North American Rugby Database

Report

Following the International break, the MLR Playoffs get underway with the reigning champion New England Free Jacks (#1) hosting Old Glory DC (#4) at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium for a spot in the Conference Final.

The hosts may have had their 2024 home record in the back of their heads as they entered this one, with 3 of their losses coming at the usually impenetrable Fort Quincy, including one to Old Glory DC early in the season. The Free Jacks however, opened the scoring through a Reece MacDonald score in open play to grab an early 7-0 lead, before Connor Buckley ran a great support line to level things up just minutes later. Jayson Potroz would add a penalty to give New England back the lead before Buckley would strike again to shift the lead over to the Flags, before the two sides traded penalty for try once more, with DC captain Jama Fa’anana-Schultz diving over the ruck to tocuh down for Old Glory’s 3rd of the game and give the visitors a 13-21 lead after Jason Robertson added the two. The two sides settled into a back and forth without shifting the scoreboard, and it looked as though DC would take that lead into the sheds for the half time break, but the Free Jacks had other ideas. A 36th minute try from Jed Melvin cut the gap, before Potroz added another 3 followed by Oscar Lennon scoring his first MLR try with the clock in the red for half-time, to give the hosts a 30-21 lead and shellshock Old Glory DC with 17pts scored in the final 5 or so minutes of the first half.

A high-scoring first half led to a low scoring second, with a real battle for the first 15minutes of the half was finally broken by Connor Buckley’s 3rd try of the game, to cut the gap to 4pts after a missed conversion. With this score, Buckley becomes the first player in MLR history to record a hat trick in a Playoff game! Minutes later, Potroz added another 3pts to extend the lead to 7pts, before a 66th minute penalty to DC where they opted for the posts rather than the corner, taking the score to 33-29 with just under 15minutes to play. These final 15 minutes proved a defensive masterclass from the Free Jacks, pinning DC deep in their own end and giving them no real opportunity to gain ground and get into scoring range. Another nail-biting game in this growing rivalry ends 33-29 in favour of the reigning champion New England Free Jacks.

The Free Jacks advance to the Eastern Conference Final where they will face the winner of NOLA Gold v Chicago Hounds, while DC’s season comes to an end in Quincy once again, and they head to the off-season.