Day: June 7, 2026

2026 – RD 11: Seattle Seawolves v California Legion

The Seattle Seawolves host the California Legion at Starfire Stadium for a Sunday Night Rugby marquee matchup to mark the final game of the 2026 MLR regular season, as well as the 2nd leg of the Pacific Coast Clash.

The 2nd placed California Legion enter this game 3 table points ahead of the 3rd placed Seattle Seawolves, with the winner of this game deciding who will host their semifinal match up next week. In an unusual twist, these team will face each other two weeks in a row as they have been locked in to facing each other in the playoffs for a while.

The visiting Legion were quicker off the mark, opening the scoring after only 5 minutes through Gonzalo Bertranou, after the Seattle Seawolves went down a man through an early yellow card to Ezekiel Lindenmuth. Despite being a man down however, the Seawolves stayed close with the Legion, and opened their own account right at the end of the Legion’s man advantage with Paddy Ryan crossing for his 7th of the season, with Davy Coetzer adding the extras to give the Seawolves a narrow 7-5 lead. Somewhat unfairly, the Legion were handed a yellow card of their own just after the first hydration break, with Ed Timpson having played it on the floor per referee Luke Rogan. After holding off the Legion with a man down, the Seawolves really took advantage of their numerical superiority, with both Duncan Matthews and Dan Kriel crossing with Timpson in the bin to give the hosts a strong 21-5 lead, before Timpson himself was able to hit a huge gap and score himself to pull the score back to 21-12 at the half-time break. As things stood at HT, these two teams would be back here at Starfire for the semifinals next week.

While the Legion got the best of the start of the first half, the Seawolves started the second half far better. A close quarters passage of play on the Legion line saw Mason Pedersen find the try line to extend the Seawolves lead to 28-12 in the 43rd minute, and with the try BP locked up, they seemed in complete control with forward momentum. After a period of stop & start play littered with reviews, the Seawolves were faster off the mark once the game got going again. A perfect floated pass from Davy Coetzer finds Dan Kriel on the edge who finishes for his second of the game, and Seattle lead 33-12 with 20 minutes remaining. From here, the Legion really starting to struggle after having very little possession and less than 10% of the territory in the second half. It was really only after the 75th minute when the Legion were able to string any sort or phases together. They would claim a consolation try off a line break from Cassh Maluia, finished a few phases and penalties later by Legion prop Justus Tavai. In this quick passage of play, the Seawolves were handed two yellow cards to go down to 13 men. The Legion were unable to shift the scoreboard any further however, and fall 33-19 in Seattle.

With this well earned victory, the Seattle Seawolves finish 2nd in the standings and earn a home semifinal next week in an exact repeat of this fixture against the Legion once again, next Sunday night.

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WER 2026 – RD 5: Denver Onyx v Chicago Tempest

The Denver Onyx host the Chicago Tempest at Infinity Park in Colorado during Round 5 of the 2026 WER Season!

The Tempest were thoroughly beaten by the Onyx on both occasions during the 2025 season with a combined score of 117-7 in favour of the defending champions. The most recent meeting in Round 6 of the 2025 season saw the Onyx record a 0-41 victory on the road, so the Chicago Tempest will be looking to improve upon that in this game.

The Tempest did record a better result than in their last meeting with the Onyx, but it wasn’t enough. The Onyx raced out to a 21-0 lead before Chicago got on the board through Katie Lohaus and added a 4th just before the half hour mark. The visiting Tempest held the line from here until half time, but still trailed 26-7 at the break. Denver began the second half much like the first, adding a pair of tries before the Tempest hit back with a penalty try of their own, and in the 62nd minute both teams managed to record a score each in quick succession, with Gracie Andersen scoring for Chicago which was immediately snuffed out by Sydney Davis, taking the score to 45-21 in Denver’s favour with just under 20 to play, and this is how the game would end.

Although they started the 2026 campaign strong, the Tempest fall to 1-4 at the bottom of the standings, while the Denver Onyx improve to 4-1 and continue to chase the top of the table, currently sat in 3rd.

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WER 2026 – RD 5: Boston Banshees v Bay Breakers

The Bay Breakers travel across the country to face the Boston Banshees at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Quincy, MA in the ‘Battle of the B’s’!

These two sides come into this game having split the head-to-head series in 2025, with the road team winning on both occasions. This was the Bay Breakers in the most recent meeting, a 22-31 victory during Round 11 last year. Does this mean that the Banshees are at a disadvantage in this game?

The first chapter of the 2026 ‘Battle of the B’s’ began at a breakneck pace. The Banshees opened the scoring through Gen Quirion but 5 minutes later the Breakers hit back with two of their own in quick succession. Amanda Wild slotted a penalty to calm things down and cut the score to 10-14, and it did. For a time. The Banshees added a 3rd try in the 24th minute to extend the lead to 10-19 but Wild kept the Banshees in it with another penalty soon afterwards that was backed up just before half time with a try from Yeja Dunn to cut the Breakers lead to a narrow 18-19 at the break.

Boston started the second half just as they did the first, with an early score from Molly McAlevey giving the hosts a 25-19 lead. However, the Bay Breakers gradually fought their way back into the game, retaking the lead with a bonus point try just 7 minutes later. From there, the game settled into a back and forth, with no changes in score for 15 minutes before Rosaline Okpara dotted down for her second of the game in the 65th minute to extend the Breakers’ lead to 25-33 which seemed to deflate the Banshees. Just to cap things off for the visiting Breakers, Okpara bagged her 3rd of the day in the 76th minute to secure the hat trick, and a 25-40 Bay Breakers victory in which the scoreline does not reflect how tight the game really was.

 

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2026 – RD 11: New England Free Jacks v Chicago Hounds

The New England Free Jacks host the Chicago Hounds at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in the 2nd leg of the Eastern Conference Final rematch to kick off MLR’s ‘Decision Day’, the final day of the 2026 Regular Season.

The Hounds enter this game as the only team in MLR with their place secured, and remain unbeaten with a 9-0 record. Although a win is not needed, Chicago will want that flawless 10-0 regular season and will also want to get revenge on the New England Free Jacks for their defeat in last year’s Eastern Conference Final. The Free Jacks currently sit in a playoff spot, but will want a bonus point win to give them the best possible chance of qualifying for the postseason. It’s possible that they can still make it with a loss, but they will need Anthem RC to do them a favour against Old Glory DC for that to work.

Both sides seemed to understand the gravity of this game, and it remained scoreless through the first 20 minutes as both teams jockeyed for field position. Lots of penalties for each side but the Hounds enjoyed the bulk of the territory and possession, but were unable to break that Free Jacks defence. After camping in the Free Jacks end following the first hydration break, the Hounds won a penalty and put it into the corner as they had already done multiple times through the first 25 minutes. Bekerman’s throw was faultless and the Hounds set up the maul and on this occasion the Free Jacks collapsed the maul illegally and referee Derek Summers had no choice but to award the Hounds a Penalty Try, and show a yellow card to Free Jacks forward Jama Fa’anana-Schultz just to rub salt in the wound. This yellow card seems to have spurred the Free Jacks on however. Now down 7 and down a man, New England began stringing together phases and marching up field. A penalty in the Hounds half gave them a golden opportunity from a lineout in the corner, and on the second attempt, Sione Topou breaks off the maul and straight through the Hounds line. Joel Hodgson can’t add the extras however so still trail 5-7 in the 32nd minute, but had their tails up now. Just a few minutes later after fighting their way back downfield but giving away possession, Kienan Higgins jumps on a spilled ball and runs it in under the posts to give the hosts their first lead of the game, 12-7 once Hodgson added the conversion. The Hounds would rally well however, and hit back soon after the Higgins score to get the last laugh of the first half. A defensive stand on their own line was eventually breached by Tiaan Loots, with the Chicago centre able to stretch out for the grounding, and Santiago Videla makes no mistakes from the tee to give the visitors back the lead, 12-14 at the half.

The second half started with heavy pressure from the Chicago Hounds, but a miscue was fly-hacked by a defender to clear their lines after nearly 10 minutes of being hemmed in. Free Jacks defenders manage to hold up the Hounds in a maul in midfield to regain possession, and out of seemingly nowhere, a strong fend from Kienan Higgins allows him to offload to Oscar Lennon on a great support line, who runs it in to give the Free Jacks back the lead once again, 19-14 just shy of the 50 minute mark. For possibly the first time this season, it looked as if the Hounds were human after all. The Free Jacks had fought their way back into the lead, and were shifting the momentum and benefitting from Chicago mistakes. There was roughly 20 minutes of vying for field position in the middle of the second half either side of the hydration break where both teams took turns in marching upfield before an error or clutch turnover switched possession and the other team would then do the same. Finally, with the Free Jacks still needing a 4th try for their bonus point, A smart play from Tiaan Loots saw him tackled, but he released the ball and picked it up again, getting over the try line for his second of the game to tie things up for Chicago. The lead flips back once again after Videla adds the extras, 19-21 up with about 13 minutes to play. This really seemed to both feed the Hounds, and deflate the Free Jacks. Just a few minutes later, 2025 Championship MVP Brock Webster flies through a gap from close range to extend the visitors’ lead, and claim their try bonus point. The Free Jacks, needing to win by at least two, trailed 19-28 with under 7 minutes to play but things would only get worse for the threepeat Champions. To cap off a hard earned road victory, Tiaan Loots got on the shoulder of Luke White after a half break for his third of the game, completing his hat trick for the Chicago Hounds, who take a 19-35 victory on the road but not before Ben LeSage is shown a straight red card (his second of the season) just to really twist the knife for the Free Jacks.

With a bonus point victory, the Chicago Hounds complete the first perfect season in MLR history, going a flawless 10-0 and picking up the maximum 50pts in the standings and get revenge on the New England Free Jacks for last year’s Eastern Conference Final and dumping the 3x defending champions out of the postseason. With this defeat, the Free Jacks finish a forgettable 2026 season with a 3-7 record, losing out on a playoff spot for the first time since 2021 and join Anthem RC as the two teams to miss out. This ensures that their rivals Old Glory DC finish 4th and make the playoffs.

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WER 2026 – RD 5: TC Gemini v New York Exiles

The New York Exiles travel to the Twin Cities to face the Gemini at TCO Stadium during Round 5 of the 2026 WER season!

The 2025 runners-up come into this game having swept the Gemini during last year’s regular season. The Exiles lead the head-to-head series 2-0 following a 31-22 home victory in their most recent meeting during Round 9 last year.

This was a different Gemini team to last season, however. The hosts opened the scoring just 3 minutes in through Megan Ahnen, and hardly looked back. TC shut out the exiles through the first 40 minutes while scoring 4 tries of their own to secure the try bonus point, and took a 24-0 lead into the break. The Exiles got on the board first in the second half, but the Gemini kept up with last season’s runners up and the two teams alternated scoring through the second frame.

Each team managed 3 tries in the second half, but the TC Gemini take a big 41-19 victory thanks to their dominant first half, and improve to 4-1 at the top of the WER table. At the other end of the standings in 6th, the Exiles fall to 1-4 as their struggles to find momentum continue.

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