League: Major League Rugby

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.

Slade McDowall

New Zealand flanker Slade McDowall played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2023. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

McDowall’s signing was announced by the Free Jacks in December 2021 from Otago, whom he had played with since 2017. He proved a formidable tackler during his debut MLR season, finishing 4th in the league with 232 successful tackles in 2022. After returning to New Zealand following the 2022 season, the Free Jacks announced McDowall’s re-signing in late March 2023, joining New England part way through their 2023 Shield winning season.

As of the conclusion of the 2023 season, McDowall has earned 20 MLR caps (17 starts) and scored 10 tries in total including 8 in the 2022 season, when he finished T-7th league-wide.

On 20th July 2023, McDowall was announced in a Pre-season squad for the Manawatu Turbos in his native New Zealand, and did not return to MLR. He has since been announced as returning for the Turbos for their 2024 season.

Achievements
  • 2023 MLR Champion (NE Free Jacks)
  • 4th in MLR Tackling: 2022 (232)
  • 7th in MLR Try Scoring: 2022 (8)
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 15
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Week 8
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Week 6

Stan van den Hoven

Dutch lock Stan van den Hoven played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2024. He represented the New England Free Jacks (2022-2023) and the Miami Sharks (2024).

A Netherlands U20 player, van den Hoven moved to New Zealand in 2017 to hone his game. He played on the national championship-winning Bay of Plenty U19 Provincial Squad and was named player of the year, before training with the New Zealand U20 squad in preparation for the World Rugby U20s Championships. He made his pro debut with Bay of Plenty in the Mitre 10 Cup (now the NPC) in 2019, earning 7 appearances through 2020. The following year he was selected for the Chiefs Super Rugby squad, making appearances for the development squad but missing out on a Super Rugby debut.

Van den Hoven signed with the New England Free Jacks ahead of their 2022 MLR season, and earned 16 appearances (14 starts), completing 200 tackles and finishing T-10th in MLR in this category. He spent the MLR off-season in the NPC with Taranaki before suffering an injury that ruled him out of both the NPC and the 2023 MLR season, when his club the Free Jacks lifted the Shield after defeating the San Diego Legion 24-25 in Chicago. He played with the Manawatu Turbos in the 2023 NPC season after getting healthy, before returning to MLR this time with the Miami Sharks for their inaugural season in 2024. Van den Hoven earned another 14 starts in 14 games for the Sharks, completing another 165 tacklers alongside 2023 1st overall pick Rick Rose for much of the season.

achievements
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 8
  • T-10th in MLR Tackling: 2022 (200)

Wayne van der Bank

South African centre Wayne van der Bank played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2026. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

Hailing from Pretoria, van der Bank started his rugby career with the Golden Lions XV in the Rugby Challenge between 2017-2019, and moving to the Currie Cup side later in 2019 before moving to play with the Pumas between 2020-2021.

Van der Bank joined the New England Free Jacks ahead of their 2022 season, scoring 3 tries in 16 games (14 starts) and gaining exactly 1,000m with ball in hand in his debut season in North America. He has played with the New England Free Jacks for 3 seasons in total including their Shield-Winning 2023 season. He’s earned 40 MLR appearances and scored 15 tries in MLR, 10 of which came in his standout 2024 season where he finished T-5th in MLR Try scoring and gained a PB of 1,068m and was named as Free Jacks Player’s Player of the Year, Free Jacks Player of the Year, and 1st Regiment Player of the Year (awarded by Free Jacks fans). Van der Bank also finished 6th in MLR tackling with 187 completed in 2024. That season, the Free Jacks successfully defended their title by defeating the Seattle Seawolves in San Diego by a score of 11-20 to earn back-to-back MLR titles, a game in which van der Bank started. The MLR also recognized van der Bank’s extraordinary 2024 season, selecting him for the All-MLR First XV and as the deserving winner of MLR Player of the Year for 2024.

On October 29th, 2024, the New England Free Jacks announced that van der Bank would return for the 2025 season, where he unsurprisingly took a step back from his spectacular 2024 season. He started 8 of his 14 appearances in 2025, scoring his 16th career MLR try and recording 85 tackles to pass 550 in his 57 game MLR career, as well as 3,000m gained thanks to 315m gained in possession to help the Free Jacks secure their, and van der Banks’, third successive MLR Shield. On 24th November 2025 the New England Free Jacks announced that they had re-signed Wayne van der Bank for the 2026 Major League Rugby season, where he should become US-eligible based on 5yrs of residence in the US.

achievements

Le Roux Malan

Namibian centre Le Roux Malan played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2025. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

Born in Windhoek, Namibia and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Malan played first the Paarl Boys High School First XV before signing with the Sharks in KwaZulu-Natal on a junior provincial contract for their U19 side, and made his pro debut in the 2019 Supersport Challenge before competing in the U21 Currie Cup between 2020-2021.

In 2021, Malan signed with the New England Free Jacks ahead of their 2022 MLR season, and appeared in all 17 games for the club that season (16 starts), scoring 5 tries and running for 1,383m gained in possession, finishing 5th in the League in that stat. Following the season he earned his full international test debut for Namibia against Spain, before returning to MLR to re-join the Free Jacks for their Shield-winning 2023 season, where he earned 11 further appearances (10 starts) and scored 9 tries including a Shield-winning score late in the Championship Final to give the Free Jacks a 24-25 victory over the San Diego Legion in Chicago. Coming off this high, Malan was selected for the Namibia squad to play at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but suffered a horrific ankle injury early in his first RWC game against New Zealand.

This injury sidelined Malan for months, but he made a remarkable recovery to return to the pitch for the Free Jacks part-way through the 2024 season, appearing in 14 games and starting 12 of them. His only try of the 2024 season came in the Championship Game, where the Free Jacks were victories again, this time by a score of 11-20 over the Seattle Seawolves. with his most recent try before this coming in the 2023 final, Malan is the first player in MLR history to have scored consecutive tries in back-to-back MLR finals! To date, Malan has earned 42 MLR caps with the Free Jacks, and has qualified for the post-season in every year he has played, earning a Shield in back-to-back seasons from 2023-2024.

On 30th July 2024, the Hawke’s Bay Magpies included Malan in their Squad for the 2024 NPC season, marking Malan’s first time playing professionally in New Zealand. On October 22nd, 2024, the New England Free Jacks announced the return of Le Roux Malan for their 2025 MLR season. After having a bit of a lull in 2024, Malan bounced back in 2025. He started 15 of his 17 appearances, scoring 2 tries and recording over 600m gained to take his career total over 3,400m, and also completed well over 100 tackles (123) for the first time since his debut season in 2022. On 14th November 2025, the Hollywoodbets Sharks of the URC announced the signing of Malan, who had come through their academy system. Le Roux Malan was integral in the Free Jacks’ successful threepeat, and finishes his MLR career as a 3x MLR Champion.

achievements

Mills Sanerivi

New Zealand hooker Milleniam ‘Mills’ Sanerivi played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2023. He joined the New England Free Jacks ahead of the 2022 Major League Rugby season on a 2yr deal and played with them for his entire MLR career.

Sanerivi appeared in all 17 of the Free Jacks’ 2022 matches, and followed this up with another 12 caps in 2023, becoming an MLR Champion that same season when the Free Jacks captured their first Shield. During the MLR offseason, Sanerivi plays for the Taranaki Bulls in his native New Zealand, whom he has played with since 2020. Sanerivi was included on the Taranaki roster for their 2023 NPC campaign, and was included in the Chiefs Wider Training Squad for their 2024 Super Rugby campaign, aloong with fellow MLRer Tom Florence. This ruled Sanerivi out of that year’s MLR season.

Achievements:

  • 2023 MLR Champion – NE Free Jacks
  • Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 15
  • Team of the Week: 2022 – Week 14

Spencer Krueger

Illinois prop Spencer Krueger played in Major League Rugby between 2021-2022. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

A native of Arlington Heights, IL, Spencer Krueger attended Ohio State University where he was named a Collegiate All-American in 2018. He played rugby with the Buckeyes, captaining the team for the 2019/20 season when he declared for MLR’s inaugural Collegiate Draft where he was selected in the 2nd Round, 18th overall by the New England Free Jacks.

The Free Jacks promptly signed Krueger ahead of the 2021 MLR season, where he earned his debut in May as a reserve against Rugby ATL. In his rookie season, he earned 3 appearances off the bench, which he would double the following year in 2022. Through two seasons with New England, Krueger earned 9 appearances as a reserve, completing 26 tackles and running for 48m gained with ball in hand.

Achievements

Stephan Coetzee

South African hooker Stephan Coetzee played in Major League Rugby between 2019-2021. He represented the Seattle Seawolves for his entire MLR career.

Coetzee had a standout year in his debut MLR season in 2019, scoring 8 of his 10 MLR tries and appearing in all 18 of Seattle’s 2019 matches, starting 16 en route to the Seawolves’ 2nd Championship.