North American Rugby Database

Report

The undefeated Chicago Hounds host Old Glory DC at SeatGeek Stadium for the first Monday night game of the 2026 Major League Rugby season in the second semifinal, with a spot in the 2026 Championship Game up for grabs, also in this stadium in a week’s time!

The Chicago Hounds wrapped up their 2026 regular season with a big win over the Free Jacks in Quincy, both ending the reigning champs’ season, and securing the first perfect season in MLR history, with a 10-0 record and the maximum of 50pts in the standings. Old Glory DC meanwhile, squeaked into their 4th successive postseason with yet another sub-500 record, finishing in 4th with a 4-6 record. However, the Flags came closest to handing a defeat to the Hounds in their 32-33 clash back in Round 10, and have proven difficult for the Hounds to deal with in both of their matchups in 2026. The Hounds have a home final waiting for them with a victory, but can the Flags shock the league and qualify for their first final?

Similar to yesterday’s first Semifinal, the scoring was opened by a penalty kick. Jason Emery (in for Jason Robertson who returned to New Zealand for the birth of his first child) slotted a penalty in the 3rd minute to give the visiting Old Glory DC an early lead. The Hounds approached the game differently, winning a penalty roughly a minute later and opting for the kick to the corner. However, they couldn’t bag a try to opted for points with a second penalty from the subsequent lineout and Chris Hilsenbeck made no mistake to tie things up at 3. early game possession was almost all green, but the DC defence did a good job absorbing it for 10 minutes or so until the Hounds were awarded a scrum penalty on a DC put-in, in their own half. Hilsenbeck went for the corner and the Houdns set up their lethal maul, which eventually rumbled over and Theo Fourie bagged the first try of the game, and his tenth of the season. This seemed to get the Hounds’ tails up. Off the restart, they were awarded a couple more penalties and used them to march back into the Old Glory end. The Flags ended up giving away another penalty which Ruben de Haas took quickly and launched a crossfield kick out wide to Noah Brown, who finished with a sneaky step to extend Chicago’s lead to 17-3 at the 20 minute mark. Following the hydration break, DC won a penalty and went for the corner, but Chicago were able to win a penalty on their own goalline which served as another blow to DC confidence. A few more penalties later, and Chicago found themselves back in the DC danger zone once again and Lucas Rumball jumped on a loose Chicago ball, lobbing it to his teammates and Jake Kinneeveauk picked it up with open field in front of him, crossing for the Hounds 3rd of the game at the half hour mark and extending their lead to 24-3. Things got even worse for DC as a superb take from Brock Webster fed the ball to Peyton Wall who ran 50m odd on his own to add a 4th of the half for the Hounds. 31-3 at the 33 minute mark, and both DC players and staff looked absolutely shellshocked. Luckily for them, there was no more score changes, and the teams headed to the sheds with the Chicago Hounds up 31-3.

Old Glory DC seemed to have recovered some of their composure in the half-time break, and came out with the bulk of possession to start the second half. A series of penalties against the Hounds saw the Flags begin to crawl their way back into the game, if not on the scoreboard. While the Hounds attack was showcased in the first half, the first 10 minutes of the second half showed off their defensive capabilities. Old Glory DC were camped in the Chicago half but were unable to cut the lead and in the 52nd minute on the Hounds’ first possession of the half, Tavite Lopeti chipped a kick through and any one of three Chicago players could’ve finished it, but a fortuitous bounce lands the ball in the hands of Mason Flesch to finish his 9th try of the season to extend the lead to 38-3 after Hilsenbeck added the extras, and this lead was beginning to look insurmountable for the Flags. They got a break however, as Peyton Wall was handed a yellow card for taking a man out in the air, and would be a man up for 10 minutes. They capitalised almost immediately as Kirby Myhill crossed after a few phases at close range. The hounds would quickly snuff out the comeback attempt however, as Chicago Captaion Lucas Rumball would cross for a short range try of his own about 7 minutes later, and the hosts pass 40, now leading 45-10 with under 20 to go. Almost immediately afterwards the Hounds would pass 50 as Brock Webster broke the DC line and fed it to Noah Brown for his 2nd of the game. It seemed as though the Hounds began to back off now that they were past the 50 mark, but on the 70 minute mark, a DC play was read perfectly by Michael Baska for a clean interception for Chicago’s 8th of the game, now ahead 59-10. The Flags would grab a pair of late consolation scores through Perry Humphreys and Connor Robinson, but this game had been over for a while.

The Chicago Hounds take a huge 59-22 victory, and earn the right to fight for the Shield in front of a home crowd next weekend, where they will face the California Legion. Old Glory DC’s season comes to an end in dramatic fashion, and they head to the offseason.