April 12, 2026 - North American Rugby Database

The Chicago Hounds celebrate their 2026 home opener, hosting the California Legion at Seatgeek Stadium. This game marks the first ever installment of Sunday Night Rugby (SNR) as the ‘marquee matchup’ of Round 3 of the 2026 MLR Season.

The Hounds enter their home opener on the back of a strong 33-19 victory away to Anthem RC to kick off their 2026 campaign, and will be hoping that the California Legion don’t ruin their home opener like they did down in Charlotte. The Legion currently top the league after their 2 games, bouncing back from an opening weekend loss to Anthem with a record victory over the defending champion New England Free Jacks in front of a strong crowd at Torero Stadium last weekend. This will be the first game of the 2026 MLR season to be held at SeatGeek Stadium, the venue for the 2026 Championship Game in June.

The ‘run & gun’ California Legion would struggle against the defence of the Chicago Hounds, who’s objective was clearly to stifle the Legion whereever they could. The hosts were helped by a very early score from Theo Fourie at the back of a rolling maul just 2 minutes in, and took an early 5-0 lead with Hilsenbeck unable to add the two. Around 10 minutes in, the Hounds would find themselves reduced to 13 men for almost a full 10 minutes after Fourie and Mason Flesch were carded for repeat infringements. Despite some extraordinary defence during this period, the Legion would hit back through Lance Williams from close range, bagging his 20th career MLR try and giving California the lead after Coby Miln’s successful conversion. This lead wouldn’t last however, as Hounds and Canada captain Lucas Rumball would barrel over on the other side of the hydration break and despite Hilsenbeck’s conversion sailing wide again, the Hounds wouldn’t trail again in this game. Roughly 5 minutes later, Tavite Lopeti found paydirt for the Hounds before Rumball bagged his brace another 5 minutes later. Hilsenbeck made no mistakes this time and the Hounds were up 22-7. Not out of it yet, the Legion cut the gap to 10pts through a Ben Sugars score at the back of a maul, and the teams headed for the break with a score of 22-12.

The rain began to fall as the second half started and just with the first, the Hounds struck early through Theo Fourie, picking up his second of the afternoon to keep the pressure on the Legion, who’s miserable evening was made worse when Ronan Murphy received a straight red card in the 51st minute. A man down for 20 minutes, they struggled to contain the Hounds who adapted to the increasingly heavy rain far better, focussing on a forwards-first, bruising, close range style of play. New Hounds Tomas Casares and Brandon Harvey would both cross within 10 minutes of the red card to balloon the score to 41-12. The Legion showed some signs of life in the final quarter, with scores from Ed Timpson and Joey Mano to secure a try BP for their efforts, but these were both just consolation scores that sandwiched an eighth Hounds try of the game from Chilean international Santiago Videla, who converted himself.

A wet, windy, muddy game in Chicago ends with the Hounds successfully challenging for The Old Mate, defeating the California Legion 48-24. They will now defend the Old Mate against the New England Free Jacks in Nashville next weekend! As for the Legion, they return to California to face the Seattle Seawolves in LA next week in a West Coast clash.

Anthem RC host the Seattle Seawolves at American Legion Memorial Stadium during Round 3 of the 2026 Major League Rugby season.

The euphoria of Anthem’s first every victory in Round 1 was quickly erased by a 33-19 home defeat at the hands of the Chicago Hounds last week, and the Rising Stars now sit 2nd in the league with a 1-1 record. They host the Seattle Seawolves in their 3rd game of the season, who are coming off a strong 33-16 victory in their home opener over Old Glory DC.

The hosts opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes through Campbell Robb with his 2nd try of the season for the Rising Stars to open the scoring in front of a home crowd. The visitors would chip away at this lead with a pair of penalties, before the flood gates opened just after the first hydration break. Seattle scored their first try through a lovely lineout move putting prop Ezekiel Lindenmuth clean through, before Julian Roberts hit back for Anthem a few minutes later. Just 2 minutes after Roberts’ score however, Paddy Ryan crossed at the other end for the Seawolves, which was quickly cancelled out by an Anthem score out wide from former Seawolf Malacchi Esdale. during this flurry of scoring, Seattle tried to challenge for an obvious Anthem knock-on that was missed, but referee Mike Lawrenson deemed that the incident was outside of the scope of the RRS, and Seattle could not challenge this. Despite being unable to challenge this, Lawrenson penalised the Seawolves by taking away their final challenge. Some clarity on this may bee needed from MLR, as fans were left confused as to why the challenge was deemed unsuccessful if they were unable to challenge in the first place. Whats more, the incident was an obvious knock-on that went uncalled. Following this period of back and forth scoring, Anthem RC went into the sheds with a narrow 21-18 lead.

The second half saw significantly less scoring to start, but no less back and forth play, as one line break was met with another, and scramble defence proved solid from both sides. Around the 60 minute mark however, the Seattle Seawolves would feel even more hard done by thanks to a truly baffling decision from the referee team. Anthem RC’s Will Sherman crossed the try line for his 2nd score of the season, and Lawrenson chose to review it to make sure of the grounding. As clear as day, the replay showed that Sherman spilled the ball forward in the try zone, and that there was no grounding (something Seattle did 2 or 3 times during this game too). It was so obvious that none of the Anthem players including Sherman himself, bothered celebrating at all. Despite this, and following the referee intiated review the try was awarded to the consternation of fans. Thankfully this try didn’t decide the game, but it did secure a try BP for Anthem and without it, Seattle would have picked up a losing BP, so it may still play a part in the season. Luke Carty would kick both the conversion, and a few minutes later a penalty to extend Anthem’s lead to 31-18, before Divan Rossouw scored an almost consolation try for Seattle, converted by Mark Bennett. Luke Carty would bank another 3pts in the final minute to deny Seattle a losing BP, and Anthem would record their first home victory in franchise history, a 34-25 win over the Seattle Seawolves.

Anthem will now try to keep that momentum going into next week, and will be staying at home to face Old Glory DC in Round 4 who are coming off of a great road win against the Free Jacks. The injury-stricken Seattle Seawolves on the other hand, will hope they get some guys back in time for next week’s clash with the California Legion in LA.