Ex-Wallaby Chris Latham has served as a coach in MLR in 2020, and again between 2024-2026. He served as Head Coach of the Utah Warriors (2020), Assistant Coach for the Seattle Seawolves (2024), and Head Coach of the Chicago Hounds (2025-2026).

Latham’s playing career saw him represent the Wests Bulldogs in the Australian Premier League, as well as the NSW Waratahs for the 1997/98 Super 12 (now Super Rugby) season. Latham moved to the Queensland Reds ahead of the 1998/99 season and earned over 100 Super Rugby caps for the Reds between 1998-2008. While playing for the Reds in 1998, Latham earned his test debut for the Wallabies and appeared in 78 games for Australia, representing them at Three Rugby World Cups, winning in 1999, finishing 2nd in 2003, and recovered from an ACL injury to represent Australia in 2007. He scored 40 test tries (2nd in Wallabies history) including 5 against Nambia at the 2003 RWC, where Australia finished as runners-up to England. Following an impressive international career, Latham signed with the Worcester Warriors in the English Premiership in 2008, earning just shy of 50 appearances for the English side between 2008-2010, when Latham signed with Kyuden Voltex in Japan, where he played until he retired in 2012.

Latham is no stranger to Major League Rugby, having served as Head Coach of the Utah Warriors during the truncated 2020 season, where the Warriors went 2-1-2 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league to cancel the season. Latham stepped down ahead of 2021 due to personal reasons, he returned to his native Australia and continued his coaching career before joining the Seattle Seawolves as an Assistant Coach for the 2024 season when Seattle finished as MLR Runners-up. Latham returned to the Head Coach role on 11th September 2024 when the Chicago Hounds announced him as their head coach ahead of the 2025 MLR Season. In his first year in Chicago, Latham led the Hounds to a team record 11-5 finish (2nd in the Eastern Conference) and defeated Old Glory DC to advance to the Eastern Conference Final, falling to the New England Free Jacks in heartbreaking fashion.

Latham returned as Head Coach of the Hounds in 2026, where the team were utterly dominant. Latham led the Hounds to an undefeated regular season with a 10-0 record and the maximum of 50pts in the standings, before demolishing Old Glory DC in the Semifinals to earn a spot in the Championship Game which happened to take place in Chicago. On a soaking wet evening in front of their own fans, Latham’s Hounds dispatched the California Legion to earn their first MLR Shield and secure the first undefeated season in league history, 12-0. Unsurprisingly, Chris Latham was named MLR Coach of the Year for this incredible achievement in 2026.

Head Coach Record

Overall: 26-1-8
Chicago Hounds (2025-2026): 24-6
Utah Warriors (2020): 2-1-2

achievements

• 2026 MLR Coach of the Year
• 2026 MLR Champion: Chicago Hounds

New Zealander Ryan Martin Coached in Major League Rugby in 2021, and again from 2025-2026. He served as Head Coach of the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

Martin began coaching at grassroots level in his native New Zealand, spending 17 years in schools before coaching professionally. He started with Otago Boys’ High School, coaching the squad to national finals and a 64-game unbeaten streak. In 2016 his talents were rewarded when he was given the opportunity to coach the New Zealand Barbarians Schools side. He moved up to the Otago NPC side in 2018, serving as their Attack & Backs coach between 2018-2020 before MLR came calling. Named as the Head Coach of the New England Free Jacks following their inaugural MLR season in 2020, the Free Jacks banked a strong 10-6 record under Coach Martin.

Upon the conclusion of the 2021 MLR season, Martin was presented with an opportunity to coach at Super Rugby level, serving as the Attack & Backs Coach for the Melbourne Rebels between 2021-2022, before moving to Japan and serving the same role for Toyota Verblitz under Steve Hansen. When Scott Mathie departed New England for Edinburgh in the URC after back-to-back Shields, Martin returned to the Head Coach role with the Free Jacks early in the off-season, ahead of the 2025 MLR season. He re-joined the Free Jacks from Northland in New Zealand’s NPC competition, where he was serving as attack coach for the 2024/25 season. Despite a rocky start to the 2025 season, the Free Jacks recovered to record an 11-5 record in 2025 and top the Eastern Conference. Playoff victories against the Miami Sharks and a thriller with the Chicago Hounds in the Eastern Conference Final meant the Free Jacks met the Houston SaberCats in the 2025 final, emerging as 27-22 victors to secure their 3rd successive MLR Shield, the first of Ryan Martin’s career.

With MLR adjusting their eligibility rules to focus more on domestic talent, the Free Jacks core of Canadian talent had to be broken up and as a result, the Free Jacks underwent more change than any other team ahead of the 2026 season. Unsurprisingly, the team took a step back that season and recorded a 3-7 record under Ryan Martin, missing out on the postseason for the first time since 2021. On 22nd July 2026, the Free Jacks announced that they had re-signed Martin for a 5th season as Head Coach in 2027.

Head Coach Record

Overall: 27-18
Regular Season: 24-18
Playoffs: 3-0
New England Free Jacks (2021, 2026): 27-18

Achievements

• 2025 MLR Champion: New England Free Jacks

 

Raised in Scotland but born in Mauritius, ex-player Simon Cross coached in Major League Rugby between 2024-2026. He served as Head Coach of Old Glory DC for his entire MLR career.

At club level, Simon Cross developed in the London Wasps system between 2000-2003, captaining their U21 side to victory in the 2003 U21 Premiership Final against Bristol at Twickenham. In 2003 he joined Edinburgh Rugby, captaining the side from 2007-2010 before retiring due to persistent knee injuries. Internationally, Cross represented Scotland U19s in 2000, and turned down the opportunity to play with England U21s in 2002.

Despite being born in Mauritius while his English father served in the British Army, Cross has Scottish heritage and always considered himself Scottish. He was named to several Scotland training squads and was even named on the Scotland bench during the 2004 Six Nations, but never received a test cap for Scotland. Cross did, however, represent the Scotland Sevens team during the 2006/07 World Sevens Series.

Following his retirement as a player in 2010, Cross turned to coaching and was named First Team Coach of the Edinburgh Accies in the Scottish National League D1 from 2010-2012 before coaching in the Scotland U20s setup from 2012-2013, when he joined Premiership side Worcester Warriors as Defence Coach in 2013. Cross coached with Worcester from 2013-2022. Shortly after the end of the MLR season in July 2023, Cross headed Stateside to take up the Head Coach role with Old Glory DC for the 2024 season, a team part-owned by the Scottish RFU at the time. Cross served as Head Coach for the Flags from 2024-2026, qualifying for the playoffs each year in charge and recording an overall record of 19-2-24.

In early September 2026, following that year’s MLR season, Old GLory DC announced that Simon Cross was stepping down as Head Coach and transitioning to Director of Rugby Development & Player Pathways, where he would be in charge of the re-vamped Young Glory DC academy side.

Head Coach Record:

Overall: 19-2-24
Playoffs: 0-3
Old Glory DC (2024-2026): 19-2-24

Argentinian former player Agustin Cavalieri has coached in Major League Rugby since 2023. He has been a member of the Dallas Jackals (2023-2024), Anthem RC (2025-2026), and Old Glory DC (2027) coaching teams, as well as USA Rugby.

As a player, Cavalieri represented Argentina’s age grade sides up to Los Pumitas U21s before heading to Europe in 2003, representing Arras and Limoges for a year before heading to Italy where he spent the majority of his career. He primarily represented Petrarca Padova and Calvisano but also had stints with L’Aquila and Prato and even represented the Italy ‘A’ side. Cavalieri was player-coach with Calvisano when he called time on his playing career in 2019.

Cavalieri stepped into the Head Coach role with the Dallas Jackals ahead of the 2023 season having previously served as Forwards Coach for the Italian U20 side. He steered the Jackals for two seasons from 2023-2024, turning what had been a 0-16 team in 2022 into a playoff contender and conference finalist in 2024 and recording the first win in franchise history. Despite an overall record of 8-24 with the Jackals, they were arguably one of the most entertaining teams to watch and would have only continued to improve had they not withdrawn from MLR. Following this withdrawal, Agustin Cavalieri took up an Assistant coach role with the newly established MLR, USA Rugby, and World Rugby franchise, Anthem RC under Alama Ieremia.

Cavalieri served as Assistant Coach during from Anthem’s inaugural season in 2024, through to Round 12 of the 2025 season when Ieremia stepped back to focus on his other role of USA Men’s Assistant Coach. Cavalieri took over as Head Coach from Round 13 of the 2025 season, although could not prevent the team recording their 2nd 0-16 season in a row in 2025. In October 2025, USA Rugby announced that Alama Ieremia had stepped down from his roles with both USA Rugby and Anthem RC, and Agustin Cavalieri had joined the national Men’s team coaching setup as Assistant Coach (Forwards & Breakdown) alongside his role as Anthem RC Head Coach, which he continued with into the 2026 season. His first full year at the helm of Anthem starting strongly. The Rising Stars broke a MLR record 32-game losing streak to earn their first ever franchise victory in their first game of the season against the California Legion, with Cavalieri now able to boast that he led two previously winless franchises to their first even wins. Anthem followed up this victory with another win over the Seattle Seawolves two weeks later to sit with a 2-1 record after 3 games. From here however, Anthem reverted to their old ways and would go on a 7-game losing streak to finish the season despite remaining compeititive, and were still mathematically able to reach the postseason on the final weekend of the season, but finished 6th.

Following the 2026 MLR season and the cessation of World Rugby Funding for Anthem RC, the team ceased operations. All players and staff became free agents, including Cuca Cavalieri. On 30th September, Old Glory DC announced that they had hired Cavalieri as their Head Coach for the 2027 season following Simon Cross’ move to Director of Rugby Development and Player Pathways on August 24th. With this move, Cavalieri becomes just the 2nd Head Coach in MLR history to have taken charge of 3 different teams, following Steve Hoiles (Giltinis, RFCLA, California Legion).

Head Coach Record:

Overall: 11-37
Playoffs: 1-1
Anthem RC: 2-12
Dallas Jackals: 9-25