The 2026 Major League Rugby ‘Sprint Season’ is complete! After 10 rounds, 4 of the 6 teams in this year’s competition have earn their right to compete for the Shield in the postseason, and it went down to the wire! A thoroughly entertaining weekend of rugby saw the playoff possibilities change countless times as tries were scored and crowds roared. The regular season is now complete but before we turn our attention to the playoffs, lets dig into some of the numbers from the final round of regular season play.
Welcome back to Midweek Milestones, the weekly article series that dives deeper into some of the standout stats from the latest round of MLR action! As mentioned, round 11 saw the playoff picture solidified, but it came down to the wire after some close calls that could’ve meant huge upsets! As regular readers of these articles will know, every MLR gameday throws out a bunch of interesting numbers, standout stats, and Midweek Milestones!
Appearance Achievements
As always, Midweek Milestones kicks off with the appearance achievements section, recognising players that earned a milestone appearance in last week’s games, 50 games played, 100 games played, 50 games for their team, etc. This week however, is a little bit different. This week we recognise a 115th Major League Rugby appearance from a league veteran, Seattle Seawolves stalwart, and capped USA Eagle, JP Smith.
JP Smith’s 115th MLR appearance makes him the most capped player in league history, surpassing the 114 games played for another legend of this league, Dylan Fawsitt who recently ended his career on a high with a US Club Rugby Championship title with Old Blue. The Butcher represented 3 different team throughout his MLR career, but JP Smith has only ever represented one. He has earned all 115 appearances with the Seattle Seawolves since entering the league back in 2019, helping them to their 2nd straight shield in his debut season that year.
A regular in the Seawolves 9 jersey since his debut season, JP Smith has played the maximum number of possible games in a MLR season 3 times, earning 18 appearances (16 regular season + 2 playoff) in their Shield-winning 2019 season, and 19 appearances (16 regular season + 3 playoff) in 2022 (when he started all 19) and in 2024. Other than the inaugural MLR season in 2018 before Smith joined the franchise, in every season that he played the maximum number of games, the Seattle Seawolves made it to the Championship Game. Spending much of this season on the wing, Smith has played in 9 of a possible 10 games however, so Seawolves fans may not want to read too much into that!
Smith, who earned his test debut for the USA as Eagle #572 against Romania in July 2024, has scored 23 tries in his MLR career so far and 133pts in total for the Seawolves, running up just shy of 2,000m gained in possession and completing close to 750 tackles in his career. Impressive for a player in typically lost-tackle positions like scrum-half or wing. Smith’s 115th appearance at the weekend was his 104th start, tied with fellow Seawolves stalwart Riekert Hattingh for the MLR lead, and one of only 3 players with over 100 starts in the competition with Dylan Fawsitt. Congratulations, JP!
Hounds complete Perfect (Regular) Season!
A significant portion of these Midweek Milestones article this season has been spent fawning over the Chicago Hounds who seemed to break a new record on a weekly basis, and not to rock the boat, this week is no different. They faced the New England Free Jacks at the weekend, who were playing for their season and just happened to be the team who dumped the Hounds out of the playoffs in the 2025 Eastern Conference Final. The 3x defending champs kept it close, and were even leading into the final 15 minutes, but with revenge and a 10-0 record on the line, as well as regular starters strategically coming off the bench, the Hounds were able to accelerate away from New England, ending their season with a 19-35 victory in from of their home fans. I have never heard ‘Fort Quincy’ so quiet, and it must’ve been music to the ears of the Chicago Hounds.
It’s quite poetic that the Hounds overcame the defending champions in their own back yard to secure the first undefeated regular season in Major League Rugby history. In fact, not only was in an undefeated season, but it was a perfect season. Chicago recorded a bonus point victory for 10 straight weeks for 50pts in the standings, the maximum available points and only allowing their opponents a single losing bonus point, claimed by Old Glory DC in their thriller last week.
Major League Rugby is no stranger to dominant seasons, but nothing quite like this. The first team that comes to mind for many fans will likely be the 2023 San Diego Legion, who recorded an extraordinary 15-1 regular season with 74 of a possible 80pts in the standings, 92.5% of the maximum possible points. Yes, this was a longer, 16 game season, but the Legion only averaged 4.8 tries per game (tpg) to the 2026 Hounds’ whopping 6.9. Nice. similarly, the Legion averaged 34.6 points per game (ppg) and an average winning margin of 17.9, both of which also fall short of the Hounds’ 46.1ppg and 20.9 average winning margin. The 14-2 Free Jacks of 2023 only close the gap slighty, with 5.0tpg, 34.7ppg, and an average winning margin of 20.2 with 68 of 80 possible points in the standings. Even the mighty 2021 LA Giltinis, who lifted the Shield in their first season and were arguably MLR’s first ‘juggernaut’, comes it at a seemingly mediocre 12-4 record, 4.9tpg, 34.1ppg, and average winning margin of 20 with 63/80 points.
The real magnitude of what the Chicago Hounds have achieved this season boils down to whether you view a 10 game season as drastically ‘easier’ than a 16 game season. The Hounds can only play what’s in front of them however and it’s not so much what they have achieved this season, but how they achieved it. Of course, it will all mean nothing if, like the 2023 San Diego Legion, they fall short of the Shield (also in Chicago, coincidentally). MLR’s ‘curse of first’ is a fascinating thing, with only 1 team in league history finishing as the top team in the regular season and lifting the Shield the same year, that being the 2021 LA Giltinis. The Hounds face Old Glory DC next weekend, who have given them the most trouble in both of their matchups this season, so only time will tell…
Scoring Stats
Last week, Midweek Milestones mentioned that USA Eagle Luke Carty had set a new single season points scoring record for Anthem RC, at 53pts in 2026. In the final game of the regular season for the Rising Stars, he tacked on another 6pts in a really close contest with Old Glory DC which they were leading at the 70 minute mark, but couldn’t hold out the Flags, who themselves were desperate for a playoff spot. Regardless, Carty finishes the 2026 season with 59pts for Anthem, all from the boot with a success rate of 75.68% (28/37). Not only does this set the new single season record in stone, but for the second week in a row Carty surpasses Cliven Loubser, this time passing his 57 career points for Anthem RC to become their all time top scorer!
With murmurs already starting in MLR circles about the future of Anthem RC given that their 3yr deal for World Rugby funding has come to an end, I’m sure I’m not the only fan to hope that Luke Carty’s new records for the Rising Stars can be contested again in 2027.
Back to the playoff bound teams now, but still building on something that was covered in the previous Midweek Milestones article. Last week, Divan Rossouw picked up his 17th career MLR try which took his total for the Seattle Seawolves up to 102pts and becoming the 7th player to pass 100pts scored for the 2x Champs. This week, that club has grown to 8!
Only beaten to 100pts by Rossouw’s limited goal kicking earlier this season while Davy Coetzer was injured, South African standout Duncan Matthews dotted down for his 20th career try for the Seawolves in their home semifinal clinching victory over their west coast rivals, the California Legion. Matthews’ 20th try actually puts him slightly ahead of Rossouw with 104pts thanks to two automatic conversions (for newer MLR fans, in previous seasons if a try was scored directly under the posts, a full 7pts would be awarded and there would be no conversion. This was scrapped for 2026) to become the eighth player in team history to score 100pts for the team! For anyone wondering, Davy Coetzer is the next closest Seawolf to 100, currently sat on 85pts all scored this season.
Wrapping up the scoring stats with the 3rd hat trick of 2026, and the second for the Chicago Hounds! It seem like no matter who the Hounds name in their starting XV or even their matchday 23, they perform. In fact, in weeks that they field a ‘rotated’ roster, there seems to be a pattern of one depth player really stepping up. The likes of Canadian international Matt Oworu in Round 5, Jake Kinneeveauk in Round 8, and now Tiaan Loots in Round 11!
The MLR veteran and long time San Diego Legion player is actually enjoying his seventh season in the competition, after playing with the Houston SaberCats in his debut year (2020), before joining the Legion for 2021-2025. He’s earned over 50 appearances in MLR, made just shy of 3,500m in possession (including a high of 988m in 2022!) and scored 17 tries, but these tries have come in batches. Twice, Loots has recorded 0 tries in a season (2022, 2025), but he’s also scored 4 in 2023 and a high of 6 in 2024. He has served more of a depth role on the Hounds this season, and had 0 tries coming into their clash with the Free Jacks, but that all changed. He just had a knack for being in the right place at the right time this week, and recorded his first career MLR hat trick to help Chicago secure that perfect 10-0 record, and was named as MLR Player of the Week to top it off!
As mentioned, this is only the 3rd hat trick of the season which averages out to 1 every 10 games, yet it’s the second for the Hounds who are just catching lightning in a bottle this year, following Brock Webster in against the Seattle Seawolves in Round 5. It’s the 5th hat trick in Chicago Hounds history, and the 56th in MLR history. It’s highly likely that it’s the last hat trick of the 2026 season as well, unless the playoffs have some surprises in store!
The Newest Member of the 1000 Tackle Club!
Not forgetting the more granular milestones compared to wins or points, California Legion flanker Lance Williams completed a team high 15 tackles (tied with Cyrille Cama) ot take his career total over 1,000 tackles completed in MLR! Now on 1,004 tackles, the long time Utah Warrior is the 6th player in MLR history to pass 1,000 tackles completed, and has made 113 in 2026 where he’s started all 10 of California’s games so far. Williams has averaged just over 11 tackles per game across his 91 game (85 start) MLR career, including four seasons with over 170 tackles made. He’s come close to breaking his career high of 190 tackles for the Warriors in 2019, with two 173 tackle season in 2021 and 2022, and 181 tackles completed in 2023. Combining this with his just over 3,400m gained in possession and 21 career tries, and it’s easy to see why Stephen Hoiles likes him in the Legion starting XV. Congratulations, Lance!
Scorigami Check
Scorigami’ is a method of tracking all final scores for a given league that originated in the NFL but has since grown in popularity and spread to other sports and leagues, with a ‘Scorigami’ being a score that has never occurred before. NARDB has applied the same method to MLR but does not take credit for starting this, as it has been present on the r/MLRugby subreddit for years.
The table below breaks down the three results from Round 10 of the 2026 Major League Rugby season, including how many times each score has occurred in the past and when, or if the final score is a MLR Scorigami that has never occurred before!
 29 – 21  |  19 – 35  |  33 – 19  |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd Occurrence | 2nd Occurrence | 5th Occurrence |
| 21 – 29 2024 – Rd 8 |  35 – 19  2019 – Rd 14 | 19 – 33  2026 – Rd 2 |
19 – 33  2025 – WCF | ||
| 19 – 33 2025 – Rd 15 | ||
 19 – 33  2025 – Rd 8 |
Wrapping Up
The most capped player in MLR history, the leagues first perfect season, and plenty more Midweek Milestones as the playoff picture is locked in. There was drama from the first kickoff of the 2026 regular season, to the final whistle of the final game. The whirlwind 10-game season and has provided us with heaps of standout stats to talk about in Midweek Milestones, but the business end of the campaign is here. It’s time for the playoffs!
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of Midweek Milestones! Please feel free to let me know what you thought of this article on social media, or let me know if you’ve found any standout stats that weren’t mentioned here!
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