Giltinis, the Chicago Hounds selected Meakes in the dispersal draft and signed the Australian for their inaugural season in 2023. Meakes would represent the Hounds for 2 years from 2023-2024, recording over 1000m gained each season (and 3 seasons in a row from 2022-2024) and recording another 180 tackles in 30 games for the Hounds, starting every time. Following his time in Chicago, Meakes returned to Los Angeles where he owns a coffee shop (Boulevard Neighborhood Coffee), signing with Rugby FC LA for their 2025 season. Meakes scored a career high 6 tries in 16 games (15 starts) for RFCLA, recording over 130 tackles made for the 4th successive season, and gaining over 600m. Through his first 5 seasons in MLR, Billy Meakes scored 13 tries and 73pts in 73 games (72 starts) across 3 teams, earning an All-MLR selection in every season he’s played in for an incredible FIVE selections in total as well as a MLR Shield in 2021 and a pair of MLR Back of the Year awards. He has completed 690 tackles to sit 5th in MLR history among backs, and is one of only 5 players in league history to have recorded over 5,000m gained, sitting 4th all-time with 5,346m. The level of talent and experience that the 35yo Meakes will bring to the team will be invaluable for the California Legion in their inaugural season as their new iteration, and it’s great that Legion fans will be able to see the veteran centre representing their team and the state of California in 2026.

@legion.rugby via Instagram

Leaving their announcements so late means that the California Legion are inundating us with Player Moves, for their 4th signing of last week on 30th January they mixed things up a bit, announcing the signing of a forward to follow the 3 backs already announced. The Legion confirmed that they had added English flanker Ed Timpson to their squad for 2026 after he spent his debut Major League Rugby season with Rugby FC LA in 2025. Timpson attended the University of Nottingham, playing in the English University league, BUCS, during his time there as well as representing England Universities. Following his graduation, Timpson headed up to Scotland to play with Stirling in the Super 6 competition, before heading to Australia to join the Northern Suburbs in Sydney’s Shute Shield competition where he was named the team’s Player of the Season as they finished 2nd in the competition. After a season in Australia, Timpson returned to England after signing a short-term contract with the Bristol Bears until early 2025, whom he represented in the Premiership Rugby Cup before heading stateside to join Rugby FC LA for their 2025 MLR campaign, reuniting with his university teammate, Ben Sugars. The back rower enjoyed a solid debut season in MLR for RFCLA, scoring 7 tries in 15 appearances and helping the team to their first (and as it turns out, last) playoff appearance, the Western Conference Semifinal in which Timpson recorded a full 80 minute performance. Timpson scored his 7 tries on 379m gained, and recorded an impressive 164 tackles completed, earning the 2025 RFCLA Forward of the Year award. 24yo Ed Timpson now joins the likes of USA Eagles Christian Poidevin and RFCLA teammate Jason Damm in the California Legion back row, and like many former LA players, will already be very familiar with the coaching team for 2026.

Departures

Last week saw a pair of 2025 Major League Rugby Champions bid farewell to the club and explore other opportunities to play professional rugby overseas. On 26th January, Valley RFC in Hong Kong announced that they had signed former New England Free Jacks scrum-half Emanuel Lai for their 2026 season. The Hong-Kong qualified Connecticut native was drafted 36th overall out of Santa Clara University by the Free Jacks in the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft, and was signed to a short-term MLR contract during their successful threepeat bid in 2025. Lai earned his pro debut off the bench in the Free Jacks’ Round 12 victory over the Houston SaberCats which was his only involvement at MLR level for New England during their threepeat season in 2025. He will likely enjoy more game time playing in the HKRU Premiership which will be crucial for the development of the 23yo. Lai is the 2nd player to leave MLR for Hong Kong this offseason, after San Diego Legion’s James Rivers signed with the Hong Kong Scottish back in December.

The second Free Jacks player heading overseas is Major League Rugby veteran and capped Canadian International, Cole Keith. His agency JP Sports Collective announced on 26th January that the prop had signed with the Doncaster Knights in the English Championship. The New Brunswick native entered MLR with the Toronto Arrows ahead of their inaugural season in 2019, also representing his country at the Rugby World Cup in Japan that same year. Keith represented the Arrows for 4 seasons from 2019-2022, starting 29 of his 46 appearances for the team and enjoying a superb 2022 season with over 400m gained and 142 tackles made in 16 games (13 starts), scoring all 3 of his career MLR tries. Following this career year, the Arrows traded Cole Keith to the New England Free Jacks in exchange for cap considerations. Cole Keith spent 3 seasons with the Free Jacks, starting 18 of his 33 games and helping the club to each of their 3 consecutive MLR Shields from 2023-2025. Across his 7 seasons in Major League Rugby, 3x Champion Cole Keith started 47 of his 79 appearances, recording over 1,100m gained and completing 517 tackles. Both relatively high for a prop forward. Keith continues to be a regular part of the Canadian national team lineup, helping the Maple Leafs qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in 2025, and NARDB wishes him the very best of luck with the Doncaster Knights, currently sat 11th in the English Championship.

@doncasterknights via Instagram

These two former Free Jacks weren’t the only confirmed departures from MLR announced last week. Back in September of last year, Old Glory DC announced the departure of dual capped US/Italian centre Tommaso Boni from the club after 20 appearances (16 starts) over the last two seasons with the Flags. Last week, Boni’s next destination was revealed and it was not in Major League Rugby. On 28th January, Mogliano Veneto Rugby in the Italian Serie A Élite announced the return of Tommaso Boni on a short-term contract until the end of June. USA Eagle #557 Boni previously represented Mogliano during his developmental years, and played with the senior team for 3 seasons from 2012-2015 before joining Zebre in the Pro12 (now the URC). It is somewhat surprising that a domestic-qualified USA Eagle could not find a spot on a MLR roster for 2026, even with significantly fewer roster spots available around the league. It’s possible that the 33yo born and raised Italian simply wanted to return home. Regardless, NARDB wishes him the very best of luck back in Italy after 2 seasons in Major League Rugby with Old Glory DC.

Wrapping Up

We enter February on the back of another busy week of Player Moves around Major League Rugby, thanks in part to the 4 new additions announced by the California Legion including TWO MLR backs of the year, as well as two intra-league signings for Old Glory DC and a trio of re-signings including a pair of veterans returning for the Seattle Seawolves! Additionally, three MLR names are heading overseas including capped USA Eagle Tommaso Boni, and Capped Canadian and 3x MLR Champion Cole Keith!

Thank you, as always, for reading this week’s Player Moves Article! A full 1-page summary confirms that Player Moves are still going strong into February, with no doubt more on the way this week. Be sure to check back here next Monday (9th February) to find out more about all of this week’s news. If there are any Player Moves that you notice, or just to say what you think about these articles or the site in general,, 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.

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