Founded in 2017 with it’s inaugural season played in 2018, Major League Rugby (MLR) is the highest level of professional rugby in North America.
Canadian centre Lockie Kratz played in Major League Rugby during the 2021 season. He represented the NOLA Gold for his entire MLR career.
A native of Victoria, British Columbia, Lockie Kratz attended the University of Victoria between 2018-2021, representing the Vikes while there. Following his graduation, he signed with the NOLA Gold for the 2021 Major League Rugby season, and gained over 200m in 6 appearances, starting 4 times.
Washington native Brian Nault played in Major League Rugby between 2021-2022. He represented the NOLA Gold for his entire MLR career.
A product of Central Washington University, Nault was the first forward ever drafted into Major League Rugby, selected 2nd overall by the NOLA Gold in the inaugural MLR Collegiate Draft in 2020. He earned 20 MLR appearanced for the Gold, starting 8 times and completing over 100 career tackles including 85 in 13 games in 2022.
Californian Flyhalf/center Kyle Rogers played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2019, and again between 2021-2022. He represented the San Diego Legion (2018-2019), and the NOLA Gold (2021-2022).
Nevada native Devin Short played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2025. He representing the San Diego Legion (2018-2020), the NOLA Gold (2021-2023), and the Seattle Seawolves (2024-2025).
Short began his MLR career with the San Diego Legion, with whom he scored 3 tries in 23 games (19 starts) between 2018-2020. Short then moved to the NOLA Gold, where he scored another 3 tries during the 2022 season, gained 903m beating 19 defenders. On the defensive side, he finished 10th in terms of tackles made, on 195 for a success rate of 90.28%. On June 3rd, 2022, Short became the 21st player in Major League Rugby history to reach 50 caps in the competition and at just 23 at the time, he is the youngest player in history to reach 50 appearances in Major League Rugby. His 2023 season was significantly affected by injury, appearing in just 4 games during NOLA Gold‘s 2023 campaign, starting 3.
On June 17th 2022, (a week before his 24th birthday) NOLA Gold announced that they had signed the Short to a 2yr contract through the 2024 MLR season. On 11th August 2023, Short was traded to the Seattle Seawolves in exchange for Seattle’s 1st Rd pick in the 2023 MLR Collegiate Draft (11th overall, used to select Hooker Gabriel Mahuinga out of Brigham Young University) and 2024 Salary Cap Considerations (details unknown). An autoimmune disease sidelined Short for roughly half of the 2024 season, making his Seawolves debut in Round 12 just as the Seattle back row was getting thin. He helped the Seawolves lock in the 2nd seed in the Western Conference, before breaking his hand in the Western Conference Semifinal against his former team, the San Diego Legion. Remarkably, Short returned to the Seawolves starting lineup just 2 weeks later for the 2024 Championship Game, making 11 tackles as they fell to the New England Free Jacks. Short made over 70 tackles and ran for over 200m gained in just 6 games in 2024, earning a Team of the Week selection for his performance in Round 17 and passing 500 career tackles.
On January 14th, 2025, the Seattle Seawolves announced their full roster for 2025 including Devin Short, who will play in his 8th MLR season in 2025, and his 2nd with the Seawolves. Short appeared in all 17 games for Seattle in 2025, starting 8 times and completing 98 tackles with 199m gained in possession as the Seattle Seawolves qualified for the postseason, falling to the League-leading Utah Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinal in a game that Devin Short started. On 12th January 2026, Short announced his retirement from the professional game after 8 seasons and 77 Major League Rugby appearances, with over 2,200m gained and over 600 tackles including a high of 195 in 2022, Devin Short is perhaps one of the best players never to represent the USA at test level.
Chicago native Andrew Guerra played in Major League Rugby between 2021-2023. He represented the NOLA Gold for his entire MLR career.
Guerra began playing rugby as a freshman at Mt Carmel High School in Chicago while also playing football and boxing. He was an All-State rugby player and All-Conference football player. Following high school Guerra attended Notre Dame College from 2016-2020, playing rugby as a starter for his entire time there and captained the side in his final 2 seasons playing in the D1A Rugby East Conference. Guerra declared for the 2020 MLR Collegiate Draft (the first such instance) and was selected 10th overall by the NOLA Gold, who subsequently signed him for the 2021 season where he made 174 tackles and scored 1 try in 12 games (11 starts), also gaining just under 500m with ball in hand. For his performances in his rookie season, he was named as the first ever MLR Rookie of the Year.
Guerra’s performances also caught the attention of the US national team, and he made his test debut for the USA Eagles against Ireland in July 2021. He earned 6 caps including his latest against New Zealand in October of 2021 when he suffered a fractured leg that sidelined him for the entirety of 2022 and effectively ended his career. He was expected to return for 2023 but did not play despite still being a part of the NOLA Gold setup. Guerra was not included in the NOLA Gold roster for the 2024 season and it is understood that he has now retired from professional rugby due to his injury.
Namibian scrum-half Damian Stevens played in Major League Rugby between 2021-2025. He represented the NOLA Gold for his entire MLR career.
A native of Walvis Bay, Stevens attended Walvis Bay High School and HoĂ«r Jongenskool Paarl Boys’ High School. He entered the Western Province system in 2013, playing youth rugby there until 2016. While playing with the Western Province, he played with the University of the Western Cape in South Africa in 2015, before playing with the Western Province Currie Cup side in 2016. Stevens jumped about on a few 1yr contracts, playing with the Sharks XV in the South African Rugby Challenge, and the Griquas in 2018 before returning to the Sharks in 2019. In 2020, Stevens moved to South America to play with the Olimpia Lions (now Yacare) in Paraguay before the SĂºper Americana Liga de Rugby (SLAR) season was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Internationally, Damian Stevens has been capped by the Namibian national team, earning his debut in 2013. He’s represented the Welwitschias at three Rugby World Cups, in 2015, 2019, and 2023.
The NOLA Gold signed Stevens ahead of the 2021 season, and he has represented the Gold for five MLR seasons to date, through 2025. He has earned over 50 appearances (27 starts) for the Gold, scoring 7 tries in total and 103pts in his career. On December 21st, 2024, the NOLA Gold announced the return of Damian Stevens for 2025, where he earned his 50th MLR appearance during Round 12, scoring his 7th try that same game to become the 4th Gold player to pass 100pts scored with the team.
South African centre Phillipus Jacobus Snyman ‘JP’ du Plessis played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2026. He represented the San Diego Legion in the early years of the competition (2018-2020) before moving the represent the NOLA Gold (2021-2026).
The San Diego Legion announced the signing of JP du Plessis ahead of MLR’s inaugural season in 2018, earning 5 caps (all starts) as the Legion qualified for the playoffs, falling 38-24 to the Seattle Seawolves, the eventual Champions. He followed this up with an outstanding season in 2019, appearing in 17 of the Legion’s 18 games and scoring 6 tries en route to the 2019 MLR final where they fell to the Seattle Seawolves once again, 23-26 despite finishing as the top team in the league in the regular season. Du Plessis was awarded MLR Back of the Year and an All-MLR First XV selection for his performance throughout the 2019 season, where he racked up 1,200m gained and finished 9th in MLR in that category. He added another 4 caps (all starts) and 3 tries in the 2020 season, helping the Legion run out to a 5-0 record before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In October 2020, the NOLA Gold announced that they had signed JP du Plessis to a long-term contract through the 2024 MLR season. Through his first 3 season in New Orleans, du Plessis appeared in 45 of the Gold’s 48 games (43 starts) including all 16 games in 2022 when he racked up a huge 1,533m gained in possession and finished 2nd in MLR by only 20m to LA’s Billy Meakes. The following year du Plessis scored a personal best of 7 tries in a season where he gained over 1100m and delivered 144 successful tackles. He earned an All-MLR Second XV selection for his performance throughout the 2023 season.
On 9th October 2023, the NOLA Gold announced the return of 32yo JP du Plessis on a contract that runs through the 2026 MLR season. He appeared in 13 games (all starts) during the 2024 season as the Gold finally earned their first MLR playoff appearance after 7 seasons in the competition, where du Plessis started the first playoff game in NOLA Gold history, a 21-45 defeat to the Chicago Hounds in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. JP du Plessis is one of the most capped players in MLR history, having earned 84 caps (82 starts) since 2018, scoring 20 tries and earning 16 Team of the Week selections. Through 2024, JP du Plessis has the highest Meters gained total of any player in MLR history, with 5,849m gained in his career. On December 24th, 2024, the NOLA Gold confirmed the return of Du Plessis for the 2nd year of a 3yr contract, alongside Ross Depperschmidt.
Texan centre Ross Depperschmidt played in Major League Rugby between 2020-2026. He represented the NOLA Gold (2020-2025) and Old Glory DC (2026).
A native of Flower Mound, a suburb of Dallas, Ross Depperschmidt played gridiron football and baseball at Edward S. Marcus High School before attending the University of Alabama, earning an undergraduate and masters degree between 2012-2018. Depperschmidt began playing rugby while at Alabama, was Co-Captain from 2015-2017 and Vice-President between 2015-2016. He also served as Assistant Coach from 2017-2018. Depperschmidt joined the NOLA Gold for the 2019 season but had to wait until 2020 for his MLR debut, earning 2 appearances in 5 games before the season was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Depperschmidt has set career highs in appearances, starts, and tackles every single season between 2020-2024, and on December 24th, 2024, the NOLA Gold announced the return of Ross Depperschmidt for his 7th MLR season in 2025, alongside fellow veteran JP du Plessis.
Depperschmidt added 3 appearances and 2 starts to his career totals during the 2025 campaign, completing 11 tackles to pass 200 tackles made in his career. Through 7 seasons as a member of the NOLA Gold, Ross Depperschmidt scored 5 tries in 49 MLR appearances (28 starts), gaining 930m and completing 202 tackles in his career. Following the withdrawal of the NOLA Gold from Major League Rugby in the 2025/26 offseason, Depperschmidt became a free agent and on 18th January, 2026 Old Glory DC announced the addition of the Texan centre for their 2026 campaign, his first season not representing NOLA.
