With Major League Rugby Training camps having opened at the start of March, one would think that teams would have their complete rosters announced well before then. While that is now the case for 5 of MLR’s 6 teams, the California Legion were still announcing players for their inaugural season through the first few weeks of training camp! As a result, this final Player Moves summary article of the 2025/26 off-season will once again be very California Legion heavy, but there’s some other player news scattered throughout!
Welcome to the final NARDB Player Moves Summary of the 2025/26 off-season! Over the last 6 months, this series has aimed to keep fans up to date on every single player announcement to, from, and all around Major League Rugby ahead of the 2026 season. This final article follows the same pattern as the last few weeks, but unlike the usual 1-week timeframe this edition covers a couple of weeks to account for the drop in Player Moves as squads report to camp. The summary graphic for Player Moves announced between March 2nd and March 15th is below, followed by the intra-league moves.
Intra-League Signings
The California Legion started their March announcements with a bang, when they confirmed the addition of Utah Warriors legend and try scoring machine Joe Mano for their inaugural season in 2026! Born in Hawaii and raised in American Samoa, Mano was a multi-sport athlete during his time at Fa’asaō Marist High School, before moving to Alaska in 2013 and joined the Alaska Green Dragons. He represented the Dragons until 2017 when he moved to Oklahoma, playing with Tulsa RFC. After a brief return to Alaska, Joe Mano moved to Utah with the aim of representing the Warriors, first playing with the Salt Lake City Gladiators, then representing the American Samoa Sevens side (Talavalu) at the Oceania 7s in Fiji. His success earned him a spot in the Utah Selects squad for their fall season in 2020, where he earned a MLR contract ahead of the Utah Warriors’ 2021 campaign. Between 2021-2025, Joe Mano scored an outrageous 39 tries in 54 games (49 starts) including two separate seasons with 14 tries to his name (2023 & 2025). In his first 14-try season in 2023, Mano racked up over 1,400m gained in possession and scored his 14 tries in as many games, but only earned an All-MLR Second XV selection. Following his 2nd 14-try campaign in 2025, Mano finally earned that All-MLR First XV selection, also finishing 7th league-wide in Metres gained with 869m (the 2025 season saw a fall in MGained across the board. His 1,416m in 2023 saw him finish 4th league wide despite being almost double his 2025 total). Joe Mano is one of only 4 players in MLR history to have recorded multiple hat tricks in the competition, and is tied with Seattle Seawolves winger (and fellow American Samoan) Lauina Futi, both with 3 hat tricks each. Undoubtedly a prolific try scorer, Joe Mano now heads to the West Coast for his 6th season in Major League Rugby, and the first not representing the Utah Warriors. It seems likely that Joe Mano will be a regular starting winger for the Legion, with Ryan James on the other side, and Oscar Treacy in reserve.
The California Legion would follow up the addition of long-time Utah Warrior winger Joe Mano, with the addition of a second long time Warrior in as many days when they announced that they had signed Hawaiian back row Lance Williams for their inaugural campaign in 2026! A D1 football player with the University of Hawaii, Williams has played in Major League Rugby since the league’s inaugural season back in 2018, representing the Utah Warriors in 25 games between 2018-19, starting 24 times and scoring 2 tries, also recording a career high of 190 tackles in the 2019 campaign. He suffered an injury in the build up to the 2020 season that saw him miss the truncated 2020 season, returning in 2021 to become a regular in the Warriors’ starting XV between 2021 and 2023, starting 43 of his 46 appearances and adding another 13 tries including a high of 5 in both 2022 and 2023, recording over 170 tackles made in each of these 3 seasons. Following the 2023 MLR campaign, the Warriors announced the departure of Lance Williams who was linking up with the USA Sevens program in their run up to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. This wasn’t his first foray into Sevens, as he had already earned his Eagles debut on the HSBC SVNS Series tour in Dubai back in 2022, and had represented his country at 10 tournaments to that point, however he was not ultimately selected for the Olympic squad and following the games Williams returned to the Utah Warriors part way through the 2025 campaign, adding another try and 8 starts in 10 games including both of their playoff matches, ultimately falling to the Houston SaberCats in the Western Conference Final. In total, Lance Williams scored 19 tries in 81 MLR appearances for the Utah Warriors, starting 75 times and recording five 100+ tackle seasons including 4 over 170 for a huge total of 891 tackles made in his MLR career so far as well as over 3,100m gained in possession. The 33yo flanker is effective on both sides of the ball, and is an excellent addition to a California Legion back row that includes the likes of Christian Poidevin, Ronan Murphy, and Ben Houston.
Sticking to the pattern of signing former Utah Warriors, a day later the California Legion added a third ex-Warrior to their squad for 2026, announcing the addition of Samoan born, US-eligible prop Fred Apulu! Born and raised in Samoa, Apulu represented the Manu Samoa U20s before moving to Hawaii to be with his now-wife, and joined the Hawaii Marist Rugby Club. He signed with the LA Giltinis for their 2022 campaign, and earned his MLR debut off the bench that season. Following the disqualification and subsequent folding of the Giltinis, Apulu signed with the San Diego Legion for the 2023 season, but was traded from San Diego to the Chicago Hounds before earning his Legion debut, joining the Hounds for the back half of their inaugural season and represented Chicago through the 2024 season, earning 18 appearances in total including his first career start in 2024, where he featured in 14 games including both of the Hounds playoff matches, gaining well over 100m in possession. Following his time in Chicago with the Hounds, Apulu headed southwest to Utah, signing with the Warriors for the 2025 campaign where he scored his first career MLR try and earned 3 of his 4 career starts in 8 appearances. Across his 4 seasons in Major League Rugby, Fred Apulu has earned 24 appearances for 3 different sides (not including the San Diego Legion, who he didn’t get a chance to suit up for in a MLR game), completing just shy of 100 tackles and gaining 241m in possession. The 29yo loosehead will be competeing for the Legion #1 jersey with the likes of Declan Leaney and Ma’ake Muti.
The California Legion seem to have thoroughly raided the remnants of the Utah Warriors for everything they can, announcing the signing of a 4th former Warriors on 5th March, Cole Semu! Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Semu moved to Washington State with his family at the age of 8 and it was here, rather than in New Zealand, where he started playing rugby (surprisingly!) with Chuckanut Bay RFC when he was 12. Semu enrolled at Brigham Young University in Utah, and represented the BYU Cougars while also progressing through the USA Rugby Age-Grade sides, representing the U18s, U20s, and U23s. He also travelled to Chile with the California Grizzlies U23s in 2024. That same year, he declared for the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft and was selected in the 3rd Round, 28th overall, by the Utah Warriors, who signed him to an MLR deal for their 2025 campaign. In his rookie year, Cole Semu started 8 of his 10 appearances for the Warriors, scoring his first pro try during Round 16, where he earned a MLR Team of the Week selection for his performance. Semu gained 165m in total and completed 60 tackles to help the Utah Warriors finish as MLR’s top team during the 2025 regular season. Now heading to California to join the Legion, Cole Semu will join the likes of Billy Meakes, Cassh Maluia, and the player below as centre options, and has a good chance of earning starts based on the current Legion roster.
Finally on the California Legion’s shopping list from Utah was freshly test capped USA Eagle Tonga Kofe! The former Portland State University Defensive Lineman and 2013 Oregon State Wrestling Champion began playing rugby in his native Oregon with the Oregon U20s. He developed in the Utah Warriors pathway, first joining the Utah Selects in the fall of 2023 and was called up to the Warriors in February 2024, right before the Major League Rugby season. In his first year of pro rugby, Kofe earned 6 appearances for the Warriors off the bench and was named as the Utah Warriors’ Newcomer of the Year. He returned for a 2nd year at Zion’s Bank in 2025, and enjoyed a superb season. He earn his first career start and was named to the starting XV for 12 of his 14 appearances during the regular season to help the Utah Warriors finish as MLR’s top team heading into the playoffs. During the postseason, Kofe started both Warriors games as Utah advanced to the Western Conference Final, where they fell to the Houston SaberCats. Kofe scored 2 tries during the 2025 season and completed over 100 tackles, earning 3 MLR Team of the Week selections and a spot in the All-MLR Second XV for his performances. Following the MLR campaign, Tonga Kofe was called up to the USA national side, where he earned his international debut as Eagle #587 during their July test against Belgium. He also featured against England that summer, which proved handy as in August, the Leicester Tigers of the English Premiership announced that they had signed Kofe for the 2025/26 season. Kofe spent his time in the UK between the Tigers and Championship side Nottingham on loan, earning a handful of appearances in both flights of English pro rugby. Now returning to Major League Rugby with the California Legion, who boast a decent number of former Warriors including Joe Mano and Lance Williams, Tonga Kofe will likely be Stephen Hoiles’ first choice tighthead, but will face some competition from Michael Scott and another gridiron convert, Justus Tavai.
After they were done scavenging all they could from the Utah Warriors, the California Legion returned to their regularly scheduled broadcasting with the announcement that they had signed former Rugby FC LA centre, Nick Chan! Born and raised in Sydney, Chan grew up playing fly-half but switched to the centre as he grew. As with a great many players on the California Legion roster, Chan represented the Randwick Galloping Greens, joining the Shute Shield side in 2021 before being selected for the Junior Wallabies (U20s) late that year. He played with Randwick between 2021-2023, helping them to a Shute Shield title in 2023. Nick Chan had been on the edge of a Super Rugby deal for some time, joining the Western Force for their 2022 pre-season camp, and represented the NSW Waratahs on their tour of Japan in 2024. Chan first entered Major League Rugby with Rugby FC LA for the 2025 season, scoring 3 tries in 12 games (all starts) and gaining over 400m in possession while completing 121 tackles on defence, a solid debut season in the US. Chan returned to Randwick for the 2025 Shute Shield season, and now heads back to California to join the Legion for 2026 where he is the 4th centre confirmed in the squad alongside the players mentioned above.
New Additions
Right at the tail end of announcing their roster for the 2026 Major League Rugby campaign, the California Legion announce their first player who joins from outside of MLR, New Zealand fly-half Coby Miln! The young kiwi attended Hamilton Boys’ High School in New Zealand before moving to Australia and joining Randwick in the Shute Shield, a popular recruitment spot for the Legion. Miln earned his professional debut in Japan in 2022, representing the Munakata Sanix Blues in Division 3 of the Japan Rugby League One, before returning to Randwick and representing the Galloping Greens until 2024 when he moved to the Warringah Rats, also in the Shute Shield. Miln was excellent for Warringah, finishing with a club record 214pts scored in the 2024 Shute Shield and earning a spot on the Western Force’s tour to South Africa. From this, he earned his Super Rugby debut with the Force as an injury call-up during Round 5 of the 2025 season. Coby Miln now heads to California to join the Legion where he has a good shot of making the 10 jersey his own, competing with MLR Draftee Matt Anticev and possibly Steffan Crimp (who can also play 15) for game time.
Draftees turning Pro
Although the California Legion have been the only team regularly announcing players over the last few weeks, they were not the first! Back on March 2nd, the Seattle Seawolves became the 5th MLR side to announce their complete roster for the 2026 campaign. Included on that roster were two of the Seawolves’ 2025 draftees, marking their first pro contracts!
First up is Seawolves’ 2025 First Round Draft Pick and Seattle native, Tiai Vavao! The son of a Samoan father who played rugby back in Samoa, Vavao grew up as a football and wrestling fan but picked up rugby in high school, and immediately took to it. He quickly earned a spot on the USA U18s’ tour to Canada, before CWU Head Coach at the time Todd Thornley (now with the California Legion) contacted him about the chance to play rugby while earning his degree. Vavao enrolled at CWU and represented the Wildcats during his time there while also progressing through the USA age-grade sides, representing the Falcons, U20s, and most recently the U23s in 2025. Following his graduation from CWU, the 215lbs flanker declared for the 2025 MLR Collegiate Draft and was seleted 3rd overall by his hometown MLR team, the Seattle Seawolves, who signed him for his rookie season in 2026 where he will mosy likely serve a depth role in a strong Seawolves back row.
Joining Tiai Vavao on the Seattle Seawolves roster for 2026 is tighthead prop and fellow Major League Rugby draftee Charlie Walsh! Selected in the 2nd Round of the 2025 MLR Collegiate Draft (11th Overall) by the Seawolves, Walsh was born and raised in Hong Kong but is a US-citizen and the son of two American attorneys who met at Boston College before moving to Hong Kong. Charlie Walsh began playing rugby at the age of 8, and moved to New Zealand to play high-level high school rugby with St. Paul’s Collegiate School. He enjoyed regular Championships while at high school, and helped to lead St. Paul’s to a New Zealand Central North Island (CNI) First XV Championship, and earning a stint with the Waikato U18 side to boot. Following his time in New Zealand, Walsh headed to California and enrolled at UC-Berkeley, where he earned 45 starts for the Golden Bears, more than any other player at the time. After captaining the team to a 2025 D1A National Collegiate Championship, Charlie Walsh declared for the MLR Draft and has signed on for his rookie season with the team that drafted him, the Seattle Seawolves where similar to Vavao, will play a depth role behind Ignacio Peculo & Mason Pedersen.
Departures
On March 3rd, one of the biggest names in Major League Rugby history issued a statement of support for his former team, teammates, and their fans, and confirmed that he would not be participating in MLR during the 2026 season. This upcoming MLR season will be the first season in league history to not feature Dylan Fawsitt. Born and raised in Wexford, Ireland, ‘The Butcher‘ was one of few active MLR players that played in the short-lived PRO Rugby competition in 2016, representing the Ohio Aviators. Between the fall of PRO Rugby in 2016 and the rise of MLR in 2018, Fawsitt became US eligible through residency and earned his test debut for the USA as Eagle #523 against Chile in February of 2018 before heading to Colorado to join the Raptors for the inaugural Major League Rugby season. That year, Fawsitt started 6 of his 8 appearances and scored his first MLR try (of a great many!) as the Raptors advanced to the 2018 Championship Final, where they fell to the Seattle Seawolves. Having set himself up in the Tri-State area when he moved to the US, Fawsitt moved from Colorado to expansion side Rugby United New York for their inaugural season in 2019. Dylan Fawsitt would represent the Ironworkers between 2019-2023, starting 65 of his 72 appearances with the team across 5 seasons, scoring a mind blowing 41 tries for New York. Following the collapse of the Ironworkers during the 2023/24 off-season, Fawsitt headed to Chicago to join the Hounds where he spent a couple of seasons, adding 30 starts in 34 games, and another 23 tries including a career high of 14 scores in 18 games in 2024. Throughout his 8 seasons in Major League Rugby, Dylan Fawsitt has started 101 of his 114 games across 3 teams, and is the league’s all-time leading try scorer with a ridiculous 65 tries to his name.
As if Major League Rugby’s first Centurion and all-time leading Try Scorer with 329pts to his name weren’t achievements enough, Dylan Fawsitt is MLR’s 10th highest Points scorer with 329pts despite never kicking at goal, and was also the 2nd player in league history to pass 1,000 tackles made behind Chicago Hounds teammate Lucas Rumball, both passing the 1k mark during the 2025 season. Fawsitt is a SIX-TIME All-MLR selection, with 4 of these being First XV selections (2019, 2022, 2023, 2024), and for the icing on the cake, he’s a MLR Champion having lifted the Shield with New York in 2022, defeating the Seattle Seawolves to get some revenge for 2018. Add in just under 3,000m gained in possession as well a a couple of 50:22’s, and without a doubt you have the resume for a first-ballot Hall of Famer…if such a thing existed in MLR. It will be very strange to not see The Butcher suiting up in 2026, but when fans have the conversation about legends within MLR, the conversation starts with Dylan Fawsitt.
To wrap things up, in mid-March the reigning Super Rugby Americas Champions announced some reinforcements after the first few rounds of the SRA season. According to Uruguayan journalist Ignacio Chans, Peñarol signed 4 Canadians for their 2026 SRA campaign, including 3 former Major League Rugby players, starting with 2025 Chicago Hounds centre, Noah Flesch. The brother of fellow test capped Canadian Mason Flesch, Ontario native Noah developed his rugby with the Pacific Pride in British Columbia, Canada’s High Performance Development Pathway. He earned his test debut against Chile in the Autumn of 2024, starting alongside his brother. As with his test debut, Noah Flesch first entered Major League Rugby with his brother on the Chicago Hounds, who signed him in November of 2024 ahead of the 2025 season. In his debut season, Flesch scored his first MLR try on just shy of 100m, and started 3 of his 12 appearances with 36 tackles made to help the Hounds earn a playoff spot, finishing 3nd in the Eastern Conference with a 11-5 record.
Along with former Chicago Hounds centre Noah Flesch and Pacific Pride fullback James Thiel, defending SRA Champions Peñarol also added a pair of Canadian former Free Jacks for their 2026 season, starting with British Columbia native Foster DeWitt. The University of British Columbia graduate developed with both the UBC Thunderbirds and the Pacific Pride, and earned his test debut for the national side against Belgium in November 2021. DeWitt entered Major League Rugby with the Free Jacks in 2022, and represented them for 4 seasons from 2022-2025. He earned 10 starts and 46 appearances in total, scoring 3 tries on just shy of 500m gained, and completed 55 tackles in 11 games in 2025 to take his career total to an even 250 tackles. Foster DeWitt was a part of all three New England Free Jacks Championships, but now heads to Super Rugby Americas alongside another 3x MLR Champion, Ethan Fryer. Born in Washington State, Fryer is a duel US/Canadian citizen thanks to his Ontario born, Newfoundland raised father. Raised in Washington, Fryer has represented Canada at U20 level and like DeWitt, played with the Pacific Pride before entering MLR with the Free Jacks in 2022. He started 6 of his 22 MLR appearances for the Free Jacks, earning 19 of these since 2024 and featuring in all 3 Shield-winning seasons. Back row Fryer has 2 tries on over 300m gained, and just shy of 100 tackles completed in his MLR career. Fryer committed to his Canadian side when he earned his test debut for the Maple Leaf against Romania in July of 2024. DeWitt and Fryer exchange one 3x Championship winner for another as they join Flesch and Thiel at Peñarol in SRA.
Wrapping Up
That does it for another California Legion heavy Player Moves article, covering the final few weeks of the 2025/26 Major League Rugby off-season! Along with a handful of departures to South America, and the retirement of a true MLR great, the Seattle Seawolves confirmed the signing of a pair of 2025 Draftees when they announced their full squad. Finally, the California Legion have now announced their entire 31 man squad that includes 13 Rugby FC LA players, but only 3 San Diego Legion players on their roster following the ‘merger’. Although the Legion haven’t officially announced the full roster, NARDB understands that all players have now been confirmed for the 2026 season which means that this is the final MLR Player Moves Summary of the offseason! Congratulations, we’re nearly made it and a highly competitive MLR season is under 2 weeks away!
Thank you, as always, for tuning in to these Player Moves articles throughout the off-season! Even if there are a few last minute surprise Player Moves, these will be covered individually on socials rather than in a weekly summary. Regular articles on NARDB will now shift from Player Moves to Midweek Milestones during the season in addition to a few additional articles through the season. If there are any Player Moves that you notice, or just to say what you think about these articles or the site in general, you can let NARDB/James know on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, 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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