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.

Ethan Scott

Tennessee scrumhalf Ethan Scott was drafted in the 2021 MLR Collegiate Draft. He was selected in the 3rd Round (29th Overall) by the Seattle Seawolves.

A University of Memphis alum, Scott was unsigned by the Seattle Seawolves ahead of the 2022 MLR season. Instead, he spent his rookie season with the Houston SaberCats’ academy side, Rugby HTX. Although he was drafted Scott never featured at MLR level, and has been playing at club level with the Memphis Blues.

achievements

NARDB Player #1,622

Thomas Capriotti

Pennsylvania hooker Thomas Capriotti played in Major League Rugby during the 2022 MLR season. He represented Old Glory DC for his entire MLR career.

A native of New Hope, PA, Thomas Capriotti attended Penn State, playing rugby throughout his time there. He declared for the 2021 MLR Collegiate Draft and was selected in the 2nd Round, 18th Overall by the San Diego Legion. Capriotti did not end up signing with the Legion for his rookie season however, and instead spent the preseason with Old Glory DC before suffering a season-ending injury before getting the chance to earn his MLR debut.

Achievements

NARDB Player #1,621

DeCor Davis

Pennsylvanian back row DeCor Davis played in Major League Rugby during the 2022 season. He represented the Dallas Jackals for his entire MLR career.

A Philadelphia native, DeCor Davis attended Queens University of Charlotte between 2016-2021, playing with the University’s rugby team from 2017 onwards. He declared for the 2021 MLR Collegiate Draft and was selected in the 1st Round, 10th Overall by the Dallas Jackals.

The Dallas Jackals announced the signing of DeCor Davis on October 22nd, 2021 ahead of their inaugural 2022 campaign. He trained with the Jackals during the season but did not feature at MLR level and spent at least some of the season sidelined with injury.

achievements

NARDB Player #1,620

Danny Giannascoli

Pennsylvania native Danny Giannascoli played in Major League Rugby during the 2023 campaign. He represented the Utah Warriors for his entire MLR career.

A native of Malvern, PA, Danny Giannascoli attended Loyola University Maryland, where he was named a NSCRO All-American twice in 2019 & 2020. Giannascoli declared for MLR’s inaugural Collegiate Draft in 2020 and was selected in the 2nd Round, 15th overall by the Utah Warriors. It looked as though he was gearing up to play for the Warriors until he abruptly left in early 2021, returning to the East Coast and playing with Schuylkill River.

Whatever the reason for his departure, the Utah Warriors signed Giannascoli a few years later for their 2023 MLR campaign and although he has yet to earn his pro debut, he spent a productive year with the Utah Warriors Selects academy side in 2023.

Achievements:
  • MLR Draftee: 2020 – 2nd Round (15th Overall) – Utah Warriors

NARDB Player #1,619

MLR 2026 – All Players

A list of all players signed to play during the 2026 MLR season. This list can be used to identify the season leaders in various categories for the 2026 MLR season.

California Legion Players – All

A list of all players who have represented the California Legion, including active California Legion players. The stats only include numbers earned with the Legion. For totals please refer to individual player pages or the ‘All Players’ List.

California Legion Players – Active

A list of active players who are currently representing the California Legion in the current season of Major League Rugby. The stats only include numbers earned with the Legion. For totals please refer to individual player pages or the ‘All Players’ List.

2026 Overall MLR Standings

The Overall League Standings for the 2026 MLR season.

For the first time since 2019, the 2026 MLR season operated without a conference system. Now a round-robin format, this table shows the overall league standings, with the Top 4 qualifying for the post-season.

Standings will be updated on a weekly basis following each round. Points are awarded based on the following:
PF = Points For
PA = Points Against
+/- = Points Difference
Points
4 points for winning a match
2 points for drawing a match
0 points for losing a match
1 losing bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer
1 try bonus point for scoring 4 tries or more

California Legion

Background & History

The California Legion were born on the 30th July 2025 upon the merging of two previous California franchises, the San Diego Legion, and Rugby FC LA. They competed in their first MLR season in 2026. The latter Rugby FC LA were a relatively new franchise, moving from Atlanta (where they were Rugby ATL under a different ownership group) to LA ahead of the 2024 season. The San Diego Legion on the other hand, were one of MLR’s founding members and Legion owner Ryan Patterson is head of the MLR board. The California Legion took much of the established branding of the San Diego Legion, and aim to create a ‘single, statewide professional rugby franchise’ in California. Of the merger, MLR CEO Nick Benson said ‘Major League Rugby will always prioritize long-term growth of the game in the U.S., delivering an exceptional on-field product and an incredible fan experience, and The California Legion is a way to showcase that in Southern California’.

In the announcement of the merger, Australian RFCLA Executive and former player Adam Freier was named as California Legion CEO. The ownership structure is unclear, but it’s possible that Legion owner Ryan Patterson and RFCLA owner Peter Sickle and now co-owners. It is also worth mentioning that All Blacks legend Ma’a Nonu has a stake in the San Diego Legion, and French superstar Antoine Dupont owns a stake in Rugby FC LA. It is possible that these two legends of the game are now business partners, but it is also possible that they now have nothing to do with the new California Legion organisation.

The California Legion’s reception was frosty at best among the existing LA and San Diego fanbases, and with MLR fans in general who recognised that they were still losing a franchise. The announcement mentioned that the California Legion would split their home games in 2026 between San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange Country (where RFCLA had hosted 1 game in the 2024 season). This means that fanbases would only be able to see 2/3 local games without needing to travel in the notoriously bad South California traffic. However the commitment to the 2026 season from the newly formed California Legion was encouraging.

The California Legion seems to have maintained much of the infrastructure of RFCLA and San Diego including the Legion Community Foundation which continues to focus on rugby at a grassroots level through things like establishing Flag Rugby leagues in schools to help solidify pathways to rugby.

Records

all time

Top Scorer:
Top Try Scorer: 
Top Playoff Scorer:
Top Tackler:
Top Meter Eater:
Most Capped Player: 
Most Starts: 

single season

Top Scorer:
Top Try Scorer:
Top Tackler:
Top Meter Eater:

historical performance

2026:

Overall Regular Season Record:
Overall Championship Series Record:
Championship Series Appearances:

The Old Mate

Total Possessions: 1
Longest Streak: 1
First Possession: 2026 – Rd 2
Last Possession: 2026 – Rd 3
Successful Challenges: 1
Failed Challenges: 0
Challenge Success Rate: 100.00%
Successful Defences: 0
Failed Defences: 1
Defence Success Rate: 0.00%

head coach & captain

head coach
captain

Branding

The California Legion primary logo is almost identical to it’s predecessor, the San Diego Legion. The ‘San Diego’ across the top has been replaced with ‘California’, and the red shield remains, having replaced ‘SD’ with ‘CA’.

As a part of the announcement of the merger, the California Legion released a number of different colour schemes relating to different areas of Southern California, leading some to speculate that the team could have different branding for each city. These can be seen below and correspond to San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Long Beach, respectively:

San Diego
Los Angeles
Orange County
Long Beach

 

 

venues

As mentioned in the ‘Background & History’ section, the California Legion aimed to play their 2026 home games between San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange County as well as a number of games in Northern California. For their inaugural season in 2026, The California Legion played 5 homes games at 5 different ‘home’ venues: The Championship Soccer Stadium at Great Park in Orange County, Torero Stadium in San Diego, Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles, St. Mary’s Stadium within St. Mary’s College just outside San Francisco, and Heart Health Park in Sacramento, respectively.

Robbie Abel

Australian coach Robbie Abel coached in MLR between 2021-2026. He has coached with the Utah Warriors (2021-2025) and the Seattle Seawolves (2026), both as an Assistant Coach.

The older brother of Chicago Hounds forward Charlie Abel, Robbie was an accomplished hooker in his playing career. He represented the Brumbies, Melbourne Rebels, and Waratahs in Super Rugby, as well as Northland and Auckland in New Zealand’s NPC, and Perth Spirit and the Canberra Vikings in Australia’s NRC in a playing career that spanned 2013-2021. Abel has also represented the Māori All Blacks a handful of times during their 2018 tour of the USA and South America.

In 2021, Abel joined the Utah Warriors coaching staff as Forwards Coach under Head Coach Shawn Pittman, a role that he occupied from 2021-2022 before becoming Utah Warriors Assistant Coach under Greg Cooper in 2022. Abel served as Assistant Coach from 2022 until Greg Cooper stepped away from the Warriors following a successful 2025 campaign, and on July 1st, 2025, the Utah Warriors named Robbie Abel as Head Coach for the 2026 campaign. Unfortunately for Abel, the Utah Warriors withdrew from Major League Rugby in November 2025 but on 23rd December, 2025, the Seattle Seawolves announced that Robbie Abel had joined the organisation as Forwards Coach for the 2026 season.