Month: July 2026

MLR Player Movement Summary: July 6th – July 19th, 2026

James Deeley

Following the flurry of activity shortly after the 2026 Major League Rugby Champions were crowned, player movement around the league has hit a bit of a lull over the past few weeks. This is to be expected early and with any downtime, the long 2026/27 offseason will experience peaks of player movement as well as troughs. Thankfully we have some thoroughly entertaining test rugby to keep us entertained, between the Nations Cup and Nations Championship competitions, as well as a smattering of Women’s Internationals.

Welcome to NARDB’s Player Movement Summary for the 6th to 19th of July, 2026! These articles aim to keep fans informed of all the players entering Major League Rugby, heading overseas after playing here in 2026, or moving to a new team within the league so that there are no surprises when the 2027 season kicks off. While the aim is to publish these articles on a weekly basis, this particular edition covers a couple of weeks to reflect the lower volume of publicly announced signings. With New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship kicking off, which has long been a favourite recruiting ground for MLR teams, this edition feels a bit like a ‘NPC Special’, with all but 1 move involving the NPC. As usual, a summary graphic of all the moves covered in this article is below:

Departures – NPC

The first move announced during this period came on 7th July, when Northland Rugby of New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship announced that they had added Anthem RC scrum-half Zion Going to their squad for the 2026 season. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given that Going is a native kiwi who grew up in Northland and who’s grandfather Sid represented the All Blacks over 25 times during the 60s and 70s. Zion even developed in the Northland system, playing for the U21s in 2021 before heading to Australia to play Premier Grade. Going headed stateside in 2022 and joined the Utah Warriors, playing at the appropriately named Zion’s Bank Stadium for 4 seasons between 2022-2025.

Zion Going really matured as a player with the Warriors, every season he spent in Utah he set new career highs in appearances, starts, tries, metres gained, and tackles made, culminating in an excellent 2025 season where he appeared in all 18 of Utah’s matches, starting 15 times and scoring 4 tries as well as contributing 5 try assists as they finished the regular season as MLR’s top team, before falling to the Houston SaberCats in the Western Conference Final. Going recorded over 100 tackles made that season (as a scrumhalf!) and 276m gained. In total, he started 31 of his 52 games for the Warriors, scoring 8 tries on over 600m gained, with 271 tackles made.

Following the withdrawal of the Utah Warriors from MLR after the 2025 season, Zion Going headed to Charlotte, NC to join Anthem RC for the 2026 season, where they enjoyed their best season in franchise history despite missing the postseason with a 2-8 record. Going appeared in all 10 games for the Rising Stars last season, starting 6 times and scoring another 3 tries on over 100m gained, and recording another 50 tackles completed. He joins Utah & Anthem teammate Jordan Trainor in New Zealand’s NPC, which has long been a go-to competition for MLR players during the North American off-season, and has been a huge recruitment pool in previous seasons of the league. There is no overlap between the NPC and MLR allowing players to continue to play high level rugby year-round still with some decent breaks between the two competitions. Therefore, Going signing with Northland does not rule him out of returning to MLR for the 2027 season. In fact, he is US-eligible through an American grandparent which means he would count as domestic in MLR, a very appealing option for any teams looking for a quality scrum-half for next season…

Zion Going isn’t the only player from the 2026 Major League Rugby season to be heading back to New Zealand to join a NPC side, however. On 13th July Counties Manukau unveiled their squad for the 2026 campaign, which included Seattle Seawolves prop and capped USA Eagle, Ezekiel Lindenmuth!

Born in Samoa, raised in New Zealand, and representing the USA at test level, Lindenmuth is fresh off his 3rd season in MLR in 2026 and first with the Seattle Seawolves after spending the previous two seasons with the Houston SaberCats. He started 27 of his 29 games with the ‘Cats, completing over 100 tackles in both seasons for a total of 231 while gaining over 450m in possession as a front row. He helped Houston finish as MLR runners-up in 2025 and was named to the All-MLR Honourable Mention XV in both 2024 & 2025. Following the surprise withdrawal of the SaberCats during the 2025/26 offseason Lindenmuth, freshly capped as Eagle #594 against England in July 2025, headed to the PNW to join the Seawolves as part of a strong SaberCats contingent that included the likes of Davy Coetzer, Marno Redelinghuys, and Andre Warner. Although he missed a handful of games trhough suspension, Lindenmuth started all 8 games that he was eligible to play in last season, completing 70 tackles and gaining as many metres with ball in hand, beating 12 defenders. He also crossed for a pair of tries, his first in the competition, and earned a pair of Team of the Week selections to help the Seawolves finish the regular season in 2nd place, before falling to the California Legion in the Semifinal.

Fans of Lindenmuth need not panic, as he has played with Counties Manukau in each NPC season since 2020 so this is perfectly normal for the front rower, who is taking the opportunity to play high level rugby year round. In fact, Manukau has a number of MLR alumni in their 2026 squad, including a former teammate of Lindenmuth’s in Houston, AJ Alatimu! Other familiar names on their roster include former NOLA Gold prop Jarred Adams, former Free Jack Simon-Peter Toleafoa, and former Anthem RC winger Tomasi Alosio. Best of luck, Eze!

Sticking with New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship but moving from Counties Manukau on the north side of the North Island, to the Manawatū Turbos on the south coast of the North Island. On 15th July, the Turbos revealed their 2026 squad which included a number of MLR alumni including Malakai Hala-Ngatai, Taniela Filimone, Drew Wild, and notably 2024 Back of the Year Reece MacDonald. Also included however, was Old Glory DC Captain Rob Harley.

English-born Scottish lock Rob Harley joined the Flags in DC ahead of the 2024 season having spent a few seasons in France following a 12 year, 250+ career with the Glasgow Warriors in the Pro12/Pro14/URC, during which time he represented Scotland at test level over 20 times. In his 3 seasons with Old Glory DC, Harley has started 35 of his 36 appearances and Captained the side 26 times. the Scottish lock has gained over 280m in total (203 of these came in 2024 alone) and averaged just over 12 tackles per game for over 425 tackles completed in his MLR career. DC has qualified for the playoffs in each season that Harley has played with them, but came up against the juggernaut Chicago Hounds in 2026, falling in the semifinal. This will be Harley’s 2nd season with Manawatu, having started all 9 of his appearances for the Turbos in 2025.

By far the most MLR2026 representation in the National Provincial Championship belongs to the Bay of Plenty. On 15th July the Steamers revealed their squad for the 2026 season and along with MLR alumni Richard Judd were five players from this latest season of Major League Rugby including four from the New England Free Jacks, so let’s start there!

It’s no secret that the New England Free Jacks underwent more change than any other side in MLR heading into 2026, with only 30% of their 2025 Shield winning roster staying put. A large number of their new recruits came from New Zealand, with the NPC being a prime recruitment competition for MLR and the connections between NPC sides and the New England coach team meant that this was no surprise. The Free Jacks went for a younger roster, bringing in the likes of 21yo Sione Tupou, 22yo Reuben Palmer, and 23yo Filipe Vakasiuola for 2026. Palmer, a lock, earned his professional debut with the Free Jacks and scored his first pro try in their Round 7 victory over the California Legion, starting all 4 of his games last season. Prop Filipe Vakasiuola started 4 of his 8 appearances, contributing a try assist and completing over 50 tackles, earning a Team of the Week selection to boot. Hooker Sione Tupou was a standout, appearing in all 10 Free Jacks games in 2026, starting 6 times and scoring 6 tries with another 2 try assists, and beat 7 defenders on 140m gained while completing 99 tackles in total and earning a pair of Team of the Week selections. Following their debut MLR seasons, Palmer, Vakasiuola, and Tupou all head back to New Zealand to join the Steamers in the Bay of Plenty.

They will be in good company as their Free Jacks Captain, Joe Johnston, will be joining them at the Steamers. Despite missing a chunk of the MLR campaign due to injury, Johnston was still a force to be reckoned with for New England. He started all 7 of his appearances and recorded a massive 118 tackles with an average of 16.9 tackles per game to push his career totals to 918 tackles in his 5 season, 74 game MLR career so far. Johnston is a Bay of Plenty regular having first represented the team in 2019 and earning over 20 appearances for the Steamers since. Very much not a regular with the Steamers, but no stranger to the NPC is Old Glory DC’s talismanic playmaker Jason Robertson, who will be joining these four Free Jacks in the Bay of Plenty this season. Robertson has previously represented both the Counties Manukau and Southland in NPC, as well as the Steamers in 2018 & 2019. Having suffered an injury early in the 2025 MLR with the Flags, a healthy Robertson was a standout for Old Glory DC this year. He started all 10 regular season games scoring 3 tries and 88pts while recording another nine try assists and over 80 tackles made on defence before flying back to New Zealand for the birth of his child just as the playoffs were getting started. Correct priorities. He now sits as MLR’s 4th highest scorer on 455pts in 53 games for Old Glory DC since 2020. Best of luck to all the MLR Steamers!

Departures – Other

Moving away from the National Provincial Championship and New Zealand altogether, and over to South Africa where the 2026 Currie Cup Premier Division is just getting started. On 14th July, The Sharks released their squad for the Currie Cup opener against the Pumas. On it were a few familiar names from MLR seasons in the past, as well as a big name from the Anthem RC squad in 2026: Johan Momsen.

A native of Paarl in South Africa, Momsen entered Major league Rugby with Rugby ATL in 2020, representing the RATLers for their entire time in the competition from 2020-2023, when they relocated to Los Angeles and became RFCLA. He earned 53 appearances for ATL in that time including 49 starts, scoring 12 tries including a career high of 5 during the 2021 season when he was named as MLR Forward of the Year, helping Atlanta to the Championship Game and finished as runners-up to the LA Giltinis in a game that Momsen started, making 15 tackles. He gained over 500m in possession twice with ATL, in 2021 (507m) and in 2022 with a career high of 723m, but it was on defence where he stood out. Of his 4 seasons in Atlanta, Momsen recorded 3 seasons with over 165 tackles including a high of 201 in 2021, and even his low of 70 tackles in 2020 came in only 5 games before the season was cancelled. In total, Momsen averaged 11.6 tackles per game with the RATLers for a massive 616 tackles in total.

Rather than relocating to LA with the team in 2023, Momsen headed south to join the Houston SaberCats for the 2024 season and represented the ‘Cats, who already boasted a strong South African contingent, for 2 years from 2024-2025. Momsen kept up his incredible tackle rate in Texas, completing 345 tackles in 32 games for Houston including a career high of 220 in 2025 where he was an MLR Ironman, appearing in the maximum possible 19 games, starting 17 including his second Championship Game, where the ‘Cats fell to the New England Free Jacks in Rhode Island. Following the surprise withdrawal of the SaberCats during the 2025/26 MLR offseason, Momsen headed to Charlotte to join Anthem RC for 2026, where he started all 10 games to help the team to their best ever finish, earning their first two franchise victories. Momsen would finish that year with 119 tackles made (his 6th 100+ tackle season in a row) and became just the 3rd player in MLR history to pass 1,000 tackles made in the competition. Across his 7 seasons in MLR between 2020-2026, Johan Momsen has started 88 of his 95 career appearances, scoring 18 tries on over 2,600m gained in possession. His tackling has remained remarkably consistent, averaging 11.3 tackles across his career for 1,080 in total.

Momsen isn’t the only MLR name in the Sharks lineup though. He will play alongside former Toronto Arrows and Canada scrumhalf Ross Braude, and former Seattle Seawolves Tim Swiel & Kerron van Vuuren at the Durban-based club. As the Currie Cup Premier Division runs from July to September, this by no means rules Johan Momsen out from returning to MLR for 2027, but with the future of Anthem RC unclear, we’ll have to wait and see. Oh, and just to make sure there is an NPC theme running through the entire article, Momsen represented the Manawatu Turbos in 2022 and 2023.

Wrapping Up

Not a huge amount of activity over the last couple of weeks means that this article covers the last fortnight rather than just the last week, and is something of a ‘NPC Special’ with 8 of the 9 moves covered in this article all heading to New Zealand’s top provincial competition. However, given that the National Provincial Championship is celebrating its 50th year in 2026, it’s somewhat appropriate!

Johan Momsen joining the Sharks in Durban for their Currie Cup campaign is the lone move outside of New Zealand however as with the NPC, the Currie Cup will finish long before the 2027 MLR campaign gets rolling and so none of these players have been rueld out of returning to North America next year unless they earn a pro deal somewhere else in the meantime. That, we will have to wait a while for.

Thank you very much for giving this article a read and if you enjoyed it, please share it around so that other fans can stay informed of all the player movement around MLR so far! If there are any moves that were missed, please let us know by tagging us on social media or sending them our way directly. James and NARDB can be found on social media here:  @MLRStats on Instagram, 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 be sure to visit rugbynow.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from the 2026 MLR Playoffs!

James Deeley

The 2026 Major League Rugby season was always going to be a sprint rather than a marathon and after months of waiting for kickoff, we find ourselves at the end of the season in the blink of an eye. Despite contracting to just 6 teams, the 2026 Campaign proved thoroughly entertaining with a competitive regular season and a pair of entertaining semifinals (albeit for very different reasons), culminating in a massive rugby party for the Championship Game in Chicago.

After a week off, welcome back to the final Midweek Milestones article of the 2026 season! This series dives into all the standout stats, player, and team milestones from the latest MLR games, so that ‘statsheads’ like myself don’t miss a thing. Although this series has been weekly for most of the season, rather than having a separate article for the Semifinals and Championship, this article will cover the entire playoffs as a whole. With an emphasis on ‘postseason’ stats, this article will likely end up longer than normal anyway given the sheer number of records that seemed to have been broken! Breaking with tradition slightly, this article will be split into the Semifinals, and the Final. Let’s start with the Semis!

The Semifinals

Appearance Achievements

The 2026 Semifinals saw a pair of players reach a half-century of appearances in major League Rugby, one in each match-up! Starting chronologically as the Semifinals kicked off with the Seattle Seawolves hosting the California Legion at the formidable Starfire Stadium in Tukwila. The Legion’s starting hooker, capped USA Eagle and 2019 World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year Nominee Joe Taufete’e is playing in his 5th MLR season for his 5th different team, finally reaching his half-century of appearances in the competition!

Born in American Samoa, ‘Big Joe’ earned his test debut for the USA Eagles against South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, earning his test debut on the sport’s biggest stage before ever playing a professional game. This changed in early 2016 when he joined the San Diego Breakers in the short lived PRO Rugby competition. Following it’s only season of play, Taufete’e returned across the pond to join the Worcester Warriors in the English Premiership, playing there from 2016-2020. It was while playing for Worcester that Taufete’e became the first (and to date, only) player from a ‘tier 2’ nation to be nominated for World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year. Following his time with the Warriors, and a stint in France with Lyon, Taufete’e returned to California to join the LA Giltinis for the 2022 season. To date, Taufete’e has scored 23 tries in 37 games for the USA, with the most recent coming in July 2022.

Although he played a cup of coffee with the Leicester Tigers during the 2022/23 Premiership season, Taufete’e has played in every season of MLR since 2022, representing the LA Giltinis (2022), Houston SaberCats (2023), Seattle Seawolves (2024), NOLA Gold (2025), and now the California Legion, where he now reached 50 appearances, starting 35 times. He’s appeared in all 11 games for the Legion so far this season, starting 7 times and scoring 3 tries to take his career total to 19, including a high of 8 in 14 games for the Seawolves in 2024. Congratulations, Joe!

The day after Taufete’e earned his 50th MLR appearance, another front rower earned his 50th MLR appearance in the other Semifinal between the Chicago Hounds and Old Glory DC. Brazilian prop/hooker Wilton Rebolo came off the bench in the Hounds’ demolition of DC to earn his half-century of appearances, starting 13 of his now 51 games in MLR, 4 of which came for the Hounds in 2026.

The São Jose dos Campos native is a Brazilian veteran, having earned his test debut for the national team back in 2015 (the same time as Taufete’e was earning his debut with the USA, coincidentally). He signed with the Austin Gilgronis ahead of the 2020 season but a knee injury in the pre-season meant that he played no part that year, which only lasted 5 rounds before it was cancelled due to COVID-19. He returned to MLR in 2021, this time as a member of the Rugby New York Ironworkers. Rebolo, the first Brazilian to play in MLR, represented New York for 2 seasons, starting 7 of his 27 games and scoring 2 tries. He earned 5 starts in 15 games (both still his career highs) in 2022 to help the Ironworkers to lift the Shield that season, ending the campaign as an MLR Champion before heading to Australia where he had earned a contract with the Western Force, becoming the first Brazilian to play in Super Rugby.

Rebolo returned to MLR in 2024, joining the Australian-heavy Rugby FC LA after they relocated from Atlanta. He earned 2 starts in 7 games for RFCLA during their debut season, before joining the Houston SaberCats the following year, where he scored his 3rd career MLR try and earned 10 appearances to help the ‘Cats advance to the 2025 Championship Game where they fell to the New England Free Jacks. Following the surprise withdrawal of the SaberCats from MLR following the 2025 season, Rebolo joined the Chicago Hounds, where he earned 4 starts in 7 appearances as a part of their undefeated campaign, and made it to his 3rd final to claim his 2nd Shield. Congratulations, Wilton!

Matthews passes 5k!

Lost among the disappointment of the Seattle Seawolves’ elimination from the 2026 season following their loss to the California Legion was a remarkable achievement by one of their main metre eaters this year. Although they fell to the Legion, the Seattle Seawolves recorded over 500m gained, with 142 of those gained by one man alone, Duncan Matthews.

This is the highest metres gained total of the entire 2026 Postseason, and pushes him over 800m gained on the season, averaging 80.6m in each of his 10 appearances this year and finishing as the Round Leader for metres gained no fewer than three times in 2026. What’s unbelievable about Matthews, is that this average is actually down on his career average, which sits at 87.9m gained per game across his 57 game career with the Seawolves so far. The more mathematically inclined readers made have already put together that this means that in the Semifinal match, Duncan Matthews’ career metres gained total passed 5,000m!

Matthews is just the 7th player in MLR history to have passed the 5km gained mark, and his average is far higher than any of the 6 players above him which includes the likes of MLR legends Mikey Te’o, Billy Meakes, and Paula Balekana! Matthews’ 806m gained in 2026 is the most of any player this season, and over 100m higher than Brock Webster in 2nd with 667m gained for the Chicago Hounds. He recorded 28 defenders beaten and scored 3 tries to take his career total to 20, knocking on the door of MLR’s Top 20 try scorers. Congratulations, Duncan!

Semifinal Scoring Stats

The first of the two 2026 MLR Semifinals was defined by a kicking duel between Seawolves fly-half Davy Coetzer, and his California Legion counterpart Coby Miln. Both had been dynamite from the tee all year, with Miln entering the postseason as MLR’s top scorer, and Coetzer not far behind. It was a back and forth opening 40 minutes and at the break, the score was even at 16-16 with only 1 try scored. 22 of the 32pts in the first half were scored by either Coetzer or Miln, with both players flawless from the tee and equal on 11pts each.

As the second half progressed, Coetzer and Miln remained neck and neck, and even as the Legion began to pull away on the scoreboard, these two stayed neck and neck. It wasn’t until Coetzer missed a 70th minute conversion, and Miln slotted a penalty 4 minutes later, that there was daylight between the two. The two playmakers had combined for 42pts and gone 16/17 from the tee, with Davy Coetzer scoring 19pts to Coby Miln’s 23. The New Zealander went 9/9 from the tee, equalling a record for most successful place kicks by a player in a single MLR game, set by Toronto Arrows legend Sam Malcolm back in 2019 and equalled by AJ Alatimu in 2022, although neither Malcolm (9/10) nor Alatimu (9/12) went 100%! Unsurprisingly, Miln’s 23pts is a new Legion single game record, passing his own previous record of 18pts. It’s also a new MLR record for the most points scored by a player in a MLR playoff game, surpassing the 21pts scored by Alatimu for the Seawolves against the (San Diego) Legion back in 2022! Congratulations, Coby!

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Prior to the 2026 postseason, the highest scoring playoff game in MLR history was a 73pt Western Conference Final match back in 2022, where the Seattle Seawolves defeated the Houston SaberCats 27-46. 4 years later, the Seattle Seawolves were involved once again as that record was broken. Despite playing in front of a home crowd at Starfire Stadium, their fortress where they had won 21 of their last 24 games heading into the postseason (including against the California Legion just the week before…), the Seawolves came out on the wrong side of this one. They fell 34-43 to a clinical Legion side, with both sides combining for 77pts, the highest scoring playoff game in MLR history! While the previous record had stood for years, this one wouldn’t stand for long at all, though.

Less that 24 hours later the Chicago Hounds hosted Old Glory DC in the second Semifinal of 2026 and as mentioned above, it was a demolition. The Hounds put up a huge 59pts against the Flags who probably gave them the toughest time during the regular season, and the final scoreline of 59-22 only looks somewhat reasonable due to two late scores from DC. The combined score of 81pts surpasses the 77pts of the previous semifinal and sets a new record for the highest scoring playoff game. How long will this one last?

The Hounds have now scored 61pts, 59pts twice, and 57pts during the 2026 season. The 59pts scored against DC is the highest points ever scored by a team in a MLR Playoff game, surpassing the previous record of 46pts scored by the Seattle Seawolves back in 2022, when they defeated the Houston SaberCats 27-46 in the Western Conference Final. The 37pt winning margin also sets a new record for the largest margin of victory in a MLR playoff game, replacing another Seawolves record of 24pts when they defeated the San Diego Legion 43-19 in the 2022 Western Eliminator. This 24pts was tied by the Chicago Hounds themselves when they defeated the NOLA Gold 21-45 in the 2024 Eastern Conference Semifinals. For the cherry on top of their huge victory over perennial playoff contenders Old Glory DC, the Hounds’ 8 tries in this game took them over 250 tries scored in Major League Rugby! Chicago moved up to 254 tries scored after the Semifinal, with Peyton Wall’s 33rd minute score marking the 250th try in franchise history.

The Final

Champagne Sundays

It is a safe bet that the weather for the 2026 Major League Rugby Championship game in Chicago was the worst of any final in league history, with torrential rain cancelling other events across the city. It didn’t dampen the spirits of the 4,400+ fans that turned up to SeatGeek Stadium to watch the hometown Chicago Hounds take on the California Legion for what would’ve been the first Shield for either side. If you are reading this article, you likely already know the result. The Chicago Hounds capped off a perfect season with the perfect ending, defeating the Legion 35-17 to record the first undefeated season in MLR history, going 12-0 through the regular season and playoffs. The nearest any other MLR team has come to a perfect season was the 2023 San Diego Legion team that went 16-2, but one of those losses came in the Final where they fell to the New England Free Jacks, also in Chicago but with far better weather!

The 2026 Chicago Hounds will go down in MLR legend as the first perfect season and the most dominant side in league history. It’s hard to make the case against them being the best side the league has ever seen, they don’t seem to have an obvious weakness, they can play all kinds of different styles, and their depth is incredible. Yes the 2026 campaign was only a maximum of 12 games, down from the 18 or 19 games required to make the final in previous seasons, but you can only play what’s in front of you, and boy did the Hounds do that. They recorded over 550pts and 81 tries scored in just 12 games, scoring at least 4 tries in every single match, regular season or playoff. For context, their 461pts scores in the 10-game 2026 regular season is higher than last year’s champions, the New England Free Jacks, scored across the sixteen game regular season last year!

In a year of high scoring postseason games, the 2026 Championship was no different. Yes, at a combined 52pts it was far lower than the 77pts and 81pts of the Semifinals, but this is the highest scoring Final in Major League Rugby history, surpassing the previous record of 50pts on the final kick of the game from Chris Hilsenbeck. This previous record was set just last year when the New England Free Jacks defeated the Houston SaberCats 28-22 in Rhode Island to claim their 3rd Shield in a row.

Finals Scoring

As mentioned, it was Chris Hilsenbeck’s penalty in the final minute of the game that cemented the 2026 Final as the highest scoring Championship game in league history, but that was only one of his six successful kicks from the tee throughout the game. Capped by the USA USA Eagle went 6/7 in miserable conditions, notching 3 penalties and 3 conversions for 15pts in total to tie the record for the most points ever scored by a single player in a Championship game, set by Jayson Potroz for the Free Jacks in 2024. These 15pts pushed him over 100pts on the season this year, moving into MLR’s Top 20 Points scorers with 224pts scored across his MLR career including 52pts in the playoffs, the highest among active players and 4th all-time. Congratulations, Chris!

Hilsenbeck’s 15pts made a large chunk of the Chicago Hounds’ 35pts on the night. As with many things the Hounds have done this season, this is also a record. It’s the most points ever scored by a team in the Championship game, just overtaking the LA Giltinis in their 31-17 victory over Rugby ATL in 2021 and marks the 3rd time that a side has scored over 30pts in the Final along with the Rugby New York Ironworkers, who defeated the Seattle Seawolves 30-15 back in 2022.

On the subject of scoring, now that the season is complete we know the identity of the top scorer from the 2026 season and it’s someone who has already been mentioned in this article for breaking records but isn’t a Chicago Hound! In his debut season in Major League Rugby, fly-half Coby Miln appeared in the maximum of 12 games to help the California Legion advance to the Championship game in their first season post-merger, scoring a huge 130pts in total to finish as MLR’s Top Scorer in a season where this author doubted if any player would even break 100! Finishing 26pts head of both Davy Coetzer & Chris Hilsenbeck (tied for 2nd with 104pts each) that included 35pts in the playoffs, Miln recorded a success rate of over 85% from the tee which is easily the highest among players that have finished the season as Top Scorer, and his 10.8pts per game is the highest by a top scorer since Jason Robertson’s 13.4ppg back in 2020, when the season was cancelled after 5 games! Congratulations, Coby!

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If scoring over 100pts in MLR’s 2026 ‘sprint season was a big ask, scoring 10+ tries looked almost impossible. However, just as there were 3 players to break a century in points scored, there were a pair of players to reach double-figures in tries scored and this time, they both represent the newly crowned Champs, and both dotted down in the Championship game! Finishing the season in 2nd place with a hugely impressive 10 tries scored in his 11 appearances is Canadian international Mason Flesch, who split his season between lock and back row across his 11 starts in 2026, and reached double figures with a somewhat trademark Flesch score in the Final. The former Toronto Arrow entered his 3rd season with the Hounds on 9 tries scored in his MLR career, and more than doubled that in a breakout campaign that saw him pick up 3 MLR First XV selections this season and put his name up as a Forward of the Year candidate!

In any other season, Flesch’s 10 tries in 11 games would be extraordinary. To achieve that and finish second in tries scored however, is almost unbelievable. But that is exactly what happened this season, with Mason Flesch sat behind Chicago Hounds hooker Theo Fourie who averaged a try a game in 2026, finishing with 11 tries scored in his 11 appearances (10 starts) en route to the Shield! The Super Rugby front row was brought in as a replacement for outgoing MLR legend (and all-time leading try scorer) Dylan Fawsitt, and it’s safe to say that he was up to the huge task of filling that gap in the Hounds pack. Fourie was at the centre of the fearsome Chicago set piece, and completed 79 tackles of his own while beating 13 defenders to earn a pair of MLR First XV selections. The 21 tries scored by Fourie and Flesch alone accounted for over a quarter (25.9%) of all Hounds tries this season, and isn’t far behind the New England Free Jacks’ team total of 29 tries scored in the entire 2026 season. Congratulations, Mason & Theo!

The ‘Curse of First’

Earlier in this article mentioned the 2021 season where the LA Giltinis lifted their first and only MLR Shield. For a long time, they were the first and only side in Major League Rugby to have topped the standings in the regular season, and went on to lift the Shield in the same season. The Seattle Seawolves, who have made it to 4 finals and lifted the Shield twice in the early years of the league, never finished as regular season leaders. None of the New England Free Jacks teams during their threepeat run did either. In fact, the only time the Free Jacks did finish as regular season leaders was in 2022, the season before their first Shield when they were knocked out by eventual Champions Rugby New York in the Eastern Conference Finals. This rather bizarre pattern has been dubbed ‘The Curse of First’, but even that couldn’t defeat the 2026 Chicago Hounds.

Completing the first undefeated season in MLR history, the Hounds overcome ‘The Curse of First’ and become the first team in 5 years (and just the 2nd team ever!) to finish the MLR regular season as league leaders and lift the Shield in the same season. It serves as further proof that absolutely nothing was going to stop the Chicago Hounds from claiming their first MLR Championship, but is the curse gone for good, or just for this year? League leaders are still 2-8 when it comes to lifting the Shield, but we’ll have to wait for 2027 to find out…

Wrapping Up

With the Shield having been awarded, the 2026 Major League Rugby ‘Sprint Season’ has come to an end. Although shorter than previous years and probably less far-reaching, it was no doubt entertaining and one of the more competitive seasons from week to week, if not from game to game. With the obvious exception, any team could beat any other team on any given week, and it took until the very last regular season game to decide the playoff match-ups. In the end, the best team (possibly ever) lifted the Shield, bringing the first MLR Championship to Chicago. Congratulations to the Chicago Hounds from the staff to the players to the fans, your deserving 2026 Major League Rugby Champions!

As the curtain has fallen on the 2026 campaign, so it does on these Midweek Milestones articles also. Whether you read one paragraph 6 weeks ago, only read this article, or came back every single week, thank you. Please let us know if you enjoyed these articles, what you liked about them or what we could improve, or if anything was missed throughout the postseason. Who knows what the long dark off-season may bring, but there are USA & Canada international matches to look forward to soon, followed by the 2026 MLR Draft likely some time in August, and there’s bound to be all sorts of other news sprinkled in over the next weeks and months. Thanks again for reading Midweek Milestones, and welcome to the off-season!

You can find NARDB/James on social media here: @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 gear over the summer, visit rugbynow.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!

MLR Player Movement: 2026 Season End – July 5th, 2026

James Deeley

It’s been a couple of weeks since the Chicago Hounds lifted the Shield on a soaking wet Sunday evening at SeatGeek Stadium, and the lack of Major League Rugby is starting to set it. However, just because there are no more matches doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to talk about. The Nations Championship and Nations Cup competitions have kicked off and will provide a month of top quality test matches every weekend, the 2026 MLR Collegiate Draft will be held in roughly 6 weeks time, and between then and now, there will be all sorts of tidbits involving players, teams, and MLR itself!

While Midweek Milestones tends to be NARDB’s go-to articles while matches are being played, during the off-season the news shifts to player signings and as the purpose of this site is to keep fans as imformed as possible, it would be remiss of us to go without summarising all the player movement to, from, and within Major League Rugby. These summaries will be a constant throughout the MLR offseason, and will be weekly at most depending on the volume of player moves each week. Welcome to the first Player Movement summary of the 2026/27 off-season, covering the end of the 2026 season to July 5th, 2026!

Below is a summary graphic of all the moves this offseason so far:

Retirements

At the end of any professional sports season there will be a number of players who decide to call time on their career and hang up their boots. 2026 is no different, and there have already been three retirement announcements including a pair of MLR veterans, and it important that fans get the opportunity to recognise their outstanding careers, and say thank you.

The first player to announce his retirement after the 2026 MLR season actually announced it before his final game. On 17th June, a few days before the Championship game, English centre Ollie Devoto announced that he would be hanging up his boots at the conclusion of the 2026 MLR season. Devoto already had an impressive career before entering MLR for the 2025 season, having developed through the Bath system in England, he earned his Premiership debut in 2012 at the age of 18, and represented the club for 4 years, also representing the England U20 side before earning his test debut with England in the 2016 Summer Internationals. When the 2016/17 Premiership season started Devoto was still playing, but now representing the Exeter Chiefs. He played with the Chiefs from 2016-2024, earning over 100 appearances for the club and winning almost everything there was to win at club level including the Premiership Cup twice (2017/18, 2022/23), the Premiership itself twice (2016/17, 2019/20) while finishing as runners-up three times (2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21), and even the European Champions Cup in 2019/20!

Ollie Devoto’s Exeter Chiefs resume alone would make for an outstanding pro career, but when his time with the club came to an end he headed across the pond to play in MLR, and represented the Chicago Hounds for 2 years. In his debut season with Chicago, Devoto averaged almost 10 tackles per game for 152 in his 16 appearances, starting all 16 and contributing an assist and 3 tries on over 450m gained to earn an All-MLR 2nd XV Selection. Returning for a second year with the Hounds after a heartbreaking defeat to the New England Free Jacks in the Eastern Conference Final, Devoto improved his production in half as many games on a dominant Hounds team, scoring another 3 tries and assisting a further 2 scores in 8 games (all starts) and making 16 tackles with 45m gained in the Championship Game as the Hounds claimed their first MLR Shield. Capping off his pro career with another Championship, Ollie Devoto can now add ‘MLR Champion’ to his already impressive resume. All the best in your retirement, Ollie!

The first retirement of the offseason proper was on the West Coast over in California. On June 27th, Fijian born loose forward Keni Nasoqeqe announced the end of his professional career after 8 seasons playing in MLR. Nasoqeqe began playing rugby at Lelean Memorial School in Fiji before moving to California in 2015 where he joined Belmont Shore RFC. It would be a few more years before he turned pro, joining the San Diego Legion ahead of their 2019 campaign. In his debut MLR season, Nasoqeqe started 12 of his 13 appearances for the Legion, gaining over 300m in possession while completing 138 tackles on defence to help the Legion advance to the Championship game (not for the last time in his MLR career), where they fell to the Seattle Seawolves in the dying seconds.

Nasoqeqe played with the San Diego Legion for 3 seasons between 2019-2021, earning 28 appearances (22 starts) and scoring 5 tries before swapping the beaches of California for Space City, joining the Houston SaberCats. He would spend the next 4 seasons in Black & Yellow, earning 17 appearances in 3 of his 4 seasons there for 63 appearances in total and starting 32 times including a career high of 14 in 2022. It was with the SaberCats that Nasoqeqe made it to his 2nd Championship game in 2025, coming off the bench as they fell to the New England Free Jacks. Following the unexpected withdrawal of the SaberCats from MLR, Nasoqeqe headed back to California to finish his career with the new look California Legion for the 2026 season. He appeared in every single Legion game during the season, starting 7 times and became a MLR Centurion after earning his 100th appearance to help them advance to their first, and his 3rd MLR Championship, falling to the Chicago Hounds. In total, 3x MLR Runner-Up Keni Nasoqeqe started 61 of his 103 appearances across 8 seasons, scoring 10 tries on over 1,800m gained in possession, and completing over 700 tackles on defence. Congratulations on a great career, Keni!

A few days after Keni Nasoqeqe announced his retirement, another MLR veteran did the same. On 3rd July, USA Eagle #525 Paul Mullen called time on his professional career following his ninth season in the competition in 2026. Born and raised in Ireland, Mullen played age-grade rugby for Munster under-18s, 19s, and 20s, as well as for Ireland under-19s before moving to Texas in 2011. When professional rugby came to Texas, the Houston SaberCats signed Mullen ahead of the inaugural season of Major League Rugby in 2018 and he would play with the ‘Cats for two seasons from 2018-2019, starting 7 of his 10 games with the team. While with the SaberCats, he was called up to the USA national team and earned his test debut in a 62-13 victory over Russia in June 2018, before heading to the UK where he played with the Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership and Doncaster Knights in the Championship during the MLR off-season before returning stateside.

For 2020, Paul Mullen moved from Texas to California and joined the San Diego Legion where he started all 5 games as the team went 5-0 before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When professional rugby returned to North America in 2021, Mullen had signed with the Utah Warriors where he would spend 4 seasons and is arguably the team he is most well known for playing with. Between 2021-2024, Mullen would start 37 of his 57 games for the Warriors, gaining over 120m in each season for over 600m gained for Utah in total including a career high of 193m in 2022. He also recorded his first 100+ tackle season, completing 112 tackles in 14 games in 2023. Following the 2024 campaign, the Utah Warriors cleaned house and bid farewell to over a dozen players from their squad, including Paul Mullen who headed from Utah to New Orleans to join the NOLA Gold where he had another productive year. For the Gold, he completed a career high 115 tackles and appeared in all 16 games (11 starts) that NOLA played that year, passing 500 tackles made in his MLR career as a prop.

With the NOLA Gold withdrawing from the competition after the 2025 season Paul Mullen moved to his fifth different MLR franchise when he joined Old Glory DC in the nation’s capital. He started all 11 games for the Flags in the shortened 2026 campaign, completing 74 tackles to help the team squeeze into the postseason when they unfortunately ran into the juggernaught Chicago Hounds in the semifinals. Along with representing his adopted country, Paul Mullen has started 71 of his 99 appearances (yes, 99!) throughout his 9 seasons in Major League Rugby across 5 different franchises, gaining over 800m in possession and completing over 600 tackles. Congratulations on a fantastic career, Paul!

Heading Across the Pond

Along with the trio of retiring legends, five players from the 2026 season have picked up contracts across the pond for the upcoming 2026/27 seasons in european competitions. This is not uncommon and shows the talent on display in Major League Rugby this year. Of these 5 Europe-bound players, 3 of them are headed to the UK so let’s kick it off there.

Starting in New England, where the Free Jacks never quite got it together for the 2026 season, and missed out on the postseason despite showing glimpses of the x3 Champions that we are used to seeing. One of their (many) new signings for 2026, Kienan Higgins, took a detour on the way to Boston to join Edinburgh Rugby in the URC on a short term deal before linking up with the Free Jacks prior to the start of the season. Clearly Higgins impressed in the Scottish capital, as on 27th May (yes, long before the MLR season was over) the club announced that they had signed Higgins to a full one-year contract for the 2026/27 URC season, linking up with his younger brother Riley. Higgins started all 9 of his games for the Free Jacks in 2026, contributing 2 tries and an assist on over 325m gained with ball in hand and averaged 13.4 tackles per game for a total of 121 on the season. Best of luck, Kienan!

Staying in the UK but moving from Scotland and the URC down to England and CHAMP Rugby, the fully professional 2nd tier of English Rugby. On 19th June 2026, the Doncaster Knights announced the signing of English hooker Ben Sugars from the California Legion for their 2026/27 Campaign. The Super Rugby capped Ben Sugars spent two season in MLR playing with Rugby FC LA (2025) and the California Legion (2026), starting 14 of his 22 games and scoring 6 tries in total, 4 of which came in 2026 to help the Legion end the season as Runners-Up. Sugars completed just under 200 tackles (198) and gained well over 350m in his MLR career and now returns home after a few years in Australia and the USA. Congratulations, Ben!

Sugars isn’t the only MLR player heading to England after the 2026 season, however. On 1st July, London Scottish announced that they had signed Patrick Beattie for their upcoming campaign. Scottish, who had played in CHAMP rugby in 2025/26, finished 13th and lost their relegation playoff to Blackheath, so will be playing their 2026/27 season in the semi-professional National League 1, but this is still a high standard of rugby. What is interesting is that Patrick Beattie is a MLR draftee, having been selected 26th overall by RFCLA out of Long Beach State University in 2024. The California native spent the 2025 season with RFCLA where he was teammates with Ben Sugars, before signing with Old Glory DC for the 2026 season. Beattie is yet to make his MLR debut, but now heads overseas for the chance of more gametime. Congratulations, Patrick!

Moving now away from the UK to the south, but not too far south. A pair of MLR names will be headed to France to compete in the French 2nd tier in 2026/27, the Pro D2. On June 25th, Stade Montois in the south of France announced the addition of Australian back row Baden Godfrey who joins after playing his debut season in MLR with Anthem RC in 2026. The 23yo Godfrey appeared in all 10 games for the Rising Stars is 2026, starting half of them and scoring 3 tries on 290m in possession beating an impressive 23 defenders. Despite not starting half of Anthem’s games this season, Godfrey averaged over 11 tackles per game and finished as their 2nd highest tackler with 112, just behind captain Johan Momsen on 119. Best of luck in France, Baden!

Godfrey will be joined in France by California Legion standout and fellow Australian Ben Houston, though not on the same side. On 1st July, Aurillac in central France announced the addition of 27yo Randwick back row after two years in MLR with RFCLA (2025) and the Legion (2026). He started all 22 of his appearances in MLR, scoring 14 tries in total including 6 in 8 games for the Legion this year in addition to a pair of assists and 13 defenders beaten en route to the 2026 Championship, which he started. Houston has averaged just under 11 tackles per game for 241 in total, gained over 900m in possessionand heads over to France as an MLR runner-up. Very best of luck in France, Ben!

Wrapping Up

A trio of retirements and five named headed to ply their trade in Europe in the Autumn just about does it for a relatively busy first few weeks of the offseason! As mentioned in the intro, these articles will come out most weeks depending on the volume of player movement to, from, and around MLR as we head deeper into the offseason. To reassure fans who may have noticed that all 8 of these moves are from MLR (retirements included), but this is typical for the early off-season as teams elsewhere in the world are busy recruiting for their upcoming seasons, but here in North America we have a long time to wait until the hype starts to build for the 2027 season.

Thank you very much for giving this article a read and if you enjoyed it, please share it around so that other fans can stay informed of all the player movement around MLR so far! If there are any moves that were missed, please let us know by tagging us on social media or sending them our way directly. James and NARDB can be found on social media here:  @MLRStats on Instagram, 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 be sure to visit rugbynow.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!