North American Rugby Database

Report

The California Legion travel to Charlotte to face Anthem RC at the American Legion Memorial Stadium during Round 10 of the 2026 MLR season.

The Legion are sat relatively comfortably in 2nd place with an even 4-4 record, with a bonus point win able to clinch home field advantage for the 2026 Semifinals. At the other end of the table, Anthem RC enter this game sat last in the standings on a 5 game skid, and are desperate for a win after a disappointing defeat at home to New England last week.

The last time these two teams met was the 2026 Season Opener in which Anthem RC claimed their first ever victory in their 33rd game. The Legion seemed aware of the opportunity in front of them, both to lock up 2nd and a home semifinal, and for revenge. They came out firing and opened the scoring after just two minutes through Nick Chan. Anthem would raly and apply heavy pressure with the majority of both the territory and possession in the first quarter. Despite all that pressure however, a Lance Williams try just before the hydration break put them down 0-14. The Rising Stars would cancel this try out shortly afterwards with a great bruising run from Baden Godfrey to lumber over, but the Legion would bag another two scores within 5 minutes of Godfrey’s try to lock up the try BP, and would add a 5th first half try from Gonzalo Bertranou 10 minutes later. The visitors led 7-33 at half time with Anthem showing few signs that they were capable of coming back from this heavy deficit.

To Anthem’s credit, they opened the second half scoring through Campbell Robb to cut the Legion’s lead to 19pts, but weren’t able to pull any closer before California’s Coby Miln slotted a penalty in the 51st minute, and Steff Crimp scored twice in 6 minutes either side of the second hydration break, adding this brace to his first half score to claim the second hat trick of the 2026 MLR season and the first in California Legion history! Despite there being just under 20 minutes to go, the Legion seemed to think the job was done with the score at 14-50, and allowed Anthem back into the game. Zion Going, who injected some pace and intent into the Anthem attack, also scored a brace withing 6 minutes of each other about 7 minutes after Crimp completed his hat trick, securing a Try BP for Anthem and taking them up to 26pts and put California’s Gonzalo Bertranou in the bin. The Rising Stars’ comeback attempt was stunted soon after however, with a scrap resulting in a second yellow for Makeen Alikhan, resulting in a red, and a yellow for the Legion’s Keni Nasoqeqe on his 100th MLR appearance. The game would end with 13v14 but the visitors didn’t show any mercy, capping off a dominant performance with an 82nd minute try from Ben Houston to make the final score 26-55.

This locks up a playoff spot for the Legion with a 5-4 record heading into the final week of the regular season, and will secure home field advantage should the Seattle Seawolves fall to the New England Free Jacks later today. If the Seawolves win, then it will be a fight for a home Semifinal as they face the Legion next week. Anthem RC will be hoping that Seattle can overcome the defending champs to keep their slim playoff chances alive. The rising stars must defeat Old Glory DC (who are also fighting for a playoff spot) next week, and win by a lot if they want any chance.