Day: May 3, 2026

WER 2026 – RD 1: Bay Breakers v Denver Onyx

The Bay Breakers host the Denver Onyx as both teams kick off their 2026 WER campaigns at Heart Health Stadium in Sacramento!

This game marks the first WER game held at Heart Health Stadium as the reigning champion Denver Onyx start their title defence campaign on the road. The Onyx recorded a near-flawless inaugural season with a 9-1 regular season record, surely looking to at least equal that in WER’s 2nd campaign. The Bay Breakers finished 3rd in 2025 with a 6-4 record just a single point behind the New York Exiles and a chance to fight for the Legacy Cup. After coming so close last season, the Breakers will look to improve on their 32pts from last year.

The Denver Onyx hold a 2-0 lead in the series between these two franchises, with the most recent meeting a 17-40 road victory for the Onyx. How will the Breakers fare this time around?

The answer, it turns out, is far better than last season. The defending champions stumble out of the starting blocks and fall 36-19 to the Bay Breakers on the road, with the hosts picking up a bonus point victory while failing to allow the Onyx to do the same. This is the first time the Breakers have defeated the Onyx, with Denver suffering just their 2nd loss ever to kick off the 2026 season.

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2026 – RD 6: Chicago Hounds v Old Glory DC

The Chicago Hounds host Old Glory DC at Seatgeek stadium during Round 6 of the 2026 MLR season in a Sunday Night Rugby marquee matchup that is a rematch of the 2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals

The Hounds enter this game leading Major League Rugby, and remain undefeated through the first 4 games of the season having defeated all other teams with the exception of Old Glory DC, their opponents today. The Flags hold a 2-2 record through their first two games and currently sit 4th in the table, having fallen to the California Legion in their home opener last week.

The visitors entered the doghouse ready to play. And went on the attack immediately. Mark O’Keeffe was deemed to have brought down a player early and was shown a yellow card within the first minute of the game, with Old Glory DC also being awarded a penalty try to take a 7-0 lead very early. The game went back and forth for roughly the first 20 minutes, with both sides trading tries to give fans a great show and the score reflected this. Old Glory led 14-21 at the first water break, scoring 3 tries to Chicago’s 2. However, a yellow card for a high hit by DC’s Cory Daniel gave the Chicago Hounds an opportunity to take control, and they took it with a flurry of scores. Theo Fourie crossed for his 2nd of the game, with Mason Flesch and Ollie Devoto also dotting down within a 10 minute span to give the Hounds a 33-21 lead at the half time break, much to the relief of the home fans.

The second frame started very differently from the first, with both the Hounds and Old Glory DC trading possession but unable to change the scoreboard. Eventually, DC found themselves in an advantageous position with a 4m lineout, and immediately after coming off the bench, KoiKoi Nelligan delivered the lineout well, the Flags set up the maul and rumbled over with Nelligan both starting and ending the play to bring Old Glory DC to within 7pts with plenty of time remaining. Unfortunately for the Flags, their discipline began to work against them. The Hounds got into the routine of earning a foothold in the DC half, earning a penalty, and punishing the visitors. The boot of Chris Hilsenbeck kept the Hounds just out of reach, inching away from DC with a pair of penalties taking them to 39-26. With 10 minutes remaining Jason Robertson bagged his 2nd of the game. Robertson’s conversion rang off the upright, and both he and DC felt that the Hounds charge down attempt was early and attempted to challenge, but as this was out of protocol, DC lost their challenge. This kept the Hounds over 1 score ahead, leading 39-31 before Hilsenbeck added a 3rd penalty to take them further out of reach, and with DC pushing for a 6th try to claim a losing bonus point, the Chicago Hounds pounced on a loose ball and Santiago Videla broke through to put the game to bed, converting his own score to take the score to 49-31 and secure a 5th straight win for Chicago.

Although the score looks slightly one sided, it’s fair to say that Old Glory DC gave the Chicago Hounds their biggest test of the season so far. They now fall to a 2-3 record and take a try BP back to DC for their efforts. The Hounds improve to 5-0, with a 5-game streak of The Old Mate and are half way to an undefeated regular season!

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2026 – Rd 6: New England Free Jacks v Seattle Seawolves

The New England Free Jacks host the Seattle Seawolves at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium during Round 6 of the 2026 MLR season, marking the first leg of the 2026 ‘Coffee Cup’ and ‘Multi-Shield Melee’!

Both sides enter this game with 1-3 records, with the Seattle Seawolves in 6th place, and the Free Jacks in 5th. The Seawolves have been hit hard by the injury bug and are on a 3 game skid following an enormous home defeat to the Chicago Hounds last week, conceding 59pts in total, the most ever by the team. The Free Jacks on the other hand, opened the season with a 3 game losing streak before starting to click and picked up their first win over Anthem RC at home last week.

The opening minutes of the game were very stop/start, which didn’t really allow either team to gather momentum. it took until just before the 15 minute mark for the opening points, which came from the hosts through a long floated pass from Oscar Lennon to Nathan Salmon on the wing, a stand-out on the Free Jacks so far in 2026. Joel Hodgson pushed the conversion wide so the hosts led by 5, but not for long. In almost a carbon copy of the Free Jacks’ try, Seattle openeing the scoring with a long floated pass oout to MIchael Hand, who finished in the corner. The Seawolves also couldn’t convert so the sides went into the first water break tied at 5-5. The stop/start that was present in the opening minutes of the game returned for the rest of the first half, despite a pair of deliberate fouls from New England putting them down to 14 men for significant time. The only changes on the scoreboard came from the boot of Joel Hodgson, who made up for his earlier miss with a pair of penalties to give the New England Free Jacks a 11-5 lead heading into the half.

The second half still opened with what seemed like an even contest, but it was the Seawolves who opened the scoring roughly 5 minutes in with a Divan Rossouw penalty, then got their first try of the half 5 minutes later as Paddy Ryan went over in the corner for his 3rd of the season. There was a question on the grounding of this try despite both the ref and AR being in great position to see and award the score. New England challenged but as there is no close angle of the corner in question, there was no definitive evidence to overturn the onfield desicion, and the try stood. This seemed to dent the Free Jacks’ morale, and the Seawolves started to gather momentum. Michael Hand crossed for his second of the afternoon about 8 minutes later despite chances for New England, but the Sea Wall held firm in defence. The Free Jacks would be unable to shift the scoreboard in their favour at all in the second half in fact, while Seattle slowly but surely pulled away, and secured the try bonus point at the death, with MLR Draftee Tiai Vavao spotting a gap in the line and darting through for his first pro try.

Of all people, Seattle Seawolves stalwart Riekert Hattingh stepped up to convert Vavao’s score, and the big man smashed it, becoming the first forward in MLR history to score a conversion, also reaching 250pts in his MLR career. The visiting Seawolves snap a 3-game skid and pick up their 2nd win of the season with a 11-27 victory. The Free Jacks fall to 1-4, and fail to pick up any bonus points this week. Despite a win last week, time is running out for the reigning champs.

 

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