Jeremiah Noaese

Washington state native Jeremiah Noaese played in Major League Rugby between 2023-2025. He represented the Utah Warriors for his entire MLR career.

Noaese is a crossover athlete, having played gridiron football through high school but playing rugby with the Washington Academy of Rugby. He impressed, and was a part of a 9-week USA high-performance camp at Glendale, Colorado in 2021. He played with the Salt Lake Bull Moose in the 2022 Crossroads Cup (a competition held by the Utah Warriors to identify pathway prospects) starting 3 of 4 games as the Bull Moose finished 2nd.

The Utah Warriors announced the signing of Noaese in December of 2022, ahead of the 2023 MLR season. He earned 9 MLR caps in his debut season in professional rugby including his first MLR start. Following this impressive debut season, the Utah Warriors announced the re-signing of Jeremiah Noaese on 1st November 2023, ahead of the 2024 season. Noaese did not feature in 2024 however, as he was hit with injury trouble. On December 28th, 2024, the Utah Warriors announced the return of Miah Noaese for the 2025 season.

Onehunga Havili

Joel Hodgson

English fly-half Joel Hodgson played in Major League Rugby between 2023-2026. He represented the Utah Warriors (2023-2025) and the New England Free Jacks (2026).

A Newcastle native, Hodgson played rugby through High School, representing the England U18s as a scrum-half, and the England U19s as a fly-half. He joined the Newcastle Falcons in 2010 in the English Premiership, earning over 100 appearances with his local Premiership club across two stints, 2010-2014, and 2016-2022. He played with the Northampton Saints for the 2015/16 season. He also spent some time in the English Championship early in his career, playing with the Rotherham Titans in 2013/14, and the Yorkshire Carnegie in 2015/16. He was loaned to the Glasgow Warriors on a short term basis in 2022, before making the move to MLR.

Hodgson signed with the Utah Warriors ahead of their 2023 campaign, and started all 16 games as the Warriors missed out on the playoffs by just 3pts. Hodgson scored 122pts including 5 tries, finishing 3rd in MLR scoring that season and carried for a remarkable 868m gained as a fly-half. He returned for the Warriors’ 2024 season and again appeared in all 16 games (15 starts), finishing with another 100pt+ season but the Warriors missed out on the post-season once again. Through the 2024 MLR season, Hodgson has scored 233pts in 32 games, including 5 tries. He finished 4th in MLR scoring in 2024. On January 22nd, 2025, the Utah Warriors announced the return of Joel Hodgson for a third season with the team and in MLR in 2025. Hodgson’s 2025 began with him playing behind surprise standout D’Angelo Leuila for the 10 jersey, but when Leuila shifted to 12, Hodgson quickly re-took the flyhalf spot and made it his own. Hodgson started 15 of his 17 appearances for the Warriors, scoring 7 tries and 96pts to help them end their postseason drought, and started both of Utah’s playoff games, helping them earn their first ever postseaon victory over the Seattle Seawolves in the Western Conference Semifinal, before falling to the Houston SaberCats in the Western Conference Final. For his performance in 2025, Joel Hodgson was named to the All-MLR Second XV. He now sits with just over 2,000m gained, and just under 300 tackles made.

On 26th November, 2025, the New England Free Jacks announced that they had signed Joel Hodgson for the 2026 Major League Rugby season. NARDB understands that this move was made before the Utah Warriors announced their withdrawal from MLR earlier that month.

achievements

2025 All-MLR Second XV Selection
MLR Team of the Week: 2025 – Rd 15
MLR Team of the Week: 2025 – Rd 13
MLR Team of the Week: 2025 – Rd 6
4th in MLR Scoring: 2024 (111pts)
MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 8
2023 All-MLR Honorable Mention
3rd in MLR Scoring: 2023 (122pts)

Connor McLeod

New Zealand scrum-half Connor McLeod played in Major League Rugby during the 2023 season. He represented the Utah Warriors for his entire MLR career.

McLeod represented the Hawke’s Bay Magpies in New Zealand’s NPC for 3 seasons before heading stateside, and was a member of the Hurricanes’ Super Rugby Development Squad from 2020-2021. McLeod appeared in all 16 regular season games for the Warriors in his inaugural MLR season including 13 starts, and scored 5 tries.

Connor McLeod recorded a hattrick in the Warriors’ 26-36 road win over Dallas in Week 13 of the 2023 season. He dotted down 3 times within the first 19 minutes of the game to set a new record for the fastest hattrick to start a game in league history! His 3 tries in a 13 minute span (6th, 8th, and 19th mintues) is also the 2nd shortest 3-try span in league history, follow a James Malcolm hattrick in a 9 minute span for the Seattle Seawolves in 2021.

On July 10, 2023 McLeod was included in an updated Hawke’s Bay squad for their 2023 NPC season, and he did not return to MLR for 2024.

Achievements:

Fastest hattrick to start a MLR game – 19 minutes
MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 13
MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 8
MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 7

Jamie Lane

Kevin Morgan

NY-native Kevin Morgan appeared in the 2023 MLR season after signing with the expansion Chicago Hounds on 9th February, 2023 from New York Athletics Club Rugby. The Winger earned 2 MLR caps for the hounds in a depth role before being traded to the Dallas Jackals on March 27th, 2023 in exchange for 2023 Salary Cap Considerations and the Dallas Jackals’ 2nd Round Draft Pick in 2023.

Duke Krishnan

Malaysian lock Dinesvaran ‘Duke’ Krishnan played in MLR during the 2024 season. He represented the Chicago Hounds for his entire MLR career.

Raised in Sengai Petani, Krishnan moved south to the city of Penang for secondary school. He discovered rugby here and represented his school & district before switching to play soccer and volleyball during high school. He returned to rugby following his graduation in 2007, playing with the Bukit Mertajam Rhinos before being called up to play with the Malaysia U20 side at an Asia RFU U20 Tournament in Brunei. The following year, Krishnan moved from the Rhinos to the Combined Old Boys Rugby Association (COBRA) where he played on and off between 2008-2015. During his time with COBRA, Krishnan also played for the Malaysia National Sevens team in China, Thailand, and Brunei, as well as the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. In addition to the Sevens side, Krishnan earned 12 test caps for Malaysia at fifteens level.

In 2013, Krishnan spent 2 months training with the Blue Bulls in South Africa, before moving to Japan to play with the Yamaha Júbilo (now the Shizuoka Blue Revs) in Japan’s Top League (now League One) which he did between 2013-2018. In 2018, he was teammates with fellow MLR-er Gerrie Labuschagne (Houston SaberCats). For 2019, he moved on from the Blue Revs to the Hino Red Dolphins, where he played between 2019-2023.

In January 2023, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of Duke Krishnan for their inaugural MLR season in 2023. He earned 10 MLR appearances for the Hounds, starting 6 times and scoring 1 try. On 22^nd January 2024, Krishnan announced on Instagram that he was hanging up his boots and retiring from playing professional rugby. He established Duke Performance Empire (DPE), focusing on grassroots rugby in Malaysia.

achievements

MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Round 17
MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Round 3

George Thornton

Luke Campbell

New Zealand Scrum-half Luke Campbell played in Major League Rugby between 2023-2025. He represented the NOLA Gold for his entire MLR career.

Not to be confused with Canadian international forward Luke Campbell who announced his retirement in December 2022, Campbell’s move to MLR was announced relatively early in the offseason with the NOLA Gold announcing the addition in September 2022. He joined from Manawatu in New Zealand’s NPC Competition having also earned a dozen appearances for Super Rugby’s Hurricanes in 2021, before signing with Narbonne in France on a 1-year deal.

Campbell’s debut MLR season saw the then-27yo earn 13 MLR caps for the NOLA Gold including 10 starts, scoring 4 tries for the Gold in their up-and-down 2023 season. He gained 331m which is relatively high for a scrum-half. On July 26th, 2023, Campbell was included in the Manawatu squad for their 2023 NPC season, but returned to MLR with the Gold for their 2024 season in which they qualified for the playoffs for the first time in club history. In that season, he scored 3 tries and 19pts in 14 games (all starts), racking up a personal best of 352m gained. Campbell started NOLA’s first ever MLR Playoff game against the Chicago Hounds, a 21-45 home defeat where the score line does not really reflect how tight the game was.

Campbell rejoined the Manawatu Turbos during the MLR offseason. The Turbos announced this on 19th June 2024. On December 21st, 2024, the NOLA Gold announced the return of Luke Campbell for his 3rd MLR season in 2025, having spent the offseason with Manawatū.

achievements

MLR Team of the Week: 2025 – Rd 8
MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 6

Jordan Jackson-Hope

Australian Centre/Fly-half Jordan Jackson-Hope played in Major League Rugby between 2023-2024, and again in 2026. He represented the NOLA Gold (2023-2024) and Old Glory DC (2026).

Jackson-Hope represented the Wallabies during the 2016 Junior World Championship, and made his Super Rugby debut with the Brumbies that same year, representing them between 2016-2019. He moved to Japan in 2019, representing the Toyko Shokki Shuttles in Division 2 of the Japanese Top League (now League One) before returning to Super Rugby in 2020 with the Sunwolves. He stayed in Japan until 2022, representing Tokyo Gas between 2020-2022. He joined the Gold via the Eastern Suburbs in Australia’s Shute Shield competition.

Jackson-Hope earned 12 MLR caps with the Gold in his debut season in North America (all starts), scoring 2 tries and 16pts (2/3 from the tee) and racking up over 800m gained with ball in hand while completing 126 successful tackles. He earned a MLR Team of the Week selection during Round 3. For his standout performance through the 2023 season, he was named both the Back of the Year and Player of the Year at NOLA Gold’s end of season awards. On 11th December 2023, NOLA Gold announced that they had extended their contract with Jordan Jackson-Hope through the 2025 MLR season. In his sophomore MLR season he scored 6 tries in 13 games including a stunning try in NOLA Gold’s first ever playoff game, a 21-45 loss to the Chicago Hounds. For his efforts in 2024, he was named as the NOLA Gold MVP for that season and earned a spot on the All-MLR First XV team.

Following the 2024 MLR season Jackson-Hope seems to have stepped away from rugby to focus on training and coaching. However, after a year away from Major League Rugby in 2025, he returned to North America for the 2026 season, signing with Old Glory DC on 10th February, 2026.