North American Rugby Database

Report

The California Legion host the Chicago Hounds at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Norther California during Round 8 of the 2026 MLR season.

It’s 1st against 2nd on the west coast, as the undefeated Chicago Hounds face the 3-3 California Legion with the Hounds able to lock up a 2026 playoff spot with 3 games remaining of the regular season. Despite some relatively weak defence and a rotated roster, the Hounds were able to record an enormous 61-36 victory over Anthem RC last week to take them to 6-0 and the maximum of 30pts so far. The California Legion proved that wet weather is definitely their weakness, falling 26-21 on the road to the New England Free Jacks. With 4 yellow cards against, the Legion shot themselves in the foot, and will be looking to bounce back against the league’s best side.

Although the opened the scoring after 7 minutes through a Brock Webster break, the Chicago Hounds were given their biggest test of the season so far. The California Legion put the pressure on and opened their account through Gonzalo Bertranou roughly 10 minutes later, with Coby Miln adding the extras to take a narrow 7-5 lead. The Hounds kept pushing and the lead swung back over to the guests after Ollie Devoto ran a great line, before Steffan Crimp took a quick lineout after he noticed the Hounds switched off, and Joey Mano ran in for another change in leader. The Legion, now with the momentum, enjoyed their turn to push and scored again through Ben Sugars (his 5th of the season) to extend their lead right before the half. With the hosts ahead 19-12, this game marks the first time this season that the Chicago Hounds have been trailing at half time, having secured a try BP in every other game so far this season.

The Hounds must’ve been aware of this, because they came out in the second half with a point to prove. The Hounds dominated for the first 20 minutes of the second half, but the California Legion held firm in defence, and kept forcing errors. Just after the second hydration break however, the Hounds finally broke through. After cycling through phases, they found a half gap and Oti Pifeleti stormed over after running a perfect support line for the 10th try of his MLR career, and Chris Hilsenbeck added the extras to even things up. The Hounds stayed focused, and kept piling on the pressure, eventually earning themselves a penalty with Hilsenbeck stepping up to give the Hounds a narrow 19-22 lead, but they weren’t done there. Mason Flesch reached out to ground his 6th try of the season in as many games to secure the try BP for Chicago and extend their lead to 10pts and 17 unanswered points. The Legion would fight back, with Tas Smith breaking the line and earning a penalty, which Miln put into the corner and off the ensuing lineout Fred Apulu trundled over for his 2nd career try. There were some justified calls for a knock-on, but referee Luke Rogan’s on-field decision was a try and there was no conclusive evidence to overturn that decision, so the try stood and the Legion pulled back to within 3pts with roughly 5 minutes to play. Unfortunately for the home side, a knock-on from the Legion popped into Peyton Wall’s hands, who offloaded to Brock Webster to flip the field, and after a few phases Brandon Harvey was able to cross to put the game to bed with his 2nd of the season. The California Legion attempted to fight back again to secure a losing BP, but an obstruction call stifled that, and the Hounds leave California with a 26-36 victory, sweeping the Legion in their 2026 series.

With this victory, the Chicago Hounds move to 7-0 and secure a playoff spot with 3 games remaining, recording their longest win streak and Old Mate possession ever. If the Seattle SEawolves fail to pick up any points in their Round 8 match against Anthem RC, the Hounds will secure home field advantage. The California Legion fall to 3-4, but salvage a try BP and remain in 2nd place for the timebeing, 16pts behind Chicago on 19pts.