Lincoln Sii

California native Lincoln Sii played in Major League Rugby between 2021-2025. He represented Rugby ATL (2021-2023) and Rugby FC LA (2024-2025).

Sii played gridiron football during his time at Great Oak High School from 2012-2015. He began playing rugby in 2015 with the Temecula Mountain Lions. Sii enrolled at Grand Canyon University and played rugby during his time there, graduating in 2020. He declared for the 2020 draft but was not drafted to the surprise of many. As a result, Sii was able to sign with any MLR team, and he joined the Rugby ATL system, playing with the Pathway 404 academy side. Sii earned his MLR debut from the bench in 2021, the year that ATL finished as Runners-Up to the LA Giltinis. Sii earned 15 appearances with the RATLers between 2021-2023, including a career high of 10 in 2023, when he also earned his first MLR start.

Following the 2023 season, Rugby ATL was sold to new owners, relocated to Los Angeles (the Giltinis has since folded), and rebranded as Rugby FC LA. Sii followed the team to his home state of California, and earned 5 appearances for RFCLA in their inaugural season in 2024. On December 12th, 2024, RFCLA announced the return of Lincoln Sii for the 2025 MLR season.

Achievements

2021 MLR Runner-Up: Rugby ATL

Eamonn Matthews

American scrum-half Eamonn Matthews played in Major League Rugby between 2020-2023. He represented Rugby ATL between 2021-2022, before signing for the Rugby New York Ironworkers in 2023.

Matthews signed for Rugby ATL in November of 2019, ahead of the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. He did not feature in any MLR games in 2020, instead playing with Rugby ATL’s academy side, the 404 Pathway. Matthews played with Rugby ATL through the 2022 MLR season, earning 6 caps and his only MLR start for the Ratlers.

Following the 2022 MLR campaign, the New Jersey native signed with the Rugby New York Ironworkers in early February 2023, just weeks before the start of the 2023 season. He was the Ironworker’s 4th-string scrum-half, but still earned an additional 4 MLR caps during the campaign, scoring his only MLR try.

During his MLR career, Matthews earned a total of 11 caps (1 start) across 4 seasons, scoring 1 try in total. On 16th August 2023, Matthews announced his retirement from professional rugby at the age of 26.

Achievements:

Sam Cowley

Daemon Torres

Texas Native Daemon Torres played in Major League Rugby between 2021-2024. He represented Rugby ATL from 2021-2023 until the RATLers relocation to LA, and the Dallas Jackals in 2024.

Torres earned 6 MLR caps in his debut MLR season including 2 starts, and totalled 30 MLR caps (16 starts) across his 3 seasons with Atlanta. He scored 3 tries for the RATLers and they all came in the 2022 season, the same year where Torres earned his 2 MLR Team of the Week selections, in back-to-back weeks for Round 16 & 17.

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2023 MLR season, and following the news that Rugby ATL had changed ownership and was relocating to Los Angeles for the 2024 season as essentially a new franchise, Daemon Torres elected to move to his home state of Texas rather than follow the team to the west coast and signed with the Dallas Jackals on September 26, 2023, where he enjoyed the most effective MLR season of his career. Torres appeared in all but one of the Jackals games in 2024, including their stunning Western Conference Semifinals victory over the #1 ranked Houston SaberCats, as well as their nailbiting Western Conference Final against the Seattle Seawolves. Torres scored 4 of his 7 career MLR tries for the Jackals.

On 13th September 2024, Torres announced his retirement on his instagram, at the age of 27.

Achievements:

MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Round 17
MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Round 16
2021 MLR Runner-Up: Rugby ATL

Will Burke

Contract Status: Returning for 2023 – Details unknown

Jonas Petrakopoulos

Dutch born US-Eligible front row Jonas Petrakopoulos played in Major League Rugby between 2020-2025. He represented Rugby United New York (2020), Rugby ATL (2021-2023), and the Miami Sharks (2024-2025).

Born in Amsterdam to American parents, Petrakopoulos picked up rugby while living in England. He moved to Indiana with his family while still in High School, attending Herron for 2 years before transferring to Bishop Chatard in Indianapolis where he was named a High School All-American in 2016 & 2017, as well as Indiana High School Rugby Player of the Year in 2017. He also represented the Netherlands U18s in Portugal and also represented the U20 side. In 2018 he attended the famous Stellenbosch Academy of Sport in South Africa before travelling to play in New Zealand for the Bay of Plenty Development side. It is yet to be seen whether Petrakopoulos will represent the USA or the Netherlands at test level.

Petrakopoulos returned to the US in 2020 after signing with Rugby United New York for their 2020 MLR season, earning his MLR debut and first MLR start before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the season after only 5 rounds. Petrakopoulos signed with Rugby ATL ahead of the League’s return in 2021, appearing in 12 games as they advanced to the Championship Final before falling 31-17 to the LA Giltinis at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He represented Rugby ATL for 3 seasons, earning 33 MLR caps with the RATLers between 2021-2023. Following the 2023 season, MLR and Rugby ATL announced that there had been a change of ownership and that the team would be relocating to LA (without a team since 2022) for the 2024 season.

Petrakopoulos chose not to follow Rugby ATL (now Rugby FC LA) to the west coast, and on 7^th January 2024, the Miami Sharks expansion side announced the signing of Jonas Petrakopoulos on a 2yr contract ahead of their inaugural season in 2024. He appeared in all 16 games of the Sharks’ inaugural MLR season, earning a career high 5 starts and completing over 50 tackles for the first time. He earned a MLR Team of the Week selection in Rd 7 for his performance. On November 27th, 2024, the Sharks confirmed the return of Jonas Petrakopoulos for the 2025 season.

achievements

MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 8
2021 MLR Runner-Up: Rugby ATL

Manasa Saulo

Rowan Gouws

Te Rangatira Waitokia

New Zealand Utility back Te Rangatira Waitokia played in Major League Rugby from 2021-2024. He represented Rugby ATL (2021-2023), and Anthem RC (2024)

Waitokia is a strong runner and prolific try scorer. At the conclusion of the 2023 season he was Rugby ATL’s 3rd highest try scorer (all-time), with 14 tries in 42 MLR games. On 2nd August 2023, MLR announced that Rugby ATL had changed ownership and would be leaving Atlanta (destined for Los Angeles, as announced on 17th August 2023 and would become Rugby FC LA). Shortly after this, on 11th August 2023, Waitokia was traded to the Toronto Arrows in exchange for 2024 Salary Cap Considerations (details undisclosed). He has a good relationship with Manawatu teammate and Toronto Arrows legend Sam Malcolm, which may have influenced his decision to sign in Toronto.

Waitokia’s contract (signed with Rugby ATL but traded to the Arrows) runs through the 2025 MLR season. When the Arrows announced that they were unable to compete in the 2024 MLR season, Waitokia signed with Anthem RC for their inaugural season, a partnership between World Rugby, USA Rugby, and MLR. He was a standout on a valiant Anthem side that went 0-16 in 2024, and played in 15 games (14 starts) scoring 7 tries and running for a PB 1,246m gained, finishing 6th in MLR that season and surpassing his 1,179m effort from 2022 when he finished 10th in MLR. For his efforts in 2024, Waitokia was named as Anthem RC‘s Back of the Year.

He has played with Manawatu in New Zealand’s NPC since 2017 and on 14th June 2023 Manawatu announced that Waitokia would be returning for the 2023 NPC season.