Category: MLR Move Summaries

MLR Player Moves Summary: August 18 – October 5, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

It was a while ago now, but Major League Rugby’s final event of 2025 is now in the books, with teams selecting 26 college athletes from schools around the US and Canada to create the 2025 MLR Draft Class. Congratulations to first overall pick Will Sherman, who joins Anthem RC from the UCLA Bruins!

Draftees will now negotiate with the team that selected them for a contract and once those signings are confirmed, they will be included in these articles. We now enter the deep dark offseason, with no major news on the 2026 season likely to come before US thanksgiving. Buckle up, because player moves might be a light in the dark!

Welcome back to the latest edition of NARDB.com’s Player Moves Summary! As always, these articles aim to keep MLR fans up to date on all the retirements, signings, re-signings, and departures of players to/from Major League Rugby teams for the 2026 season. Typically these articles will be released every Monday and cover the week just gone, but that will depend on the number of moves in the previous week. Due to a tumultuous 2025 off-season and uncertainly rampant around the league and it’s fanbase, these (usually weekly) articles are very few and very far between, with only a handful of moves in the over six weeks since the last Player Move Summary! We kick off with a pair of retirements from the Western Conference.

Player Moves around MLR: August 18th to October 5th, 2025

Retirements

On 25th August, Irish lock Gavin Thornbury announced his retirement on Instagram. The former Connacht and Northampton man started all 8 of his appearances for the Utah Warriors in 2025, Captaining the side to their best ever regular season finish with a 11-5 record and 58pts. The Warriors finished as MLR’s top team during the 2025 regular season under the leadership of the big 6’8 second row Thornbury, and secured their first ever playoff victory to advance to the Western Conference Final, where they fell to the Houston SaberCats. Although his lone season in MLR was disrupted with injury, Thornbury still averaged almost 10 tackles a game for a total of 78, and recorded 38 lineout takes for the Warriors.

Source: @utwarriorsrugby via Instagram

Moving up to the Pacific Northwest for the other retirement of the week, Seattle Seawolves stalwart Cam Orr announced that he was hanging up his boots just a couple of days after Thornbury, on 27th August, 2025. Cam Orr joined the Seawolves ahead of the 2024 season and almost immediately made the #1 jersey his own, starting 32 of his 33 appearances for Seattle across 2 seasons, scoring 5 tries in total and completing just shy of 300 tackles. He was one of only a handful of players to start every game for his team in 2025, starting at loosehead all 17 times for Seattle. Orr’s scrummaging helped him to earn All-MLR nods for both of his seasons in Major League Rugby: A First XV selection in 2024, and a Second XV selection in 2025. Following the 2025 season, Orr returned to his native Australia and was named to the Brumbies squad to take on none other than the British & Irish Lions during their tour of Australia. Not a bad final professional game!

Very best of luck in retirement to both Gavin Thornbury and Cam Orr!

Departures

Moving from retirements to players heading to ply their trade outside of MLR, starting with the 3x reigning Champions. In early October, New England Free Jacks scrum-half Oscar Lennon returned to the Bristol Bears on short-term contract having previously represented the Bears in the 2022/23 season before heading to MLR. For the Free Jacks, Lennon scored 3 tries and 33pts in 22 games, starting 9 times and helping the Free Jacks lift their two most recent Shields (2024 & 2025). Lennon returns to the Bears as injury cover for England International Harry Randall, which does not rule him out of returning for the Free Jacks in 2026. Staying on the Free Jacks, on 26th August 2025, French Pro D2 side Valence Romans announced the signing of test capped Canadian hooker Andrew Quattrin as a medical joker for their 2025/26 campaign. Quattrin is a true MLR veteran, having played 4 seasons with the Toronto Arrows from 2019-2022 before joining the New England Free Jacks (via 3-way trade!) ahead of the 2023 season, winning 3 MLR Shields in a row in Quincy from 2023-2025. To date, ‘Q’ has scored 22 tries in his 96 MLR appearances, starting 82 times and racking up 845 tackles completed with over 2,600m gained in possession. He is the inaugural winner of the S. Marcus Calloway Community Impact Award in 2022, and has earned 3 All-MLR selections including 2 Honourable Mentions (2023, 2025) and a Second XV selection in 2024.

Source: @VRDRRugby via Twitter/X

Although Quattrin only joined Valence Romans on a short-term deal as a medical joker, he is covering the absence of Issal Hamel who isn’t expected to return until at least February due to a knee injury sustained while representing Algeria. This would rule Quattrin out of the start of the 2026 season should he intend to return, but (look away now, Free Jacks fans) with the Pro D2 being a marathon campaign that runs from late August to June, it’s possible that this move would rule him out of the 2026 MLR season. A farewell statement from the Free Jacks suggests that fan-favourite Quattrin may not be back for their 2026 campaign. Very best of luck in France, Q!

Staying in France with a signing that seems a little more permanent, RC Narbonnais in the French 3rd Tier, the Nationale, announced the signing of test capped Argentinian winger Axel Müller for their 2025/26 season. Müller had represented Old Glory DC in the last two Major league Rugby campaigns, helping them to qualify for the post-season in both years. He started all 24 of his appearances for the Flags and scored 13 tries with just shy of 1,600m gained in possession. He scored 8 of his tries in the 2025 season alone, including a hat trick in Old Glory DC’s dramatic road win over Miami to kick off the 2025 season. Müller where he gained over 900m and earned an All-MLR Second XV Selection for his performance. Very best of luck in France to Axel Müller, as well!

Source: @rcnarbonnais via Instagram

Staying on the subject of Old Glory DC, over the last few weeks the Flags have announced the departures of a trio of players from the organisation: Ignacio Dotti, Tommaso Boni, and Martin Vaca. Old Glory DC announced the departure of Uruguayan lock Ignacio Dotti back on August 28th. Dotti started 10 of his 17 appearances for the Flags over the last two seasons, scoring 1 try and completing 99 tackles. He passed 50 MLR appearances in 2025, having earned 36 appearances for the NOLA Gold between 2019-2022. Dotti has over 1,100m gained in MLR, as well as over 370 tackles completed.

The departure of Italian center Tommaso Boni was announced on 12th September. Capped for both Italy and the USA, Eagle #557 Boni joined Old Glory DC ahead of the 2024 season, and started 16 of his 20 appearances for the Flags across two seasons. He gained over 900m and completed 123 tackles including 99 in the 2024 season alone. Boni earned his test debut for the USA in 2023, shortly before he joined MLR and Old Glory DC. Finally, Argentinian hooker Martin Vaca was confirmed to be departing Old Glory DC on 19th September also after 2 seasons with the Flags, just like both Dotti and Boni. The former Narbonne man scored 7 tries for Old Glory DC in 14 games, starting 10 times and completing 114 tackles in 2024 alone.

NARDB undestands that nothing has been announced regarding the next step for Ignacio Dotti, Tommaso Boni, or Martin Vaca. Once any announcement is made public, their profiles will be updated.

Heading over to the Beehive State and the Utah Warriors, who are on firmer ground than a month or so ago if rumor is to be believed. The Warriors’ fanbase and forwards pack took another hit on September 16th however, as it was revealed that reigning MLR Forward of the Year Frank Lochore would be joining Dylan Nel and former Utah Warriors Head Coach Greg Cooper at NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu in the Japanese League One Division Two.

The Kiwi’s departure from Utah was first noted in an article by Joe Harvey on September 10th, highlighting his record-breaking season and mentioning that Lochore would be heading to Japan following the 2025 NPC season with Hawke’s Bay. Lochore had a huge impact on the Utah Warriors during his two seasons in Major League Rugby, completing 522 tackles in just 34 games for the team for an average of 15.4 tackles per game. This includes setting a new MLR record of 301 tackles in the 2025 season alone, becoming the first player in league history to record over 300 tackles in a season, increasing his average to 16.7 tackles per game! Of his 34 appearances for the Utah Warriors since 2024, Frank Lochore started 33 times and scored 7 tries with just shy of 1,100m gained in possession, proving that he wasn’t just a defensive monster, but a true talent on both sides of the ball. Having been named in the All-MLR First XV for both of his seasons in the competition, it’s obvious that calling Frank Lochore an elite player is far from controversial. Very best of luck in Japan, Frank!

Source: @nec_gr_official via Instagram

Wrapping up

A pair of retirements, some short-term contracts as players head to Europe as injury cover, and a heap of departures, that does it for this edition of Player Moves around Major League Rugby! As mentioned at the start, the aim was to publish these Player Move Summaries on a weekly basis but due to the scarcity of player moves so far this offseason, this article covers a 7 week period!

If the last MLR offseason is anything to go by though, player moves started to pick up in October so fingers crossed that’s the case this time around and more Player Move Summaries will be coming your way soon!

Thank you very much for reading! If there are any player moves that you notice, you can let NARDB/James know on social media: @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 jump into the End of Season sales or pick up some discounted merch, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!

MLR Player Moves Summary: July 21 – August 17, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

As the young 2025/26 Major League Offseason approaches it’s first big event in the MLR Collegiate Draft scheduled for August 21st, the League will be painfully aware that much of the discourse surrounding Major League Rugby has not been about the 2025 edition of the draft lately, and barely about any players at all.

With news that the San Diego Legion and Rugby FC LA are merging to form the California Legion, as well as the withdrawals of the NOLA Gold and Miami Sharks all but confirmed (although not by the League themselves, and there has been no word from the Sharks at all), NARDB is hoping that the worst is now behind us. As things stand, MLR will move forward with a 8-team competition in 2026 but of course, those teams need players, which brings us to the purpose of this article.

Welcome back to the latest edition of NARDB.com’s Player Moves Summary! These articles will keep MLR fans up to date on all the retirements, signings, re-signings, and departures of players to and from Major League Rugby teams for the 2026 season. Typically these articles will be released weekly on Monday’s, but due to a lack of moves over the last few weeks, this article covers the period from 21st July to August 17th, 2025. Obviously with news of the league’s contraction still very fresh, player moves might take a while to pick up, but these articles will keep up up to date, nevertheless! As with the end of every season, some players have decided that they have played their last campaign, and have called time on their career. This article will start by recognising the MLR legends that have done just that.

Source: @MLRStats on Instagram

Retirements

Beginning in Chicago, where a USA Eagle and Hound #1 has hung up his boots. Bryce Campbell, Eagle #497, announced his retirement on instagram after 3 seasons with the Chicago Hounds where he scored 4 tries and started 45 of his 48 appearances in green & white, and Captaining the side through their inaugural season in 2023. Prior to the Hounds, the Indiana University grad represented both the Glendale Raptors in 2018, and the Austin Gilgronis from 2021-2022, where he also captained the AGs through the 2021 season. Outside of MLR, Campbell spent two seasons with London Irish, helping them earn promotion from the Championship back to the Premiership, playing there for the 2019-20 season. In total, Campbell earned 84 MLR appearances across 6 seasons of competition, starting 81 times and scoring 11 tries. He racked up over 4000m gained in possession and 730 tackles completed including a career high of 158 in 2025, his final season. Internationally, Bryce Campbell earned his test debut against Romania in 2016, and earned 47 appearances for his country in total, representing the Eagles at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. All the best in your retirement, Bryce!

Unfortunately for the USA, Campbell was not the only Eagle to announce the end of his playing career in the last few weeks. On 23rd July 2025, Christian Dyer announced the end of his playing career on instagram at the age of 27 after spending 4 seasons in Major League Rugby between the Houston SaberCats (2022-2024) and Rugby FC LA (2025) in his home state of California. Having played rugby and gridiron football through high school, Sacramento native Dyer continued to play rugby at UC Berkeley before signing with the Dallas Jackals for the 2021 MLR season. This was a big year for Dyer, who earned his international Sevens debut in Vancouver, and his test debut as Eagle #539 against England in July, the first of his 14 test caps. Dyer had to wait for his MLR debut however. Once the Dallas Jackals deferred their entry to 2022, Dyer was selected by Rugby New York in the dispersal draft, but didn’t end up signing in the Big Apple. He signed with the Houston SaberCats ahead of the 2022 season, and scored 19 tries in 45 games across 3 seasons for the ‘Cats, including a high of 9 in 2023. Following 3 seasons in Texas he returned to his home state, signing with Rugby FC LA for the 2025 season, helping them qualify for the postseason for the first time in club history and scoring 2 tries in 6 games in California. In total, Dyer scored 21 tries and 109pts in 51 MLR appearances, starting 48 times and recording just shy of 2000m gained (1,987m) in possession, and 287 tackles. Very best of luck in what’s next, Christian!

Source: @usarugby via Instagram

Departures

Maybe Christian Dyer had an idea about what was going down with the creation of the California Legion, who knows? Staying on the subject of Rugby FC LA, they are also be saying farewell to 2024 MLR Back of the Year Reece MacDonald. The kiwi fullback will be plying his trade in Japan after signing with the NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu in JRLO Div 2. MacDonald won two Shields with the New England Free Jacks from 2023-2024, scoring 12 tries and 86pts in 30 games including 10 in his Back of the Year season in 2024 when he also gained 1,535m in possession. MacDonald made a high-profile move to Rugby FC LA for the 2025 season, and still scored 3 tries and 33pts in 10 games (6 starts) despite missing a hefty chunk of the season with injury. In his career, Reece MacDonald score 15 tries and 119pts in 40 MLR games, starting 34 times and gaining 3,331m in possession.

Source: @nec_gr_official via instagram

MacDonald isn’t the only Green Rockets signing that will be familiar with MLR fans, as on the same day that the club announced his signing, they also announced the addition of Utah Warriors stalwart Dylan Nel for their 2025/26 campaign. Nel, the 2024 Utah Warriors Forward of the Year, spent two seasons at Zion’s Bank, scoring 6 tries and completing 362 tackles in 27 games (26 starts) including a high of 234 in 2025, finishing 3rd League wide. Nel was a significant contributing factor to the Warriors finishing as the top team in MLR during the regular season and earning a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2021. He started both of their playoff games in 2025, defeating the Seattle Seawolves to advance to the Western Conference Final where they fell to the Houston SaberCats. Nel follows his father-in-law to Japan, former Utah Warriors head coach Greg Cooper, who now serves as head coach of the Green Rockets.

Moving to the other side of the California merger but sticking with Japan, Australian fullback Rhian Stowers has signed with Tokyo Gas in the Japanese 4th tier, the Top East League. Stowers played his debut MLR season with the San Diego Legion in 2025, starting 6 of his 10 appearances and scoring 3 tries while racking up 590m gained including 150m in a single game for the Legion in Rd 12.

Best of luck in Japan to Reece, Dylan, and Rhian!

Although he converted from football relatively late in his career, the meteoric rise of former Portland State University Defensive Lineman Tonga Kofe continues! The 6’2, 300lb+ giant signed with the Utah Warriors ahead of the 2024 MLR season, earning his professional debut as he came off the bench 6 times in his debut season. In his sophomore season in 2025 however, Kofe proved a fearsome scrummager. He earned his first pro start, starting 14 of his 16 games and completing over 100 tackles to help the Utah Warriors top the league during the regular season, making it all the way to the Western Conference Final where they fell to the Houston SaberCats. Kofe’s strong performances earned him a call up to the national team for the USA’s July tests, where he earned his test debut as Eagle #587 as a starter against Belgium. He earned 3 caps for the Eagles in July, and was included in their squad for the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup. On 16th August 2025, Prem Rugby side Leicester Tigers announced the signing of Tonga Kofe for the 2025/26 Prem season, marking the next chapter in Kofe’s short but already storied rugby journey. Best of luck with the Tigers, Tonga!

Source: @leicestertigers via Instagram

Temporary Departures

In addition to the confirmed departures above, there was one move that was slightly more unusual. Jeremy ‘Missile’ Misailegalu is spending the Major League Rugby offseason with RC Arka Gdynia in Poland’s professional league, the Ekstraliga. Misailegalu finished as a MLR runner-up with the Houston SaberCats in 2025 and for any ‘Cats fans concerned about his departure, his agency (Westsyde Pathways) strongly suggests that this move is just for the offseason, hence this move is in it’s own ‘Temporary Departures’ section.

Misailegalu, a 2018 MLR Champion with the Seattle Seawolves, has finished as a MLR runner-up twice. He played with Rugby ATL in their 2021 season when they fell to the LA Giltinis in the Final, and represented the Houston SaberCats in 2025, who fell to the New England Free Jacks in the 2025 Championship. To date, Misailegalu has scored 11 tries in his 61 MLR appearances for 4 teams across 6 seasons of competition, starting 47 times. He’s recorded over 2000m gained in possession and just shy of 300 career tackles (293). Best of luck in Poland, Missile!

Source: @westsydepathways via Instagram

Misailegalu wasn’t the only MLR player to head elsewhere for the offseason, however. Rugby FC LA saw another pair of names heading overseas, starting with MLR veteran Jurie van Vuuren. The South African lock signed with the Boland Cavaliers for their 2025 Currie Cup campaign. Van Vuuren has played in MLR since 2020, representing the Utah Warriors from 2020-2023 before moving to RFCLA for two seasons from 2024-2025. In total he scored 10 tries in 68 games, starting 60 times. He recorded over 1800m in possession and 717 tackles completed including a high of 199 in 2021. The Currie Cup doesn’t overlap with the MLR season so it’s a possible that van Vuuren returns in 2026, should he sign with the California Legion.

In a similar boat to Jurie van Vuuren is US-eligible Irish age grade representative prop Alessandro Heaney, who signed a short-term deal with the Cornish Pirates in the English 2nd tier, Champ Rugby, for the remainder of 2025. Heaney stepped up in a big way for RFCLA after their forward pack was hit with a wave of injuries. Despite not earning a start in 2024, he started 12 of his 15 games in 2025 and completed 118 tackles to help LA qualify for the postseason for the first (and as it turns out, last) time! Heaney went to school in the south of England so it’s a move that makes sense, but he has value as a domestic player in MLR so we could see him back for 2026 should he sign with the California Legion.

Source: @cornishpirates via Instagram

Wrapping Up

These Player Move Summaries are few and far between at present, but will pick up speed as the 2025/26 Major League Rugby offseason rumbles on. Although this is only the 2nd of the offseason and the 2025 MLR Collegiate Draft is only a few days away, there were a handful of moves to cover, and no doubt there will be plenty more as the fallout from a frenetic few weeks is realised.

Thank you for reading! These articles will pick up in regularity as the player moves do, with the articles coming out every Monday at their peak. NARDB continues to strive to keep fans informed and aware of the goings on around both the league and around each team.

If there are any player moves that you notice, you can let NARDB/James know on social media: @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 jump into the End of Season sales or pick up some discounted merch, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!

MLR Player Moves Summary: Season End – July 13, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

With the New England Free Jacks crowned as MLR Champions for the third year in a row following the 2025 Major League Rugby Championship at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Welcome to the 2025/26 offseason!

NARDB’s Midweek Milestones series is done for the year, but this article marks the first of what will be a weekly series of articles summarising all of the roster moves from the previous week. Welcome to the first of NARDB’s player move summaries! These articles will be released most Mondays depending on the number of moves each week, and will contain information on all the retirements, signings, re-signings, and departures of players to & from Major League Rugby teams for the 2026 season. For the first few weeks/months, there will be a high number of departures as players return home and find a club for the MLR offseason, or retirements and veterans decide to hang up the boots after this latest campaign.

The aim of this series, just with everything about NARugbyDB.com, is to keep fans informed of all the latest info from their favourite teams and around MLR. These articles will provide extra context to all new signings, and give a bit of background to them, as well recognise the achievements of players who may be moving on. For this first article, let’s kick it off by recognising players that have come to the ends of their career.

Retirements

As with the end of any season, the end of the 2025 MLR season means the end of the careers of some of the league’s most veteran stalwarts. Although the conclusion of this year’s season was only a week or two old there’s already been a handful of retirement announcements, with more likely to go public over the next few weeks. Let’s start with a pair of San Diego Legionnaires.

On June 16th, 2025, the San Diego Legion announced the retirement of California born, South African raised USA Eagle, Marcel Brache. Eagle #503 entered MLR in 2022 with the Austin Gilgronis, before moving to the Legion for 3 seasons between 2023-2025. The utility back scored 5 tries and 33pts in 53 MLR games across 4 seasons, starting 44 times and running for close to 2,500m gained while completing 325 tackles on defence. The former Western Force man helped the San Diego Legion finish as MLR Runners-Up in 2023, and still earned 12 appearances for the Legion in his final season in 2025.

Two weeks later on June 27th, 2025, the San Diego Legion announced a 2nd retiree in the form of another capped USA Eagle, Tevita Tameilau. Eagle #475 Tameilau was a 7 year veteran of Major League Rugby, representing the Utah Warriors in 2018 before joining the Legion from 2020-2025. He scored 10 tries in 78 games (starting 55), and was the 50th player in MLR history to reach 50 games player in the competition. The hard-running back row gained well over 3,000m in possession including a high of 1,075m in 2022, while completing 483 tackles on defence.

Best of luck in retirement, Marcel and Tevita!

Source: @sdlegion via Instagram

Moving over to the Eastern Conference and a player who represented the San Diego Legion back in the League’s inaugural season in 2018. On 9th July, 2025 the NOLA Gold announced the retirement of Irish hooker Pat O’Toole. The former Connacht hooker started his MLR career with the Legion before moving to the Houston SaberCats for 2019 where he started all 16 games during that year’s regular season and completed a career high 172 tackles. O’Toole would join the Glasgow Warriors on short-term loan in 2020, before returning to MLR with the NOLA Gold for a standout 2021, scoring 7 tries in 15 games and gaining just over 500m in possession, both career highs. He represented the Gold from 2021-2025, earning 51 appearances and 39 starts, scoring 17 tries. In his MLR career, he scored 20 tries in 71 games across 7 seasons.

A week prior to the retirement of Pat O’Toole, the Gold announced on 2nd July, 2025 that another USA Eagle had hung up his boots, Cam Dolan. A true MLR Stalwart, Eagle #443 played in every season of Major League Rugby between 2018-2025, also representing the San Diego Legion in 2018, before moving to New Orleans and representing the Gold for 7 seasons from 2019-2025. For the Gold alone, Dolan earned 80 appearances, starting 75. In total, Dolan scored 15 tries in 86 MLR games, starting 81 times and completing just under 700 tackles while gaining just over 2,500m in possession. He was also capped 67 times for the USA, representing the Eagles at two Rugby World Cups in 2015 (England) and 2019 (Japan). Prior to his MLR career, Dolan represented the Northampton Saints in the English Premiership, as well as Cardiff in the Pro12 (now the URC), and Nottingham in the English Championship.

All the best in retirement to you both, Cam and Pat!

Source: @nolagoldrugby via Instagram

Departures

Moving on from retirements to departures. Players who are leaving their 2025 MLR teams to pursue other playing opportunities, starting with a pair of Ex-Dallas Jackals who finished as 2025 Runners-Up with the Houston SaberCats. On 2nd July 2025, KHAOS Sports Consultancy announced that their client, 23yo Juan-Dee Oliver, had signed with Rovigo in the Italian domestic Serie A Élite competition. Oliver was a standout scrumhalf with the Dallas Jackals in 2024, scoring 5 tries and 55 points in 13 games during Dallas’ magical season, including a try to help defeat the Houston SaberCats in the Western Conference Semifinal. When Dallas withdrew from MLR, the SaberCats picked up Oliver in the dispersal draft, and played largely as a winger during 2025, scoring 4 tries and 26pts starting 6 of his 10 appearances. In total, Juan-Dee Oliver scored 9 tries and 81pts in 23 games (19 starts) across 2 seasons in Major League Rugby.

Best of luck in Italy, Juan-Dee!

A teammate of Oliver’s both in Dallas in 2024, and in Houston this year is also on the move. Hard running back row Sam Tuifua joined the Jackals for their 2024 campaign, scoring 6 tries in 10 games and gaining just over 950m in possession while also completing over 100 tackles on defence. Like Oliver, Tuifua was picked up by the Houston SaberCats in the Dallas dispersal draft, and scored another 3 tries in 11 games for the ‘Cats this season. In his MLR career, Sam Tuifua gained over 1,500m, scoring 9 tries in 21 games (starting 20) and completing 202 tackles on defence. On 13th June 2025, French Pro D2 side Stade Montois announced the signing of Tuifua for the 2025/26 season.

Tuifua wasn’t the only player picked up by Stade Montois this off-season, though! Former San Diego Legion and NOLA Gold loose forward Jay Tuivaiti was announced by the French Pro D2 side a few weeks after Sam Tuifua, on 2nd July 2025. The Kiwi represented the San Diego Legion in 2024, starting all 8 of his appearances and scoring 2 tries. Although he was included on the Legion roster for 2025, part-way through the season the NOLA Gold announced that they had signed Tuivaiti for the remainder of the season. It is still not clear if this was a trade (and if so, what the return was) or a free agent signing, or what happened in San Diego. He added another try and started 5 of his 9 games for NOLA in a disappointing season, finishing with 3 tries in 17 games (13 starts) across 2 seasons in Major League Rugby and 1m shy of 250m gained in possession.

Best of luck in France to Sam & Jay!

Source: @stademontoisrugby via Instagram

Finally for the Departures section of this edition of NARDB’s Player Moves Summary for MLR, a pair of San Diego Legionnaires bid farewell to the Golden State. The first is one that was announced before the 2025 MLR season even began, the return of Ethan Grayson to Newcastle Falcons in the English Premiership on a permanent basis. Grayson represented San Diego in 23 games across 2 seasons from 2024-2025, starting 20 times and scoring 3 tries and 41pts total. He completed 116 tackles and gained over 1,200m in possession including 840m in 2025, and played fly-half, center, and fullback for the Legion in 2025 alone. A teammate of Grayson’s for his entire tenure at the Legion is also headed back to the UK: Harris Rutherford. A US-eligible Scottish fly-half, Rutherford earned 5 total appearances for San Diego, playing in a pair of games in 2025 including his first MLR start. He scored 20pts in total, all from the tee. Rutherford will be playing in the English National League 1 (3rd tier), for Rams RFC.

Good luck in England, Ethan and Harris!

Temporary Departures

In Major league Rugby, players are only under contract to teams during training camp through to the end of the season (roughly January-June). As a result, players often sign for other teams elsewhere to continue playing professional rugby year-round. One of the most common examples of this is New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC), where players regularly spend the MLR off-season. There is such a large MLR presence in the NPC, that NARDB will have a devoted post for all 2025 MLR players that will be playing in the 2025 NPC season. But for this section of this article, the focus is on South Africa.

On 8th July 2025, the South African Currie Cup side the Suzuki Griquas announced the addition of Seattle Seawolves lock Malembe Mpofu for their 2025 season. The following day the Seattle Seawolves congratulated Mpofu and confirmed that this move was a 3-month contract, keeping him open to return to the Seawolves for the 2026 season. Mpofu, a South African who has previously played for both the Leopards and Pumas in the Currie Cup, scored 3 tries in 10 games for Seattle in 2025, completing almost as many tackles (81) as metres gained in possession (88m). Best of luck in South Africa, Malembe!

Source: @griquas_rugby via Instagram

Wrapping Up

That does it for the first MLR Player Move Summary article of the 2025/26 Major League Rugby Off-season! Some early player departures and a handful of MLR vets hang up their boots. MLR teams are pivoting to the 2025 Draft in August, and it’ll be a good few weeks before we start to hear about new signings or re-signings for the 2026 season, but they will come!

Although this article covered roughly a month, as player announcements pick up pace these articles will as well. Player Move Summaries will come out every week or two (depending on the number of moves) on this site, and will be posted on NARDB social channels shortly after publication.

Thank you for reading! NARDB continues to strive to keep fans informed and aware of the goings on around both the league and around each team. You can stay up to date with all the MLR news by following NARDB and/or James on social media: @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 jump into the End of Season sales, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 20-26, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Welcome back to NARDB’s weekly Major League Rugby Off-Season Player Movement Summary Series. On a weekly basis, this series dives deeper into every single roster move announced by teams during the MLR Off-Season. This particular article covers the moves from January 20th to 26th, 2025.

Pre-Season camps are in full swing for all 11 MLR teams, with under 3 weeks to go until the 2025 season kicks off on February 15th. This didn’t stop one team from dominating last week’s summary. It seems hard to believe that the team hadn’t finalised these deals months ago, but maybe they forgot the announcements, and only remembered when these players reported. As always, this article will start with the summary graphic, before diving into the re-signings:

Summary of Player Movement Around MLR: January 20-26, 2025 (1 of 1)

Re-Signings

Last week’s busiest team was easily the Utah Warriors. Warriors fans seem to have largely recovered from the early off-season announcement of 17 departing players, and are looking forward to see the team take a step forward in 2025. The return of the team’s all-time top scorer and former captain, Joel Hodgson, will make taking that step forward significantly easier. The English ex-Newcastle Falcons Fly-half has appeared in all 32 games the Warriors have played since 2023, starting all but 1 of them. He finished 3rd in MLR scoring last season with 111pts in 16 games (15 starts) and a 65% success rate from the tee. After only 2 seasons in MLR, Hodgson already sits 12th all-time in terms of scoring with 233pts, and will no doubt be looking to break into the Top 10 in 2025.

Trade Targets

Along with announcing the return of their franchise points scorer, the Utah Warriors started the week with a Western Conference Trade with the San Diego Legion. The Legion acquired wing/center Alesana Pohla from the Utah Warriors in exchange for 2025 Cap Space. Unfortunately, as with all MLR trades the exact amount of Cap Space that the Utah Warriors received in this deal isn’t publically known, nor is the Salary Cap itself. Maybe one day. Alesana Pohla made his MLR debut for the Warriors in 2024, and started two of his 6 MLR games that season, amassing just shy of 200m gained in possession. He does not qualify as a domestic player just yet, so this may limit his game time with the Legion, but he certainly proved an effective runner with the Warriors last season.

Source: MLR Trade Wire

New Faces

The Utah Warriors were going for the full set last week. In addition to a re-signing and a trade, they also announced the addition of a pair of new players, one of which is a familiar name to MLR fans, and one will be enjoying his debut MLR season in 2025. The familiar name, especially for Dallas Jackals fans, is Ronnie McElligott. The Californian back row was drafted 32nd overall out of St. Mary’s College in 2023 by the Dallas Jackals, and earned 7 MLR appearances off the bench during his debut MLR season. McElligott was not selected in the Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft shortly after their withdrawal from MLR, but the Warriors sign the former SMC Gael for his sophomore season in the league. The new face who will enjoy his debut MLR season in 2025 is Amulone ‘Lone’ Ika. Born in Utah so will count as a domestic player, Ika was raised in Tonga where he represented the Tonga U20s in 2014. He has had two stints in the Australian Shute Shield with the Western Sydney Two Blues, and in between, was coaching and playing in Utah. Ika is currently serving as assistant coach for the Utah Valley University rugby side.

There was another new face confirmed to be joining MLR for 2025, but this one is not without it’s share of controversy. The Houston SaberCats announced the signing of capped Scotland winger Rufus McLean for their 2025 campaign. The 24yo winger has earned 3 caps for Scotland, and scored a pair of tries on his test debut against Tonga in October 2021 after coming up through the Glasgow Warriors system. McLean’s contract with the Glasgow Warriors was terminated in 2023 however, and here is where the controversy comes in. That same year, McLean admitted, and was convicted of, domestic abuse against his girlfriend, for which he was issued a 10-year non-harassment order and sentenced to 120 hours of community service. Since then, Scotland, the Glasgow Warriors, and all other European clubs have steered clear of the once-promising winger. Usually this would (and should) kill a career, but McLean has the benefit of having been born in Boston, keeping the door open to play in the United States. The American Raptors announced the signing of McLean for their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season, in a move that was met with a poor reception. Since the Raptors are not playing professional rugby in 2025, McLean turned his attention to MLR, where the Houston SaberCats have picked him up. Concerningly for ‘Cats fans, they have a history of signing controversial figures. Former LSU football player Drake Davis represented them in 2024, and Jeremy Misailegalu has played for them for the past two seasons (although Missile’s controversy is a different situation that merits a second chance). It is the view of NARDB that a player with a recent history like Rufus McLean should not be given the opportunity to play professional sports considering what we know, but everyone deserves a second chance. The question that MLR fans should be asking the SaberCats (and for that matter, the Raptors before them), is: What has McLean done to prove that he is worthy of a second chance, other than being born in the USA?

Departures

Among the Utah Warriors’ busy week was a departure that likely went under the radar for many MLR fans, perhaps even among a large chunk of Old Glory DC fans, who may not even know the player in question, despite playing with the team in 2024. Kevin Brou is a US-eligble front row from the Ivory Coast who was signed by the Flags for their 2024 Campaign, but suffered a broken leg in the pre-season and was sidelined for the entire year. FCY, in the French 6th tier the Fédérale 2, announced the signing of Brou for their 2024/25 season way back in September, but thanks to Bryan Ray on Twitter, MLR audiences are learning about this move now. Marking an end to Brou’s unfortunate stint in MLR, at least for now.

Anthem RC Finally Break the Silence

After what feels like months of MLR’s newest team, Anthem RC, being the only team not announcing players for their 2025 season, the MLR, USA Rugby and World Rugby partnership team finally unveiled their full 37 man roster on January 21st. This is two whole weeks into pre-season camp. The team has been publishing numerous images from training sessions, but as they had made no effort to market any of their players, fans had little to no clue who was in said pictures. As mentioned, Anthem RC is a partnership between MLR, USA Rugby, and World Rugby to usher in the next era of USA Eagles ahead of their home (mens) Rugby World Cup in 2031, and as such their primary goal may not be to make a profit as it might be for other teams around the league (NARDB is aware that as of the date this article was published, no team is making a profit), but if these players are on the shortlist to represent the National Team, then market them. A few days before the team announced the roster, they announced that Patrick Stack has been appointed the first team president, with the mission of ‘focusing on revenue generation’ among other things, so hopefully this changes. To not announce a single player before the third week of pre-season camp is ridiculous. Rosters should be finalised and made public prior to January 1st.

To finally get to the Anthem RC roster itself, it was largely as expected. Despite the paragraph above, it’s still the MLR and as we know, MLR has more leaks than a sieve. There are a few notable departures from their 2024 roster, such as top try scorer and MLR veteran Te Rangatira Waitokia, 2023 San Diego Legion draftee Tyren Al-Jiboori, and USA Sevens star David Still, but the team added lots of young talent as well as a number of USA Eagles with significant MLR experience in the likes of Mitch Wilson, Conner Mooneyham, and Sam Golla, as well as five of their six 2024 draftees. They picked up a number of players from the Dallas Jackals when they withdrew from MLR, as well as the Jackals Head Coach Agustin Cavalieri, who is serving as Anthem RC Assistant Coach in 2025. While it’s unlikely that Anthem will challenge for the Shield in 2024, they’re primed to take a big step in the right direction, and the key question is: How long before their first MLR victory?

In Conclusion

Judging from the previous few weeks, it is likely that we can expect a few more announcements out of the Utah Warriors, but as we move into February the moves will get fewer and further between, apart from perhaps the odd last minute trade. These weekly articles will continue as long as there are moves to discuss, but NARDB will be shifting it’s focus to pre-season preparation which will include fact files on each MLR team in the coming days.

As always, you can follow NARDB and James across social media to stay up to date on signings as they happen. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky! Also, we’re happy to have Rugby Now back for the 2025 season! Visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new Macron gear for 2025, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 13-19, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

We’re now two weeks into pre-season camps and eagle-eyed Major League Rugby fans are scouring the teams’ social media posts to catch a glimpse of unannounced players prepping for the 2025 MLR season, which kicks off in under 4 weeks! This series of articles will add detail to every player announcement from the previous week, and this particular article will cover the movement between January 13th and January 19th, 2025.

As with the last few weeks, Player Announcements have really slowed down now that the season is fast approaching and players have already reported to their teams. We will start, as usual, with the summary graphic but as you will see, there were only a handful of announcements. Thankfully, the Seattle Seawolves revealed their complete 2025 roster, which this article will also cover and point out some important inclusions or omissions. Let’s dive in with the graphic:

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 13-19, 2025 (1 of 1)

Re-Signings

Having announced the vast majority of their roster way back in November, the San Diego Legion added another returnee when they confirmed the return of capped USA Eagle Tevita Tameilau for his 6th season in California and 7th in MLR in 2025. Tameilau has proved himself a ferocious ball carrier, gaining over 500m for the last four seasons in a row, including a career high of 1,065m gained in 2022. Tameilau passed 3,000m gained in his career in 2024, and is within touching distance of 500 tackles. He scored his 10th MLR try in 2024 and brought his total appearances up to 70 (53 starts).

The rest of last week’s re-signings were from the Utah Warriors, also in the Western Conference. The Warriors announced a trio of returnees for their 2025 campaign. The Warriors will have Tuvere Vugakoto back for a 6th season at Zion’s Bank. The Fijian hooker has 8 tries in 50 MLR games for Utah since 2020, starting 29 times and amassing over 850m gained and 283 tackles completed. Also returning to the forward pack is 2024 Utah Warriors Pathway Player of the Year Kalisi Moli. Moli started 4 of his 12 appearances during his debut MLR season in 2024, completing 67 tackles and running for 169m gained. Moving to the back line, Canadian U20 scrumhalf Sam Reimer is back for a 3rd MLR season, and 2nd with the Warriors. Reimer played with the Toronto Arrows in 2022 before spending a year in New Zealand, and joining the Utah Warriors ahead of the 2024 season. He has 7 MLR appearances in his career to date and will be looking for his first start in 2025.

New Faces and Confirmed Rosters

Last week saw just the one new addition for 2025, and it was for the Utah Warriors, who were responsible for 4 of the 5 player announcements from last week. The Warriors announced the signing of New Zealand winger Blake Makiri for the 2025 season. The 22yo Auckland native joins from Counties Manukau in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC), where he’s been playing since 2022.

After a busy first few months of the off-season, the Seattle Seawolves had been relatively quiet for the last few months. However, last week they revealed their complete roster for their 2025 campaign, generating some interesting questions.

First off, there was some confusion among fans about what criteria they actually used to determine the flags beside each name. Having the nationality of players is an excellent addition, but there are some strange decisions from the Seawolves. For example, the Union Jack is used beside Huw Taylor’s name. Taylor is British, born in England with strong ties to Wales, but the Union Jack was not used for Dave Busby, who is Northern Irish…which is a part of the United Kingdom. Additionally, neither Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom are rugby nations. Northern Irish players play for Ireland alongside players from the Republic of Ireland, and the rest of the UK compete as England, Scotland, and Wales. It is possible that this was the preferrence of each player, but it is an odd choice for rugby. This graphic also mislead a lot of fans who claimed that the Seawolves squad only had a small amount of domestic players (from the US or Canada), but that is not the case. Riekert Hattingh and JP Smith both had just the South African flag beside their names, but are capped USA Eagles, for example. Ina Futi and Pago Haini are from American Samoa, which does have it’s own rugby team but they play sporadically. American Samoans are also US-eligible as the islands are a US territory. Toni Pulu has two flags beside his name, why couldn’t other players? Some fans thought the flag choice might be country of birth, but Canadian Dewald Kotze was born in South Africa, and Toni Pulu was actually born in the US, also making him a domestic player. As mentioned, the flags beside player names is a great addition, but in this case it’s confusing and misleading.

Now, let’s dig into the meat of the roster: The Players. It is excellent to see MLR Great Riekert Hattingh back in the lineup after injury curtailed his 2024 season. He can now resume the try-scoring competition with Chicago’s Dylan Fawsitt, and will likely become just the 2nd player in league history to reach 50 tries scored (currently on 42). The same applies to the likes of Devin Short and Charles Elton, who were also badly hit with injury last season, the return of these three to the Seawolves backline is a fearsome slight. Also on the roster is Calvin Liulamaga, who was selected 11th overall by the Seawolves in the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft out of Central Washington University. Liulamaga is the only one of Seattle’s four 2024 draftees to be included on their 2025 roster.

Moving to the omissions, mentioned just above weas the fact that three of the Seattle Seawolves’ draftees did not make their MLR roster. It’s possible they are playing in the area and we may see them if injuries happen, however. Some big omissions include 2022 Shield Winner Kara Pryor, who missed most of 2024 with injury, and fellow ex-Ironworker Monate Akuei, who made an impact in the back half of the 2024 season. Neither Pryor or Akuei qualify as domestic players yet. On the subject of international players, the Seawolves have a completely new flyhalf pairing in 2025 with the additions of ex-NOLA Gold 10 Rodney Iona, and South African Eddie Fouché. This means that Mack Mason, who finished with 2 tries and 172pts in 2024 will not be returning, neither will all-time MLR points leader Sam Windsor, who added 3 tries and 42pts to take his total to an enormous 595pts. This will be the first MLR season without the great Sam Windsor. Also not returning for Seattle are the likes of USA Eagles Tavita Lopeti (San Diego Legion) and Conner Mooneyham (Anthem RC), as well as MLR veterans Olive Kilifi and Kellen Gordon, and rugby veteran Tevita Kuridrani to name just a few. A full roster review of the Seattle Seawolves, and all MLR teams, will be posted to social media prior to the 2025 season kicking off in February.

In Conclusion

A quieter week around MLR in terms of player moves, because the vast majority of rosters are set and ready for kick off on February 15th. We finally heard a peep out of Anthem RC in regards to their roster, and are expecting that to be revealed on Tuesday, January 21st. This is the third week of pre-season camp and is far far too late for a roster reveal, but it is better than nothing. As for individual players, we may see the odd announcement here and there, but this will probably be only about half a dozen players from now until the season begins.

As always, you can follow NARDB and James across social media to stay up to date on signings as they happen. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky! Also, we’re happy to have Rugby Now back for the 2025 season! Visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new Macron gear for 2025, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 6-12, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The long, dark Major League Rugby off-season is coming to an end, and players are reporting to pre-season training camps all around the league. But which players? This series of articles jumps into all of the player movement around MLR from the previous week. This week’s article covers the week from January 6th to January 12th, 2025, the first full week in a new year.

As mentioned, Pre-season training camps have opened across the league, and teams are beginning to publish content of their players in action. This content can be telling, as every year there are players photographed that we have heard nothing about over the off-season. This season, we still haven’t heard a peep out of Anthem RC, but the team is posting photos. If they don’t publish a roster soon, these photos will be all we have to go on for their 2025 squad! As always, we begin the article with a summary graphic, before diving into what could be the final few re-signings of the off-season.

MLR Player Move Summary: January 6-12, 2025 (1 of 2)

Final Wave of Re-Signings

Following the eyebrow-raising announcement from the Utah Warriors of a huge chunk of departing players ahead of the 2025 season, the Warriors seem to have calmed the heart rates of their fans with some strong additions, and bringing back stand-outs from their 2024 campaign. One of these returning stand-outs is Frank Lochore. The Kiwi forward, who can play across the back row, or as a lock, was one of only two players to record over 200 tackles completed in 2024, finishing 2nd league-wide with 221 (behind Old Glory DC’s Cory Daniel in first). He started all 16 games for Utah in 2024, scoring 5 tries on offence to round out a fantastic debut season in North America. Alongside Lochore, Warriors stalwart and capped USA Eagle Joe Mano will be returning for his 5th season with the team. With 2,882m gained in his career so far, and 25 tries scored in his 38 MLR games (33 starts) for Utah since 2021, Mano provides the Warriors with a significant scoring threat. He currently sits tied for 9th all-time in tries scored and will look to climb higher in 2025.

As with the previous few weeks, the majority of re-signings last week belonged to the NOLA Gold, who concluded their 2025 roster announcements with the return of seven back rowers, including three former MLR draftees still working towards their MLR debuts, and three NOLA Gold veterans. Idaho native Abe Turpen returns for a second season in New Orleans after the Gold traded for him from the Utah Warriors in May 2024. The multi-sport athlete plays flanker on the rugby field and was selected in the 2nd round, 22nd Overall, by the Warriors in 2023. He will look to make his MLR debut in 2025. Another member of the 2023 MLR Collegiate Draft Class is returning for the Gold in Cian Darling. The Irishman was drafted 7th overall by the Gold out of Lindenwood University, and becomes US-eligible in 2025 on residency grounds. Along with a pair from the 2023 Draft Class, 6th Overall pick in 2022 Chase Jones returns for a 3rd MLR season. Jones played with the NOLA Gold academy side in 2023 where he suffered an achilles injury that ruled him out for the entire 2023 MLR season, with the long rehabilitation also sidelining him for the 2024 season. He, like Darling and Turpen, will look to finally earn his MLR debut in 2025.

As well as three MLR Draftees, the NOLA Gold confirm the return of regular MLR starters including 2024 stand-out Jonah Mau’u, who returns for a second MLR season in 2025. The kiwi back row completed 134 tackles in his debut season in North America, running for well over 800m gained and scoring 6 tries in 12 games (all starts) for NOLA. Alongside the impressive Mau’u will be Gold regular Malcolm May, back for his 7th season with NOLA. May has 57 appearances for the Gold since 2019, starting 40 times including a career high 15 in his 16 games in 2024, where he scored a career high 3 tries to take his total to 6. On the subject of NOLA Gold regulars, the Tonga’uiha brothers are also back in the Big Easy. Osi Tonga’uiha returns for a 6th season after a career high 9 appearances in 2024, taking his career appearances to 18 while his brother, capped USA Eagle Moni Tonga’uiha, is back for an 8th year. Moni Tonga’uiha captained the Gold through their best-ever 2024 season and is their most capped player, with 70 starts in his 88 appearances since 2018 putting him 5th all-time. The Oakland, CA native has 11 tries and a huge 4,157m gained in possession, with just shy of 800 tackles completed (789). He has recorded over 125 tackles in each of the last 4 seasons, including a career high of 176 in 2022.

MLR Player Move Summary: January 6-12, 2025 (2 of 2)

‘New’ Faces

Last week saw a number of former American Raptors either enter MLR for the first time, or return to the league after a season away. This is likely due to the news that the Raptors would not be playing pro rugby in 2025, and players are turning to the only other professional option in the US, Major League Rugby. The Chicago Hounds announced the signing of a pair of former Raptors, starting with prop Koby Baker, who played with the Raptors during their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season, before joining the Seattle Seawolves for their playoff stretch. Baker earned 5 MLR appearances for the Seawolves and came off the bench in all three playoff games, including the Championship Game where Seattle fell to the New England Free Jacks. Baker had been playing with the Hounds academy side during their 2024 Fall season alongside fellow former Raptor Tavius Sykora-Matthess, who also earns a MLR contract with Chicago for the 2025 season. The 6’7 former football player and wrestler represented both the USA U23s and USA Falcons in 2022 before spending two seasons in Super Rugby Americas with the Raptors. He, like Baker, joined the Hounds academy side in 2024.

Another pair of former Raptors are also headed to the Eastern Conference with Old Glory DC. Former DC man John LeFevre will rejoin the Flags following a season in Super Rugby Americas. The Virginia native earned 16 appearances for DC between 2022-2023, scoring his two tries in 11 games (1 start) in 2023. Following John LeFevre to the nation’s capital is Hawaiian flanker Isikeli Kava, who transitioned from the front row to the flank while with the Raptors, where he has played since 2021 and earned a spot on their Super Rugby Americas roster in 2024. the 295lb, 6’2 former football player spent the off-season in Australia with the Gungahlin Eagles in the ACTRU Premier Division. Old Glory DC announced the return of another not entirely new face for 2025, Owen Sheehy. The son of former USA Eagle and OGDC Co-Founder Paul Sheehy, Owen earned 10 starts in 20 games for DC between 2021-2023, recording a career high 533m gained in 11 games in 2022. Sheehy returns after a year working in South America, where he also played in Argentina’s URBA Top 14, an amateur league that has produced a number of MLR players in the past.

Along with confirming their final re-signings, the NOLA Gold unveiled their complete roster for the 2025 campaign. This roster included both of their 2025 MLR Collegiate Draft selections, Aidan King and Dalton Musselman. Australian back row Aidan King was selected 6th Overall by the Gold out of Penn State, and college teammate Dalton Musselman was selected 18th Overall. The Pennsylvanian fly-half will be able to learn from the likes of Dorian Jones and USA Eagle Luke Carty while with the Gold.

Intra-League Moves & Departures

The news of the week, and likely the reason why many of you are reading this article, was the announcement from Rugby FC LA that they had signed reigning MLR Back of the Year Reece MacDonald on a 2yr contract through the 2026 season. This announcement left MLR fans shocked, and New England Free Jacks fans stunned. MacDonald scored 12 tries and 86pts in 30 games (28 starts) for the Free Jacks during their back-to-back Shields from 2023-2024. He recorded 10 tries and a league-high 1,535m gained in 2024 alone, a true career year for the kiwi fullback who now makes the move to the Western Conference. Although MacDonald’s contract with the Free Jacks had expired, New England still held his rights. As a result, Rugby FC LA gave up 2025 Cap Space (unknown) in order to acquire MacDonald’s rights, meaning that this move was technically a trade, but only on paper.

Moving on to departures, Super Rugby Americas teams have been announcing their complete rosters over the last few weeks, and a number of 2024 MLR-ers are heading south. The Miami Sharks will be without Uruguayan playmaker Felipe Etcheverry in 2025, with the 2023 Rugby World Cup player returning to Peñarol. Etcheverry joined Miami from the Uruguayan club for 2024, and scored 3 tries and 73pts for the Sharks in 14 games (13 starts). He now returns to the 2x SRA Champions along with Chicago Hounds hooker Guillermo Pujadas. Another capped Uruguayan who entered MLR from Peñarol in 2024, Pujadas started 2 of his 8 games for the Hounds in 2024 and will also return to the Uruguayan franchise for their 2025 Super Rugby Americas season. Pujadas will join former Hounds teammate and Dallas Jackal Nico Revol Pitt in SRA, with the Argentinian prop signing with Dogos, and former Houston SaberCat and NOLA Gold hooker Diego Fortuny also heading to Super Rugby Americas, signing with the Tarucas for their inaugural SRA season in 2025.

Makene Staying in New Zealand

One final piece of news that NOLA Gold fans should be interested in, Caleb Makene. Following the announcement that Makene would not be returning to the Utah Warriors for 2025, the NOLA Gold announced the signing of the impressive kiwi fullback on November 17th, 2024. NARDB has learned that shortly after this announcement, Makene informed the Gold that he would be staying in New Zealand with his partner as they were expecting their first child. This means that Caleb Makene, who scored 12 tries and 98pts in 44 games for the Utah Warriors between 2022-2024, will not be playing in MLR during the 2025 season. As excuses go, he has a pretty good one and we wish him, his partner, and their child all the best!

In Conclusion…

With Pre-Season camps now underway and MLR rosters all but confirmed, the 2025 season is just around the corner! With that, player announcements are likely to dry up in the next few weeks. These summary articles will continue as long as there is player movement and as we have still heard nothing from Anthem RC, and suspiciously little regarding returning players for the Seattle Seawolves, it is likely there will still be some announcements, but these will likely be more sporadic. Keep an eye on this site and social media for further news.

As always, you can follow NARDB and James across social media to stay up to date on signings as they happen. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky! Also, we’re happy to have Rugby Now back for the 2025 season! Visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new Macron gear for 2025, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: Dec 30, 2024 – Jan 5, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Welcome to 2025! Every week these MLR Player Movement Summary articles outline each roster move around Major League Rugby, whether that is a returning player, a new signing, or a departure, so that MLR fans can easily stay up to date on all the off-season activity ahead of the 2025 season. This week’s article covers the week from December 30, 2024 to January 5, 2025 and so, as mentioned already, welcome to 2025!

With pre-season camps opening today (January 6th), it could be assumed that all MLR teams have pretty much finished announcing their 2025 rosters, but considering we still haven’t heard a peep out of Anthem RC, and the Seattle Seawolves haven’t announced a single returning player, it’s likely that player announcements will continue almost right up to opening kick-off on February 15th. Last week saw another relatively quiet week but as with the week before, there is still plenty to discuss. 10 re-signings across 4 teams made up the bulk of the announcements as usual, with an intra-league move and two big names returning to MLR from overseas. As always, we start with the summary graphic and then jump in to the re-signings:

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 30th, 2024 – January 5th, 2025 (Page 1 of 1)

Re-signings

Of the 10 re-signings last week, the NOLA Gold announced four returning back three players for their 2025 roster. Samoan try machine Ed Fidow is back for his second season with the Gold after scoring 5 tries in 7 games for the team in an injury-affected 2024. A 2022 MLR Champion with New York, Fidow has a very impressive 21 tries in his 35 career MLR games with over 3,000m gained with ball in hand. Alongside Fidow will be NOLA Gold veteran Harley Wheeler, who has 8 tries in his 38 games for the club since 2020 (29 starts) and over 150 tackles completed with a high of 84 in 2022. Academy graduate Jack Webster, who can also play centre, returns for a 4th season with the Gold having earned 16 appearances since 2022. Webster also played a game for the Dallas Jackals in 2022 while on short term loan to the Texas team. Last but by no means least for the Gold is impressive rookie Julian Roberts, returning for his sophomore season in New Orleans. Drafted 6th overall by the Gold in 2023 out of Life University, Roberts started 4 of his 11 appearances in 2024, scoring 2 tries and running for over 350m gained in possession.

Staying in the Eastern Conference and heading up to Illinois, the Chicago Hounds announced a returning trio of their own last week. Kansan scrum-half and capped USA Eagle Michael Baska is back for a 3rd year with the Hounds and 7th in MLR. Baska has 8 tries and 46pts in his 58 career games (30 starts), with 10 starts in 22 for Chicago since 2023. Also returning to the Hounds back line is South African fly-half/fullback Kian Meadon for a second year in Chicago after a pair of seasons with the Houston SaberCats. Meadon has 1 try and 37pts in his 11 MLR games since 2022 with a 61% success rate from the tee, but has struggled for game time over the last two seasons with only 2 games in 2023 and 1 in 2024. Although an international player, Meadon will be hoping for some consistent game time in 2025, but will be fighting with Tim Swiel, Adriaan Carelse, and Ben Pollack for games. In the pack, MLR veteran Paddy Ryan returns for his 8th season in the front row, and 3rd with Chicago. One of three players named ‘Paddy Ryan’ to have played in MLR, the Chicago-born Irishman has 8 tries in 71 games (53 starts) since 2018, with over 360 tackles completed and 1,107m gained as a prop.

Heading over to the Western Conference, a pair of depth pieces are returning to Zions Bank in 2025. Former Portland State defensive Lineman Tonga Kofe is back for a second season with the Utah Warriors in 2025. The 6’2, 310lb behemoth earned 6 appearances in 2024, and may be the heaviest player in MLR history. A monster in the front row. Returning to the Warriors’ backline for a third season is local product Sione Mahe, who earned 2 starts in 3 games in 2024 before suffering an ACL injury that sidelined him for much of the year. Heading to California but staying on the subject of injuries, Rugby FC LA announce the return of lock Jurie van Vuuren for a second season in LA, and 6th in MLR. Van Vuuren has scored 9 tries in 55 games (47 starts) since 2020, completing 584 tackles. He spent 4 seasons with the Utah Warriors before joining RFCLA in 2024 where he earned 4 appearances before suffering an injury that rule him out of the majority of the 2024 season.

‘New’ Faces

In this section we typically cover the new players entering MLR from leagues around the world. While that is still the case this week, it’s not strictly true to say that these faces are ‘new’. Both of last week’s signings from leagues outside MLR have already played in Major League Rugby at some point in their careers. Capped USA Eagle Mikey Sosene-Feagai signs with Rugby FC LA for the 2025 season, marking the first time the California-born hooker has played in MLR since 2021. Sosene-Feagai scored 2 tries in 15 games (all starts) for Old Glory DC between 2020-2021 before signing with Toulon in the French Top 14. He signed with Agen in the Pro D2 after a season with Toulon, where he played from 2022-2024.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the NOLA Gold have negotiated a season-loan for regular USA starting 9 Ruben de Haas for 2025. The South African moved with his family from the Western Cape to Arkansas when he was young, and has been a member of the Cheetahs system since 2017. He started 4 of his 6 appearances for the Austin Gilgronis in 2021 before heading to England and playing with Saracens in the Premiership between 2021-2023. De Haas returned to the Cheetahs following his time in the Premiership, playing in the Currie Cup and Challenge Cup. He will return to the Cheetahs once again following the 2025 MLR season.

Intra-League Moves

To wrap things up for this week’s summary article, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of Californian hooker Jackson Zabierek for his sophomore season in 2025. Zabierek was drafted 18th overall by Rugby FC LA in 2023 out of the University of Santa Cruz, but did not sign with RFCLA. Instead, he joined the American Raptors for their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season. Once the Raptors season was over, Zabierek joined the Seattle Seawolves for their 2024 playoff push where he earned 6 appearances. He came off the bench in every playoff game for the Seawolves including the Championship Game against the New England Free Jacks, finishing as MLR runners-up.

In Conclusion

That wraps up this week’s summary article for player announcements around Major League Rugby from last week! We’ve almost made it through the long, dark MLR off-season and with kick-off on MLR 2025 just around the corner, it’s likely that the majority of player announcements are behind us. Anticipate teams making final adjustments to their rosters and possibly some promotions from academy sides, but there may still be a surprise or two in store for us. Another week gone, and still silence from Anthem RC. Pre-Season camps open on January 6th, so I hope they’ve got some idea who will be turning up.

Stay up to date on all player announcements as they happen by following NARDB and James on Social Media! @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @NARugbyDB and @JamDelay on Twitter/X, or @NARDB and @JamDelay on Bluesky!

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 23-29, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The last full week of 2024 is behind us and the holidays created quite the lull around Major League Rugby. Every Monday, this series of articles from NARDB will summarise all the moves around MLR from the previous week and add a bit of detail to each move. This particular article covers the moves over the week of Christmas 2024, from December 23rd to December 29th. During that period, six teams made roster announcements and 21 players were involved in total.

Following the 3-pager just before Christmas, all of last week’s moves can be summarised on just one page. Although much quieter than the weeks before it, the trend stayed the same with 18 re-signings across four teams, with 13 of those shared between just two teams, the NOLA Gold and Old Glory DC. As always, the first (and in this case, only) page of the summary graphic is just below, and we’ll start with the re-signings. These made up the vast majority of last week’s moves:

MLR Player Moves Summary: December 23-29, 2024 (1 of 1)

Re-Signings

As with the week before, we begin with the NOLA Gold. The Gold continue to announce their returnees in batches based on position, and last week announced seven returnees. This includes their returning centres, hookers, and locks. Beginning in the back line, MLR veterans Ross Depperschmidt and JP du Plessis return for their 7th & 8th seasons in MLR, respectively. Depperschmidt has played all 7 seasons with the Gold, scoring 5 tries in his 46 games (26 starts) to date. He earned 9 starts in 15 games in 2024, completing 68 tackles. The Texan has set career highs in appearances, starts, and tackles made in every season since 2020. 2019 MLR runner-up JP du Plessis returns for his 5th season with NOLA after playing with the San Diego Legion from 2018-20. His 84 MLR appearances put him tied for 6th all-time with Holden Yungert and he currently leads the entire league in all-time meters gained, on 5,849m. Du Plessis signed a 3yr contract with the Gold in October 2023, and returns for the 2nd season of that deal in 2025.

Moving to the heavies, Ale Lopeti returns at hooker along with another veteran, Pat O’Toole. Lopeti earned 14 of his 24 appearances in 2024, completing 88 tackles and scoring 2 tries as the Gold’s go-to back-up. Entering his 7th MLR season in 2025, O’Toole has played for the Gold since 2021, making 49 of his 69 career appearances and scoring 15 of his 18 MLR tries including a high of 7 in 2021. O’Toole has over 500 tackles completed in his career and is closing in on 2000m gained. More veterans return to the Gold in the second row, in Will Waguespack and Cam Dolan. Waguespack is back for an 8th season with the Gold, earning 20 starts in his 46 appearances for NOLA, 11 of which were in 2024 where he scored his first career MLR try and completed a career high 68 tackles. Cam Dolan should be a name familiar to fans outside of the NOLA Gold. The capped USA Eagle has over 600 tackles in his 75 games (71 starts) since 2018, and has scored 15 tries and ran for almost 2,500m gained in possession. He returns for a 7th season with the Gold having represented the San Diego Legion in 2018 alongside JP du Plessis. Like du Plessis, Dolan signed a 3yr deal with NOLA in October 2023 and returns for the 2nd year of that contract in 2025.

Moving away from the Big Easy but staying in the Eastern Conference in the nation’s capital, Old Glory DC wrapped up their ’24 days of re-signings’ with the return of a bunch of household names for DC fans. Back rows and tackle machines Lautaro Bavaro and Cory Daniel return for their 3rd and 4th seasons with the Flags respectively. Argentinian Bavaro has over 350 tackles completed in just 33 games (all starts) since 2023, averaging 178 a season and 11 a game. Bavaro’s tackle total is very impressive, but is dwarfed when put next to Cory Daniel’s. The former wrestler is a 2x MLR Top Tackler with 255 in 2022 and an MLR record 276 in 2024. His total sits on 651 tackles in 42 games (37 starts). More than just a tackle juggernaut, Daniel has 12 career tries and over 1,150m gained in his career. A worry for DC fans, however, is that Daniel has historically alternated between an excellent season and an injury plagued season throughout his career (59 tackles in 8 games, then 255 in 15, then 61 in 4, then 276 in 15). Both he and the Flags will be hoping for consistency in 2025. Also returning in the Old Glory back row is Captain Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, for a 6th season with the team and 7th in MLR. ‘JFS’ passed 3,000m gained in his career in 2024, adding 91 tackles and two tries to take his totals to 588 tackles and 12 tries. With the exception of the shortened 2020 season, JFS is a lock for around 500m gained and 2-3 tries, and his career high of 187 tackles in 2023 proves he can perform on the defensive side as well. Moving from the back row to the front, Old Glory DC’s most capped player is back for a 6th season in the district. Jack Iscaro has 60 MLR appearances since 2020 (43 starts), all with the Flags. He’s averaging 153 tackles a season over the past 3 years, relatively high for a prop.

The DC backline saw some reinforcements confirmed last week, as well. Former San Diego Legion and American Raptors scrumhalf Ethan McVeigh is back for a second season with DC after earning 9 starts and 15 appearances in 2024, part of a solid tandem with Connor Buckley, who’s return has already been confirmed. Finally for the Flags, dual test capped centre Tommaso Boni returns for his 2nd season in DC after the dual Italy and (most recently) USA capped man gained 780m in 13 games in 2024, completing 99 tackles.

Heading over to the Western Conference, the Utah Warriors continue announcing their familiar faces with 4 returnees of their own including a trio for their pack. Canadian hooker Tyler Wong is back after adding 3 appearances from the bench in 2024 to his 5 games (3 starts) for the Toronto Arrows in 2023. Wong will be competing for game time with Australian Phil Bradford. The Warriors’ go-to back up hooker is also back for a second season at Zion’s Bank after scoring 3 tries in 12 games (3 starts) in 2024. Back row Miah Noaese returns for a 3rd season in Utah following a 2024 where he spent much of the time on the sidelines. The Washington-state native has 9 appearances to date and will be hoping to stay healthy in 2025. Speaking of injury, Canadian international Spencer Jones returns for his 6th MLR season and second with the Warriors after spending much of 2024 injured. Jones still scored a try in his 2 games, starting both, and the 2023 MLR Champion will be hoping for a return to form in 2025.

Wrapping up the re-signings portion of this summary, Rugby FC LA announced the return of another Canadian 2023 MLR Champion, Reegan O’Gorman. The 6’6 lock has 22 starts in 38 MLR games since 2021, earning half of those starts for RFCLA in 2024 when he set a career high 108 tackles completed, hitting triple figures for the first time.

Intra-League Signings

Hidden among last weeks’ flurry of re-signings were a pair of intra-league moves that saw players stay within Major League Rugby, but head to a different team. The New England Free Jacks will be without Zach Bastres in 2025, as their 34th overall pick from 2021 signed with the Miami Sharks for 2025. The University of Northern Colorado alum earned 5 starts in 13 appearances across 3 seasons with the Free Jacks, helping them to back-to-back Shields. Chances of more consistent game time was likely a contributing factor in Bastres‘ decision to leave New England.

Last week’s other intra-league move saw former Old Glory DC and Houston SaberCats front row Will Vakalahi sign with the Chicago Hounds, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. The Indiana native began playing in MLR with Old Glory DC in 2020, before missing the entire 2021 season due to an injury sustained in pre-season. He fought his way back and earned 6 appearances for Old Glory DC in 2022 before heading to play with the Houston SaberCats academy in the 2022 American Rugby Premiership season. His performances with Rugby HTX earning him a shot with the SaberCats, where he earned 3 further MLR appearances in 2023 before moving closer to home and joining the Chicago Hounds academy, where he played in 2024. Although classed as an intra-league move, this is a promotion for Vakalahi from the Hounds academy side to their MLR squad.

Retirements

Wrapping up a relatively quiet week with a single retirement, as 4-season MLR-er Danny Christensen hangs up his boots. Christensen finishes with 34 appearances between the Utah Warriors (2021-22), Dallas Jackals (2023), and San Diego Legion (2024), scoring 6 tries including a hat trick for the Warriors in 2022. A fan favourite throughout his time in the league, Christensen’s stat line can be found below, and NARDB congratulates him on a fantastic career. Best of luck in your next chapter, Danny!

Major League Rugby

SeasonTeamGPGSTCPACDGMGTacklesKS/KAPts
MLR 2021Warriors41200007811010
MLR 2022Warriors1253002021447019
MLR 2023Jackals122100102533807
MLR 2024Legion62000001161300
Total-341060030661109036

Stay in Touch

That does it for a calmer holiday week around Major League Rugby. With training camps opening in just a few short weeks, we are yet to hear anything from Anthem RC in terms of players or a roster. Expect the World Rugby/USA Rugby/Major League Rugby partnership team to announce their roster all at once in the coming days. This takes the shine out of it and makes it harder for fans to get to know individual players. There is no downside to advertising your 2025 team through the off-season, but this is the way that Anthem have decided to do it. Their social media has barely been active this off-season, so here’s hoping it jumps into life soon.

To stay up to date on all the news and announcements as they happen, be sure to follow NARDB and James on social media. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @NARugbyDB or @JamDelay on Twitter/X, and @NARDB or @JamDelay on Bluesky. Check back next Monday for the summary of this week’s roster announcements!

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 16-22, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The last week before Christmas 2024 saw a huge number of roster moves from MLR teams as they all scramble to get their last-minute shopping done in time for the holidays. Each week, NARDB summarises every single roster move around the league so fans can easily stay up to date with all the goings on during the off-season. This week, we’ll add a little detail to all the roster moves from the week between December 9th & December 16th!

20 re-signings in total across five teams, including nine for the NOLA Gold alone should give some idea of how busy the week was. This doesn’t even include the nine new faces joining MLR from other leagues around the world, or the four 2024 Collegiate draftees that were officially signed, or the three intra-league moves that saw a pair of loanees return to their clubs for 2025! It’s a busy week, and as usual we’ll start with the Page 1 summary graphic, and dive right in to the re-signings:

MLR Player Moves Summary: December 9-16, 2024 (1 of 3) – Please note that Tomy Malanos signed with the Miami Sharks, not Rugby FC LA as noted above.

Re-Signings

As mentioned, last week saw 20 re-signings in total including nine for the NOLA Gold alone, who announced their returning props and halfbacks for the 2025 season. Starting in the front row, Gold academy product Bart Vermeulen returns for a 2nd season after earning 5 appearances from the bench, and ex-Arrow Isaac Salmon (36a, 25s) also returns for a 2nd season in New Orleans alongside fellow New Zealander Jarred Adams, who returns for a 3rd season with the Gold and has over 800m gained in his 29 games (21 starts) to date. Having been with NOLA for slightly longer, Matt Harmon (73a, 45s) and James ‘Doc’ Irey (24a, 3s) each return for their 7th seasons with the team.

As well as announcing the return of five props, the NOLA Gold announced a pair each of returning scrumhalves and flyhalves, with Namibian international scrumhalf Damien Stevens the most experienced of the four, with 6 tries and 98pts in his 47 games (26 starts) for the Gold to date across 4 seasons. Alongside Stevens will be Luke Campbell returning for his 3rd season with the Gold. Campbell has 5 tries and 29pts in hs 27 games (24 starts) since 2023, and well over 125 tackles completed (high for a 9). Moving to the 10 jersey, academy product Reece Botha returns for his 3rd season with the team after a stand-out 2024 in which he scored 2 tries and 53pts, appearing in all 17 Gold games and starting 6. Fighting with Botha for starts will be welshman Dorian Jones who’s back for a 2nd MLR season in NOLA. Jones had limited game time in 2024 but still scored 1 try and 38pts in his 5 games (all starts).

Moving to the other team with mass re-signings but staying in the Eastern Conference, Old Glory DC continue their ’24 days of re-signings’ with another six returning faces. US-eligible English prop Joe Wrafter is back for a second season in the nation’s capital after earning 2 appearances off the bench in 2024, and joining him in the front row is test capped Uruguayan hooker Facundo Gattas, who has 5 tries in 25 games (9 starts) since 2022 and is back for his 4th MLR season in 2025. Moving to the DC second row, Gattas’ Los Teros teammate Ignacio Dotti is back for a 6th MLR season and 2nd with the Flags. Dotti has over 1,000m gained and 331 tackles in his 46 MLR games (35 starts) since 2019. Joining him in the engine room is capped Scotland international Rob Harley, who can also play flanker and earned 15 appearances (14 starts) for DC in 2024 and finished 5th MLR-wide in tackles completed, with a huge 189. Finally for Old Glory, a pair of speedsters are back for 2025. Sticking with the South American theme, Argentine winger Axel Müller returns after scoring 5 tries in 11 games in 2024, while also completing over 70 tackles. Also returning on the wing is another test capped Scot, Damian Hoyland, following 12 appearances and over 1000m gained in his debut season in North America.

Things were a little quieter in the Western Conference in terms of re-signings. The Houston SaberCats announced the return of stalwart Emmanuel Albert and academy graduate Aiden Kerr. A 2nd overall pick in 2021 out of Lindenwood, Albert scored 2 tries in 2024 earned 6 of his 9 career starts, and completed a career high 121 tackles. At the early stages of his development, Washington native Aiden Kerr will look to earn his MLR debut in 2025. Heading to the coast, Rugby FC LA announced a single returnee last week, but it was a good one. Test capped Canadian back row Matt Heaton returns for a second season in LA and 6th in MLR. Heaton passed his 50th league cap in 2024, scoring his 7th try and recording a hefty 166 tackles. This takes his career tackle total over 800, just the 6th player in league history to pass that milestone. Moving back inland to the Beehive State, the Utah Warriors have begun announcing their returnees, with another tackle machine, Dylan Nel. Nel recorded 128 tackles of his own in only 11 games (all starts), also racking up over 750m gained for the Warriors. Ex-Arrow Tyler Wong is also returning for Utah after earning 3 appearances off the bench for his new club, having been selected by them in the Toronto & NY Dispersal Draft in 2023.

MLR Player Moves Summary: December 9-16, 2024 (2 of 3)

New to MLR

As mentioned just above, Rugby FC LA had just the one re-signing announced last week, but boy were they busy. The fresh-look RFCLA announced five of last week’s nine new faces, including a trio from the Randwick Galloping Green to add to the two they had already announced. Maybe the ‘R’ in ‘RFCLA‘ actually stands for Randwick? 2023 Shute Shield winning Captain Ben Houston joins Nick Chan and Matias Jensen, as do fellow 2023 Champions Declan Leaney and Cronan Gleeson. Irish prop Gleeson is no stranger to MLR, having played with Rugby ATL in 2020 and the San Diego Legion the following year, earning 17 appearances total (6 starts) and 99 tackles. Another ex-pat heads to California via Australia, Ed Timpson. English back row Timpson played alongside new RFCLA teammate Ben Sugars at the University of Nottingham in the UK, and was playing with the Northern Suburbs in the Shute Shield, a favoured hunting ground for RFCLA Head Coach and Director of Rugby, Stephen Hoiles. Lastly for LA, but most definitely not least, dual-test capped fly-half Christian Leali’ifano joins for 2025 from the Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby. The Brumbies Centurion and 7th player in Super Rugby history to pass 1,000pts has test caps with both the Wallabies and Samoa, and is test debut was against the British & Irish Lions. Leali’ifano represented Australia at the RWC in Japan in 2019, and Samoa at the RWC in France in 2023.

Sticking in the Western Conference, the Houston SaberCats were also picking around Australia. The Texas team signing Scottish prop Michael Scott from the Northern Suburbs in the Shute Shield. Another addition for the ‘Cats is Jacob Merklinger, a So-Cal native prop who came up through the San Diego Legion system, and represented the San Clemente Rhinos in the World Rugby Tens before making the final jump from the SaberCats academy to the MLR side. Jumping back across the Pacific, Kiwi utility back Vilimone Koroi is headed over to the Eastern Conference and the Big Easy, signing with the NOLA Gold from the Highlanders in Super Rugby. Koroi is a capped All Blacks Sevens man, winning a Commonwealth Gold in 2018. To wrap up the new faces we’re staying in the East but in Chicago, who signed fellow Australasian Liam Fletcher from back-to-back Hospital Cup winners Brothers Rugby Club.

New Draftees Confirmed

While not completely new names in Major League Rugby, a flurry of 2024 Draftee signings hit us last week, as the Houston SaberCats confirmed their 2nd Rd Pick, signing utility back Jake Negrete, one of six draftees out of St. Mary’s College in the 2024 Draft Class. Negrete was selected 20th overall in 2024 and will be hoping to make a similar impact to 2023 rookie Max Schumacher. The remaining three draftee signings happened over in the Eastern Conference, starting with the Miami Sharks signing their 27th overall pick Lautaro Soto Ansay. Born in the US but raised in Argentina, Soto attended the rugby powerhouse Lindenwood University, from where he was drafted. Heading up to the home of the Champions in Massachusetts, the New England Free Jacks signed both of their 2024 draftees last week, penning deals with Kaipono Kayoshi and Matt Carrion. Kayoshi, a USA U18 & U20 back rower already, was selected 4th overall and is another of those six St. Mary’s College Gaels that were drafted in 2024. Matt Carrion is another US age-grade representative, having payed with the U18s before attending Life University, where the Running Eagle back row was selected 14th overall. Adding a pair of rookies to an already very crowded Free Jacks back row doesn’t bode well for their playing time in 2025, but fingers crossed both Kayoshi and Carrion can string together some minutes.

MLR Player Moves Summary: December 9-16, 2024 (3 of 3)

Intra-League Moves and Retirements

Although we still haven’t heard anything from Anthem RC in terms of who is playing for them when the season starts in under 50 days, other team announcements are giving us an idea of who isn’t returning for their sophomore season. The New England Free Jacks announced the return of Central Washington Alum Ivan Pula, another draftee who was selected 37th overall in the 2022 Collegiate Draft by the Free Jacks. the Washington prop earned 7 MLR appearances for Anthem while on loan there for the 2024 season. Pula wasn’t the only loanee returning to their team from Carolina, though. Canadian born US- eligible forward Logan Weidner was confirmed as returning to Old Glory DC. The 6’6 USA U20 player earned 2 starts in 12 appearances for Anthem RC on loan, completing a solid 81 tackles in the process. Staying in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Sharks signed Argentinian centre Tomy Malanos after two seasons with the Dallas Jackals. Malanos scored 9 tries in 29 games for Dallas, recording over 1,250m gained and just shy of 200 tackles completed (198).

Not listed on the summary graphics from last week is a lone retirement. Austin White announced the end of his professional playing career after 4 seasons in Major League Rugby. A 2021 Runner-Up, White represented Rugby ATL from 2020-2023 before following the franchise to LA, playing with Rugby FC LA for their debut season in 2024. White scored 8 tries in his 43 games (30 starts), recording over 1,800m gained and 127 tackles in his MLR career. Best of luck in your next chapter, Austin!

In Conclusion

This Player Move summary is a few days late due to the holidays. They are typically published every Monday so if you are reading this article on it’s release date (December 28th, 2024), you’ll only have to wait a couple more days for the next summary. A busy week from December 16-22 makes way for a much quieter week for the holidays, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been moves. The purpose of this article is to keep MLR fans up to date during the off-season and now that we are under 50 days away from kick off on the 2025 season, teams are hurriedly preparing for training camps, that are only a couple of weeks away.

As always, it’s recommended to follow NARDB and James on social media to stay up to date on moves as they happen. Follow @MLRStats on Instagram and Threads, @NARugbyDB or @JamDelay on Twitter/X, and @NARDB & @JamDelay on Bluesky.

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 9-15, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Another week closer to kick-off on the 2025 Major League Rugby season, and teams are still busy finalising their rosters in the run up to the holidays. This weekly article will summarise all the roster changes around the league from December 9th to December 15th, 2024. NARDB is the best place to keep up to date on all the changes, informing fans and helping to build the hype for next season!

Last week we saw 18 re-signings across 4 teams, a relatively high 10 new additions, three intra-league moves and a retirement. With so much movement this article will be on the larger side, but let’s get stuck in. As always, we will be starting with the re-signings and here is the first of the two-page summary graphic for last week’s moves:

Rapid Re-signings

As mentioned in the introduction, last week saw 18 re-signings across 4 teams. Continuing their (almost) daily announcements, Old Glory DC confirmed 6 further players for their 2025 roster including Irish pathway product Declan O’Loughlin, who was signed as a development player last year and impressed with the academy, earning a full MLR contract this season. As well as O’Loughlin, DC are bringing back prospect Charlie Overton for a 2nd season. Overton was drafted 14th overall by the Miami Sharks out of Life University in 2022, and earned his MLR debut for OGDC last season having been traded there from the Sharks. The Flags also announced the return of a pair of back three players in John Rizzo and John Powers. Rizzo scored 3 of his 5 career tries in 2024, also earning 10 of his 14 career starts and 11 of his 24 appearances. It was a breakout year for the Indiana native, who will play in his 4th MLR season in 2025. Powers, like Rizzo, also enjoyed a breakout year last season. A MLR Champion with New York in 2022, Powers scored both of his MLR tries for DC in 2024, and earned his first 9 starts, completing 51 of his 58 career tackles in his 14 games for DC. Powers returns for his 5th MLR season, but only his 2nd with Old Glory DC. The 6th returnee for the Flags is the only player in MLR history to score a hat trick in the playoffs, Connor Buckley. The 2022 Champion (alongside Powers) has 9 tries in 46 games (27 starts) since 2021, and scored 6 of those tries in 2024, and 3 in Old Glory DC’s Eastern Conference Semifinal nailbiter.

Just behind Old Glory DC is Rugby FC LA, who announced five re-signings of their own. RFCLA’s All-MLR First XV selection Semi Kunatani returns for his 2nd season in MLR, having scored 10 tries in 15 games (11 starts) in 2024, recording over 1,100m gained and 161 tackles completed. Kunatani sat just behind Ben Strang in the tackle count. Strang appeared in all 16 games for RFCLA last season scoring 5 tries and recording 170 tackles. He also returns for the team’s sophomore season. Another forward who featured in every RFCLA game during their inaugural season is Australian prop Dane Zander, who started 12 of their 16 games in 2024, and appeared from the bench in the remaining four. Zander is the third returnee for Rugby FC LA announced last week. The team also announced the return of a pair of US-eligible depth pieces, Alessandro Heaney and Lincoln Sii. Heaney earned his first 4 MLR appearances off the bench last season, and Lincoln Sii added 5 appearances to take his MLR total to 20 appearances since 2021.

Staying in the Western Conference, the Houston SaberCats continue their announcements with an additional four returning players announced last week, including the 2nd overall pick in 2023, Max Schumacher. Schumacher didn’t earn a start in his rookie season but made 14 appearances and gained over 100m in possession. Houston also re-signed kiwi scrum-half Jay Renton, who was a late addition to the ‘Cats last season, and scored one 7pt try in his 2 appearances (both starts). Also returning to the SaberCats are a pair of Smiths, although they share no relation. Seimou and Seth Smith are both back for a second year with Houston. Seimou Smith played with New York in 2019 before joining the US military. He returned for the SaberCats in 2024, scoring 2 tries in 7 games (6 starts) and running for almost 250m gained. Seth Smith, a product of the SaberCats pathway, became the youngest player in MLR history in Rd 1 of last season, at the age of 18y, 8m, 7d. He earned 1 start in 6 games, scoring 2 tries and was named the MLR Player of the Week in Rd 10, before joining the USA U20 team for a clash with Canada.

Finally for re-signings, we jump back to the Eastern Conference and to the Miami Sharks, who also announced 4 re-signings during a busy week in Florida. Three of these resignings spent the Miami Sharks’ inaugural season on the sidelines due to injury. Alex Tucci returns for a 2nd season in Miami and 7th in MLR, and has 53 appearances to date in MLR. Connor Burns is a second returning Shark who spent Miami’s entire inaugural season injured, he, like Tucci, will be hoping to earn his Sharks debut in 2025. Thirdly, Isaac Bales will be back for a second season in Miami. Bales was drafted 12th overall by Rugby ATL in 2021, and has had even worse luck with injury than Tucci and Burns. Bales has been sidelined for two entire seasons so far, in 2022 and in 2024. He earned his MLR debut in 2023 with the RATLers and I’m sure will be hoping to stay healthy for Miami in 2025. The fourth returnee announced by the Miami Sharks last week is Damian Morley, a promising US talent who has experience playing in South Africa and in France. He earned 7 MLR appearances for the Sharks from the bench in 2024.

New Faces

On the subject of the Miami Sharks, they announced the addition of a pair of Argentinian locks from Europe, Federico Gutierrez & Mauro Rebussone. Gutierrez has played with the Argentina XV side many times, and joins from Colorno in the Italian Serie A Elite, having previously played with AC Albi in the French 3rd tier, the Nationale. Fellow Argentine Rebussone did this the other way around, playing with Colorno before heading to the Nationale to play with Narbonne in France.

Moving up the east coast to Massachusetts, the New England Free Jacks announced the signing of a pair of fly-halves from the Bunnings NPC in New Zealand, both of which have played with the Samoan U20 side. Faletoi Peni joins from the Southland Stags where he played over 400 minutes in 2024, and Simon-Peter Toleafoa joins from Counties Manukau, scoring 4 tries in 11 games and over 600 minutes of play time. In addition to this pair of signings, the Free Jacks also announced the signing of Canada-eligible wing/centre Jack Reeves from Gloucester in the Premiership. Reeves isn’t a ‘new’ face to MLR or the Free Jacks, as he spent the 2022 season in New England on loan from Gloucester, making 72 tackles and gaining over 265m in posession in 12 games (6 starts) before returning to England. Since 2022 Reeves has played in the Premiership, the Prem Rugby Cup, and both the Challange and Champions Cups in Europe.

Moving back over to the Western Conference and back to Los Angeles, Rugby FC LA announced the signing of a pair of Australian centres from Randwick in the Shute Shield. 21yo Nick Chan has been knocking on the door of Super Rugby for some time, he played with the Western Force in the 2022 pre-season, and recently featured for the NSW Waratahs in an exhibition game against the Kubota Spears in Japan. Also joining RFCLA is Matias Jensen, who played with the Brumbies U19s in 2022 and represented the Super Rugby side in the 2024 pre-season trials. Both Chan and Jensen have represented the Junior Wallabies, and join a strong Aussie contingent in LA which was made even stronger by their third new addition last week, US-eligible back Robert Mapa. Born in California but raised in Australia, Mapa has played both Rugby League and Rugby Union, playing with a Queensland Reds U19 side in 2022 after stand-out performances for his club, Brothers. He was spotted by the Melbourne Storm of the NRL in 2023, and played with their U21 side in 2024.

Finally for new additions, we head up the west coast to Washington State and to Seattle. The Seawolves announced the addition of experienced South African utility back Eddie Fouché for 2025. Fouché played with the Golden Lions in the Currie Cup from 2016-19 before joining the Pumas and winning a Currie Cup with them in 2022. He joined the Griquas for the 2022/23 season before joining Seattle for his first professional season outside South Africa.

Intra-league Moves and Retirements

As we move another week further away from the Dallas Jackals withdrawal from MLR, we learned the destination of a pair of 2024 Jackals. Both Lucas Bur and Vaughen Isaacs signed with Rugby FC LA (probably MLR’s busiest team last week!) having been selected by them in the dispersal draft. Bur earned 28 appearances for Dallas between 2023-24, gaining nearly 700m in possession and completing a huge 296 tackles in just two seasons. He was selected 13th by RFCLA. Vaughen Isaacs was also selected by LA in the dispersal draft, 5th overall. Although the South African playmaker missed a huge chunk of 2024 due to injury, Isaacs still scored 3 tries and 32pts in his 8 games (all starts) for Dallas, recording 643m gained for an average of over 80m per game. NARDB is working on a graphic for all Dallas Jackals players in 2024 to show their destinations for 2025, stay tuned!

On the subject of Rugby FC LA and to wrap up the intra-league moves from last week, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of fly-half Sam Walsh for the 2025 season. Walsh, a capped USA sevens player, earned 8 MLR appearances (2 starts) with RFCLA in his debut season in 2024, amassing 135m gained. One final signing that, frankly doesn’t fit in any other second is the Seattle Seawolves’ signing of Calvin Liulamaga, their 1st Rd draft pick in the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft. Liulamaga, a Rudy Scholz award nominee and a Washington native, was drafted 11th overall out of Central Washington University.

And finally, we have a retirement. USA Eagles veteran (and often, Captain) Greg Peterson announced his retirement last week. Peterson only spent one season in MLR, earning 13 appearanced as the San Diego Legion Captain in 2024, and finished his career with 51 test caps for the USA. Peterson has represented the Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership, the Glasgow Warriors in the URC, and the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby.

To Conclude…

There you have it, another player movement summary complete and another week closer to kicking off hte 2025 season. The North American Rugby Database works hard to ensure that rugby fans are able to keep up to date on all the happenings around Major League Rugby year-round, not just while the games are being played (although that’s much more fun!). Please considering supporting this site if you’re able and find it a helpful resource, even sharing an article or player page is a huge help.

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