Following the flurry of activity shortly after the 2026 Major League Rugby Champions were crowned, player movement around the league has hit a bit of a lull over the past few weeks. This is to be expected early and with any downtime, the long 2026/27 offseason will experience peaks of player movement as well as troughs. Thankfully we have some thoroughly entertaining test rugby to keep us entertained, between the Nations Cup and Nations Championship competitions, as well as a smattering of Women’s Internationals.
Welcome to NARDB’s Player Movement Summary for the 6th to 19th of July, 2026! These articles aim to keep fans informed of all the players entering Major League Rugby, heading overseas after playing here in 2026, or moving to a new team within the league so that there are no surprises when the 2027 season kicks off. While the aim is to publish these articles on a weekly basis, this particular edition covers a couple of weeks to reflect the lower volume of publicly announced signings. With New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship kicking off, which has long been a favourite recruiting ground for MLR teams, this edition feels a bit like a ‘NPC Special’, with all but 1 move involving the NPC. As usual, a summary graphic of all the moves covered in this article is below:
Departures – NPC
The first move announced during this period came on 7th July, when Northland Rugby of New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship announced that they had added Anthem RC scrum-half Zion Going to their squad for the 2026 season. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given that Going is a native kiwi who grew up in Northland and who’s grandfather Sid represented the All Blacks over 25 times during the 60s and 70s. Zion even developed in the Northland system, playing for the U21s in 2021 before heading to Australia to play Premier Grade. Going headed stateside in 2022 and joined the Utah Warriors, playing at the appropriately named Zion’s Bank Stadium for 4 seasons between 2022-2025.
Zion Going really matured as a player with the Warriors, every season he spent in Utah he set new career highs in appearances, starts, tries, metres gained, and tackles made, culminating in an excellent 2025 season where he appeared in all 18 of Utah’s matches, starting 15 times and scoring 4 tries as well as contributing 5 try assists as they finished the regular season as MLR’s top team, before falling to the Houston SaberCats in the Western Conference Final. Going recorded over 100 tackles made that season (as a scrumhalf!) and 276m gained. In total, he started 31 of his 52 games for the Warriors, scoring 8 tries on over 600m gained, with 271 tackles made.
Following the withdrawal of the Utah Warriors from MLR after the 2025 season, Zion Going headed to Charlotte, NC to join Anthem RC for the 2026 season, where they enjoyed their best season in franchise history despite missing the postseason with a 2-8 record. Going appeared in all 10 games for the Rising Stars last season, starting 6 times and scoring another 3 tries on over 100m gained, and recording another 50 tackles completed. He joins Utah & Anthem teammate Jordan Trainor in New Zealand’s NPC, which has long been a go-to competition for MLR players during the North American off-season, and has been a huge recruitment pool in previous seasons of the league. There is no overlap between the NPC and MLR allowing players to continue to play high level rugby year-round still with some decent breaks between the two competitions. Therefore, Going signing with Northland does not rule him out of returning to MLR for the 2027 season. In fact, he is US-eligible through an American grandparent which means he would count as domestic in MLR, a very appealing option for any teams looking for a quality scrum-half for next season…
Zion Going isn’t the only player from the 2026 Major League Rugby season to be heading back to New Zealand to join a NPC side, however. On 13th July Counties Manukau unveiled their squad for the 2026 campaign, which included Seattle Seawolves prop and capped USA Eagle, Ezekiel Lindenmuth!
Born in Samoa, raised in New Zealand, and representing the USA at test level, Lindenmuth is fresh off his 3rd season in MLR in 2026 and first with the Seattle Seawolves after spending the previous two seasons with the Houston SaberCats. He started 27 of his 29 games with the ‘Cats, completing over 100 tackles in both seasons for a total of 231 while gaining over 450m in possession as a front row. He helped Houston finish as MLR runners-up in 2025 and was named to the All-MLR Honourable Mention XV in both 2024 & 2025. Following the surprise withdrawal of the SaberCats during the 2025/26 offseason Lindenmuth, freshly capped as Eagle #594 against England in July 2025, headed to the PNW to join the Seawolves as part of a strong SaberCats contingent that included the likes of Davy Coetzer, Marno Redelinghuys, and Andre Warner. Although he missed a handful of games trhough suspension, Lindenmuth started all 8 games that he was eligible to play in last season, completing 70 tackles and gaining as many metres with ball in hand, beating 12 defenders. He also crossed for a pair of tries, his first in the competition, and earned a pair of Team of the Week selections to help the Seawolves finish the regular season in 2nd place, before falling to the California Legion in the Semifinal.
Fans of Lindenmuth need not panic, as he has played with Counties Manukau in each NPC season since 2020 so this is perfectly normal for the front rower, who is taking the opportunity to play high level rugby year round. In fact, Manukau has a number of MLR alumni in their 2026 squad, including a former teammate of Lindenmuth’s in Houston, AJ Alatimu! Other familiar names on their roster include former NOLA Gold prop Jarred Adams, former Free Jack Simon-Peter Toleafoa, and former Anthem RC winger Tomasi Alosio. Best of luck, Eze!
Sticking with New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship but moving from Counties Manukau on the north side of the North Island, to the Manawatū Turbos on the south coast of the North Island. On 15th July, the Turbos revealed their 2026 squad which included a number of MLR alumni including Malakai Hala-Ngatai, Taniela Filimone, Drew Wild, and notably 2024 Back of the Year Reece MacDonald. Also included however, was Old Glory DC Captain Rob Harley.
English-born Scottish lock Rob Harley joined the Flags in DC ahead of the 2024 season having spent a few seasons in France following a 12 year, 250+ career with the Glasgow Warriors in the Pro12/Pro14/URC, during which time he represented Scotland at test level over 20 times. In his 3 seasons with Old Glory DC, Harley has started 35 of his 36 appearances and Captained the side 26 times. the Scottish lock has gained over 280m in total (203 of these came in 2024 alone) and averaged just over 12 tackles per game for over 425 tackles completed in his MLR career. DC has qualified for the playoffs in each season that Harley has played with them, but came up against the juggernaut Chicago Hounds in 2026, falling in the semifinal. This will be Harley’s 2nd season with Manawatu, having started all 9 of his appearances for the Turbos in 2025.
By far the most MLR2026 representation in the National Provincial Championship belongs to the Bay of Plenty. On 15th July the Steamers revealed their squad for the 2026 season and along with MLR alumni Richard Judd were five players from this latest season of Major League Rugby including four from the New England Free Jacks, so let’s start there!
It’s no secret that the New England Free Jacks underwent more change than any other side in MLR heading into 2026, with only 30% of their 2025 Shield winning roster staying put. A large number of their new recruits came from New Zealand, with the NPC being a prime recruitment competition for MLR and the connections between NPC sides and the New England coach team meant that this was no surprise. The Free Jacks went for a younger roster, bringing in the likes of 21yo Sione Tupou, 22yo Reuben Palmer, and 23yo Filipe Vakasiuola for 2026. Palmer, a lock, earned his professional debut with the Free Jacks and scored his first pro try in their Round 7 victory over the California Legion, starting all 4 of his games last season. Prop Filipe Vakasiuola started 4 of his 8 appearances, contributing a try assist and completing over 50 tackles, earning a Team of the Week selection to boot. Hooker Sione Tupou was a standout, appearing in all 10 Free Jacks games in 2026, starting 6 times and scoring 6 tries with another 2 try assists, and beat 7 defenders on 140m gained while completing 99 tackles in total and earning a pair of Team of the Week selections. Following their debut MLR seasons, Palmer, Vakasiuola, and Tupou all head back to New Zealand to join the Steamers in the Bay of Plenty.
They will be in good company as their Free Jacks Captain, Joe Johnston, will be joining them at the Steamers. Despite missing a chunk of the MLR campaign due to injury, Johnston was still a force to be reckoned with for New England. He started all 7 of his appearances and recorded a massive 118 tackles with an average of 16.9 tackles per game to push his career totals to 918 tackles in his 5 season, 74 game MLR career so far. Johnston is a Bay of Plenty regular having first represented the team in 2019 and earning over 20 appearances for the Steamers since. Very much not a regular with the Steamers, but no stranger to the NPC is Old Glory DC’s talismanic playmaker Jason Robertson, who will be joining these four Free Jacks in the Bay of Plenty this season. Robertson has previously represented both the Counties Manukau and Southland in NPC, but never the Steamers. Having suffered an injury early in the 2025 MLR with the Flags, a healthy Robertson was a standout for Old Glory DC this year. He started all 10 regular season games scoring 3 tries and 88pts while recording another nine try assists and over 80 tackles made on defence before flying back to New Zealand for the birth of his child just as the playoffs were getting started. Correct priorities. He now sits as MLR’s 4th highest scorer on 455pts in 53 games for Old Glory DC since 2020. Best of luck to all the MLR Steamers!
Departures – Other
Moving away from the National Provincial Championship and New Zealand altogether, and over to South Africa where the 2026 Currie Cup Premier Division is just getting started. On 14th July, The Sharks released their squad for the Currie Cup opener against the Pumas. On it were a few familiar names from MLR seasons in the past, as well as a big name from the Anthem RC squad in 2026: Johan Momsen.
A native of Paarl in South Africa, Momsen entered Major league Rugby with Rugby ATL in 2020, representing the RATLers for their entire time in the competition from 2020-2023, when they relocated to Los Angeles and became RFCLA. He earned 53 appearances for ATL in that time including 49 starts, scoring 12 tries including a career high of 5 during the 2021 season when he was named as MLR Forward of the Year, helping Atlanta to the Championship Game and finished as runners-up to the LA Giltinis in a game that Momsen started, making 15 tackles. He gained over 500m in possession twice with ATL, in 2021 (507m) and in 2022 with a career high of 723m, but it was on defence where he stood out. Of his 4 seasons in Atlanta, Momsen recorded 3 seasons with over 165 tackles including a high of 201 in 2021, and even his low of 70 tackles in 2020 came in only 5 games before the season was cancelled. In total, Momsen averaged 11.6 tackles per game with the RATLers for a massive 616 tackles in total.
Rather than relocating to LA with the team in 2023, Momsen headed south to join the Houston SaberCats for the 2024 season and represented the ‘Cats, who already boasted a strong South African contingent, for 2 years from 2024-2025. Momsen kept up his incredible tackle rate in Texas, completing 345 tackles in 32 games for Houston including a career high of 220 in 2025 where he was an MLR Ironman, appearing in the maximum possible 19 games, starting 17 including his second Championship Game, where the ‘Cats fell to the New England Free Jacks in Rhode Island. Following the surprise withdrawal of the SaberCats during the 2025/26 MLR offseason, Momsen headed to Charlotte to join Anthem RC for 2026, where he started all 10 games to help the team to their best ever finish, earning their first two franchise victories. Momsen would finish that year with 119 tackles made (his 6th 100+ tackle season in a row) and became just the 3rd player in MLR history to pass 1,000 tackles made in the competition. Across his 7 seasons in MLR between 2020-2026, Johan Momsen has started 88 of his 95 career appearances, scoring 18 tries on over 2,600m gained in possession. His tackling has remained remarkably consistent, averaging 11.3 tackles across his career for 1,080 in total.
Momsen isn’t the only MLR name in the Sharks lineup though. He will play alongside former Toronto Arrows and Canada scrumhalf Ross Braude, and former Seattle Seawolves Tim Swiel & Kerron van Vuuren at the Durban-based club. As the Currie Cup Premier Division runs from July to September, this by no means rules Johan Momsen out from returning to MLR for 2027, but with the future of Anthem RC unclear, we’ll have to wait and see. Oh, and just to make sure there is an NPC theme running through the entire article, Momsen represented the Manawatu Turbos in 2022 and 2023.
Wrapping Up
Not a huge amount of activity over the last couple of weeks means that this article covers the last fortnight rather than just the last week, and is something of a ‘NPC Special’ with 8 of the 9 moves covered in this article all heading to New Zealand’s top provincial competition. However, given that the National Provincial Championship is celebrating its 50th year in 2026, it’s somewhat appropriate!
Johan Momsen joining the Sharks in Durban for their Currie Cup campaign is the lone move outside of New Zealand however as with the NPC, the Currie Cup will finish long before the 2027 MLR campaign gets rolling and so none of these players have been rueld out of returning to North America next year unless they earn a pro deal somewhere else in the meantime. That, we will have to wait a while for.
Thank you very much for giving this article a read and if you enjoyed it, please share it around so that other fans can stay informed of all the player movement around MLR so far! If there are any moves that were missed, please let us know by tagging us on social media or sending them our way directly. James and NARDB can be found on social media here: @MLRStats on Instagram, JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site.
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