background & History

The Utah Warriors are a founding member of Major League Rugby, founded in 2017 by Rugby Utah Ventures with Kimball Kjar as CEO. Rugby Utah Ventures resurrected the name ‘Utah Warriors’ from an early 2010s entity that competed in Rugby Super League and folded in 2012. The Utah Warriors have competed in every season of Major League Rugby to date, 7 seasons in total.

The Utah Warriors struggled during their first seasons in MLR, only winning 7 games and drawing 3 (losing 17) through their first 3 seasons from 2018-2020 despite qualifying for the post-season in their first season in 2018, albeit with a 3-5 record. Since 2020 the Warriors have been an on/off team, recording two 10-6 seasons sandwiching a 5-11 season in 2022. The Warriors have reached the postseason on two occasions (2018, 2021), but have yet to win a Championship Series game in 2 attempts. In 2023, the Warriors recorded their second 10-0-6 season as mentioned above, and ended the regular season with 50pts which was only good enough for 4^th in the brutal 2023 Western Conference. Had the Warriors been in the Eastern Conference, a 50pt season would’ve put them in 2^nd place and easily through to the playoffs.

The Warriors put an emphasis on player development and home-grown talent and will often draft native Utah players or players from Utah universities. They have a robust pathway system and hosted a number of pathway/combine events every year including the Collegiate Rugby Shield and the Crossroads Cup that served as a talent ID camp prior to the MLR Collegiate Draft each year. this was replaced by MLR Rising ahead of the 2024 draft.

In January 2023, the Utah Warriors announced a partnership with French Top 14 club Stade Toulousain dubbed ‘The Rugby Alliance’. The first big manifestation of this partnership took place in September 2023 when Stade Toulousain faced a non-cap USA Eagles side at America First Field in Sandy, UT. The USA Eagles emerged 24-21 victors. The Warriors would host a game at America First Field themselves in 2024, their final game of that season saw over 10,000 fans attend their game against Rugby FC LA, a 24-31 loss that rounded out a difficult season for the Utah Warriors, struggling to start games on time and regularly finding themselves down by large margins early. The Warriors finished outside a playoffs spot, 5th in the Western Conference with a 5-11 record, just 3pts ahead of LA at the bottom of the West despite some incredible standout players in 2024 such as Frank Lochore, Dylan Nel, and most notably, joint-MLR leading try scorer in 2024, Michael Manson.

Following the 2024 season, the Utah Warriors went through a dramatic shake-up. They announced the departure of 17 players early in the 2024/25 offseason including standout Caleb Makene, much to the dismay of MLR and Warriors fans. To fill these gaps they brought in more experienced, international talent such as Dragons prop Aki Seiuli, Moana Pasifika center D’Angelo Leuila, and capped All Blacks hooker Liam Coltman. Although untested, this new look Warriors side proved formidable and quickly gained a reputation of being able to score in bursts but were vulnerable to defensive lapses. They bounced back from a poor 2024 with a vengeance, finishing with an 11-5 record and 58pts. This put them 1st in the Western Conference and made them the top team in MLR during the regular season, securing home field advantage in the playoffs. Facing the Seattle Seawolves in the Western Conference Semifinal, the Warriors put in a trademark performance, racing out to a big lead before letting their opponents slowly fight their way back in. Luckily, Utah were able to hang on to record their first ever playoff victory and advance to the Western Conference Final to face the Houston SaberCats. It’s possible that the win over the Seawolves took the energy out of the Warriors, because they were dominated by the SaberCats in the Conference Final, falling 19-33 at home that included two interception tries for Houston, and a consolation score for the Warriors on the final play. Despite this, the Warriors and their fans should be pleased with the huge step forward in 2025. Following the season, the team announced that Head Coach Greg Cooper was stepping away from the team to pursue other opportunities. A few days later, Warriors Assistant Coach Robbie Abel was promoted to Head Coach for the 2026 campaign.

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Records & Record Holders

All Time

Top Scorer: Joel Hodgson (329pts)
Top Try Scorer: Joe Mano (39)
Top Playoff Scorer: Joel Hodgson (11pts)
Top Tackler: Lance Williams (879)
Top Meter Eater: Joe Mano (3,684m)
Most Capped Player: Angus MacLellan (106)
Most Starts: Lance Williams (75)

Single Season

Top Scorer: Tim O’Malley (134pts) – 2019
Top Try Scorer: Joe Mano (14) – 2023, 2025
Top Tackler: Frank Lochore (285) – 2025
Top Meter Eater: Mikey Te’o (1,518m) – 2021

Historical performance

2018: 3-0-5 (-5) – 22pts: 4^th (Semi-Finalist)
2019: 2-2-12 (-136) – 21pts: 8th
2020: 2-1-2 (-9) – 12pts: 2^nd in Western Conference
2021: 10-0-6 (+42) – 57pts: 2^nd in Western Conference (Conference Runner-Up)
2022: 5-0-11 (+29) – 33pts: 6^th in Western Conference
2023: 10-0-6 (+24) – 50pts: 4^th in Western Conference
2024: 5-0-11 (-47) – 35pts: 5th in Western Conference
2025: 11-0-5 (+86) – 58pts: 1st in Western Conference (Conference Runner-Up)

Overall Regular Season Record: 48-3-58
Overall Championship Series Record: 1-3
Championship Series Appearances: 3 (2018, 2021, 2025)

head coach & Captain

head coach

• Alf Daniels (2018-2019)
• Chris Latham (2020)
• Shawn Pittman (2021-2022)
• Greg Cooper (2022 – 2025)
• Robbie Abel (2025-2026)

captain

• Paul Lasike (2018)
• Tim O’Malley (2019)
• Dwayne Polataivao (2020)
• Bailey Wilson (2021-2023)
• Joel Hodgson (2024)
• Gavin Thornbury (2025)

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logo & Jersey

The Warriors unveiled a unique logo & emblem for the 2022 season, marking the 5th anniversary of the club (see left)

The Warriors logo has barely changed through the team’s time in Major League Rugby. It depicts the painted face of a warrior in front of a horizontal rugby ball. The Warriors have traditionally played in a black home kit with red accents, and the reverse for their away, occasionally incorporating a white or grey away kit. Every Utah Warriors jersey has featured 4 stripes, representing community, family, tradition, and respect. The Warriors have also honoured the State’s Pacific Islander population, as the Warriors play in white and light blue for the first time.

venue

Unusually for an MLR team, the Utah Warriors have played their home games out of Zions Bank Stadium for their entire history through the 2024 season. Zions Bank Stadium is a 5,000 seater artificial turf Stadium in Herriman, south of Salt Lake City, and also hosts the Collegiate Rugby Shield and Crossroads Cup competitions as mentioned above. They have played a game at America First Field in Sandy, UT, but this was a one-off to accommodate ‘WarriorsFest’, an end-of-season send off in 2024 that saw over 10,000 attend.

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