Brendan Daly

Dylan Taikato-Simpson

New Zealand fullback Dylan Taikato-Simpson played in Major League Rugby between 2019-2021. He represented the Glendale Raptors (2019) and Old Glory DC (2020-2021).

Taikato-Simpson joined the Glendale Raptors ahead of the 2019 MLR season. He appeared in 16 games that season, starting 15 and scored 6 tries and 40pts total, racking up 1,207m gained (good enough for 8th highest in the league that season). Following his debut MLR season, he signed with expansion side Old Glory DC for the 2020 season, appearing in all 5 games before the season was cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Taikato-Simpson returned for the Flags for the 2021 season, starting all 10 of the games he appeared in that season.

Logan Collins

Grigor Kerdikoshvili

Siale Maka

Kevin Lynch

Mickey Bateman

John Ryberg

Texan winger John Ryberg played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2022. He represented the Glendale/Colorado Raptors between 2018-2020, and the LA Giltinis (2021-2022).

Through his 5 seasons in MLR, Ryberg cemented himself as one of the most prolific try scorers in the history of the league. He finished as the joint-leading try scorer in the 2019 season with 13 alongside all-time MLR leading try scorer Dylan Fawsitt, and scored a further 9 tries in his debut season for the LA Giltinis in 2021. He finished his MLR career with 29 tries scored in 50 games, and is still one of the top try scorers in MLR history.

Ryberg amassed just shy of 3,500m gained across his 5 seasons in MLR, including a league-leading 1,440m in 2019. In 2021, he finished as one of FOUR LA Giltinis in the MLR’s Top 10 try scorers, tied for 5th with 9 tries.

achievements

MLR Champion: 2021 (LA Giltinis)
2nd in Meters Gained: 2020 (422)
1st in Meters Gained: 2019 (1,440m)
MLR Runner-Up: 2019 (Glendale Raptors)

Ben Landry

Wisconsin native and high school football player Ben Landry played in Major League Rugby in 2018, and again between 2020-2023. He represented the Glendale Raptors (later the Colorado Raptors) in MLR’s inaugural 2018 season, before spending a season in the English Championship with Ealing Trailfinders. He returned to MLR with the New England Free Jacks in 2020, before moving to the Seattle Seawolves from 2021-2023 and the Chicago Hounds in 2024.

Landry earned his international debut for the United States in the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship while playing for the Denver Stampede in the short-lived PRO Rugby competition. He remained in Colorado for MLR’s inaugural season, earning 4 caps (all starts) and scoring 1 try in his debut MLR season with the Glendale Raptors, finishing as runners-up to the Seattle Seawolves following a 19-23 loss in the Championship Final.

Through his MLR career, Landry earned a total of 39 caps (36 starts) including a high of 16 (all starts) in 2023 where he scored 3 of his 4 MLR tries and racked up over 500m gained. He finished as an MLR Runner-Up twice, with the Raptors in 2018 and again with the Seawolves in 2022, and appeared in 4 Championship Series games in total. He served as Co-Captain of the Seawolves alongside Charles Elton for part of the 2023 season, while regular captain Riekert Hattingh recovered from injury.

In early September 2023, Landry and the Seawolves announced that he was moving on from Seattle to be closer to his family in Wisconsin. On 4th October 2023, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of Ben Landry for the 2024 season. He scored 2 tries in 8 games (6 starts) for the Hounds that year, earning a MLR Team of the Week selection in Round 8. Following the conclusion of the 2024 season, Landry and the Chicago Hounds announced his retirement with immediate effect due to injury.