Season: MLR 2026

The 9th season of Major League Rugby saw the merging of the San Diego Legion and Rugby FC LA to form the California Legion, as well as the withdrawal of multiple teams to take the league from 11 sides in 2025, to 6 in 2026.

Campbell Robb

New Zealand hooker Campbell Robb played in Major League Rugby during the 2026 season. He represented Anthem RC for his entire MLR career.

A promising javelin thrower, when Campbell Robb was a schoolboy he ranked 5th at the New Zealand National Championship while also playing rugby in the Waikato academy system and representing the Chiefs U20s, playing against some of the best young players in one of the world’s best rugby nations. As he approached college age, Robb was inspired to try school in the USA and chose Central Washington University with their strong rugby program, arriving at the age of 19 to play under CWU head coach and fellow kiwi, Todd Thornley. He was named a D1A Collegiate All-American in 2025 and following his graduation, he declared for that year’s MLR draft. He was successfully drafted, 2nd overall by Anthem RC who officially announced his signing on 20th November 2025, alongside 1st Overall Pick Will Sherman.

Soon to be domestically qualified through his time at CWU, Robb was already familiar with some aspects of Anthem RC having played alongside Will Sherman and under Anthem Head Coach Agustin Cavalieri in the summer of 2025 while touring South Africa with the USA U23s. In his debut MLR season, Robb started 7 times in 9 appearances, featuring in all but 1 of Anthem RC’s games that year, starting both of the team’s wins that year, the first victories in team history. Robb scored a try in both those victories (Rd 1 against the California Legion and Rd 3 against the Seattle Seawolves), and racked up 6 scores in total on just under 100m gained in 2026, completing 65 tackles and earning a pair of MLR Team of the Week selections. For his performance that year, Campbell Robb was named the MLR Rookie of the Year for 2026.

achievements

NARDB Player #1,633

Will Sherman

Utahn lock/back row Will Sherman played in Major League Rugby during the 2026 season. He represented Anthem RC for his entire MLR career.

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT, Will Sherman was initially more interested in Ice Hockey growing up, but discovered rugby (already a favourite sport of his father’s) during high school and his talent was clear by his senior year, when he enrolled at UCLA just as MLR alum Harry Bennett took over the Bruins’ rugby program. Over the course of his time in the UCLA rugby team, the program had developed into genuine contenders and Sherman was named a Collegiate All-American as well as UCLA Players’ Player and Forward of the Year.

Following his graduation from UCLA, Sherman declared for the 2025 MLR Draft and was selected 1st overall by Anthem RC, becoming the 2nd UCLA Bruin to be drafted 1st overall after Eric Naposki in 2021. He was in Sydney during the draft, where he had been playing with the famous Randwick club in the Shute Shield, aided by the likes of Wallabies legend Simon Poidevin, the father of capped USA eagle Christian.

On 20th November 2025, Anthem RC confirmed the signing of Will Sherman for their 2026 MLR season, along with 2025 2nd overall pick Campbell Robb. Sherman will be familiar with Anthem RC Head Coach Agustin Cavalieri, having already played under him while touring South America as Captain of the USA U23 squad in the summer of 2025. Sherman was a regular in the Anthem RC lineup during his rookie season, appearing in all 10 of their regular season game in 2026. He started 6 times, including the first game of the season where Anthem defeated the California Legion to hear their first ever franchise victory, in which Sherman made 19 tackles. He came off the bench in Anthem’s only other victory, scoring his lone MLR try as the Rising Stars defeated the Seattle Seawolves in Round 3. With WR funding for Anthem drying up at the end of 2026 and the team folding, Will Sherman headed overseas and on 25th August 2026, Red Hurricanes Osaka in the Japanese Division 2 announced that they had signed Sherman for their 2026/27 season.

Achievements
  • 2025 MLR Draftee: 1st Overall – Anthem RC

NARDB Player #1,632

Mark Bennett

Scottish centre Mark Bennett played in Major League Rugby during the 2026 season. He represented the Seattle Seawolves for his entire MLR career.

A native of Irvine, Scotland, Bennett began playing with Cumnock RFC before representing Ayr RFC in the Scottish Premiership until 2011, when he earned his professional debut at only 18 with the Glasgow Warriors in the Pro12 (now the URC). Ahead of the 2011/12 season, Bennet signed with ASM Clermont Auvergne in the French Top 14, however a serious knee injury curtailed his entire season in France, and he returned to the Glasgow Warriors for the 2012/13 Pro12 season. Bennett would represent the Warriors from 2012-2017, scoring 22 tries in his 60+ appearances and claiming the 2014/15 Pro12 title as a Warrior. Ahead of the 2017/18 Pro14 season, Bennet moved to Glasgow rivals Edinburgh Rugby. He earned well over 100 top-level appearances for Edinburgh between 2017-2025, scoring 118pts in total.

Internationally, Mark Bennett represented Scotland at both U18 and U20 levels before making his test debut for Scotland against Argentina in November 2014. He was a regular for Scotland’s 2015 Six Nations campaign, and was selected to represent his country at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. He was a Breakthrough Player of the Year nominee after his impressive year in 2015 which included 3 tries at the RWC. He earned 29 caps for Scotland and scored 8 tries, with his final appearance coming against France in the 2022 Six Nations. Bennett has also played high level Sevens, representing Scotland between 2013-14, and playing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero, where he secured a silver medal as a member of Team GB.

Following the end of his contract with Edinburgh in 2025, the Seattle Seawolves announced the signing of Mark Bennett on 14th November 2025, ahead of the 2026 MLR season. He started the first two Seawolves games of the 2026 season before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in their Rd 3 clash with Anthem RC.

NARDB Player #1,631

MLR 2026 – All Players

A list of all players signed to play during the 2026 MLR season. This list can be used to identify the season leaders in various categories for the 2026 MLR season.

California Legion Players – All

A list of all players who have represented the California Legion, including active California Legion players. The stats only include numbers earned with the Legion. For totals please refer to individual player pages or the ‘All Players’ List.

2026 Overall MLR Standings

The Overall League Standings for the 2026 MLR season.

For the first time since 2019, the 2026 MLR season operated without a conference system. Now a round-robin format, this table shows the overall league standings, with the Top 4 qualifying for the post-season.

Standings will be updated on a weekly basis following each round. Points are awarded based on the following:
PF = Points For
PA = Points Against
+/- = Points Difference
Points
4 points for winning a match
2 points for drawing a match
0 points for losing a match
1 losing bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer
1 try bonus point for scoring 4 tries or more

California Legion

Background & History

The California Legion were born on the 30th July 2025 upon the merging of two previous California franchises, the San Diego Legion, and Rugby FC LA. They competed in their first MLR season in 2026. The latter Rugby FC LA were a relatively new franchise, moving from Atlanta (where they were Rugby ATL under a different ownership group) to LA ahead of the 2024 season. The San Diego Legion on the other hand, were one of MLR’s founding members and Legion owner Ryan Patterson is head of the MLR board. The California Legion took much of the established branding of the San Diego Legion, and aim to create a ‘single, statewide professional rugby franchise’ in California. Of the merger, MLR CEO Nick Benson said ‘Major League Rugby will always prioritize long-term growth of the game in the U.S., delivering an exceptional on-field product and an incredible fan experience, and The California Legion is a way to showcase that in Southern California’.

In the announcement of the merger, Australian RFCLA Executive and former player Adam Freier was named as California Legion CEO. The ownership structure is unclear, but it’s possible that Legion owner Ryan Patterson and RFCLA owner Peter Sickle and now co-owners. It is also worth mentioning that All Blacks legend Ma’a Nonu has a stake in the San Diego Legion, and French superstar Antoine Dupont owns a stake in Rugby FC LA. It is possible that these two legends of the game are now business partners, but it is also possible that they now have nothing to do with the new California Legion organisation.

The California Legion’s reception was frosty at best among the existing LA and San Diego fanbases, and with MLR fans in general who recognised that they were still losing a franchise. The announcement mentioned that the California Legion would split their home games in 2026 between San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange Country (where RFCLA had hosted 1 game in the 2024 season). However the commitment to the 2026 season from the newly formed California Legion was encouraging. The California Legion seems to have maintained much of the infrastructure of RFCLA and San Diego including the Legion Community Foundation which continues to focus on rugby at a grassroots level through things like establishing Flag Rugby leagues in schools to help solidify pathways to rugby. The contraction of the league left the Legion with 5 home games in 2026, which they split between San Diego, LA, the Bay Area, Sacramento, and Orange County. They got off to a rocky start, falling to Anthem RC (who hadn’t won a game in the 32 previous matches) in their first competitive game, and they 2026 season was a rollercoaster. Despite this, they had good turnout for home games highlighted by the Legion faithful in San Diego, and finished the season in 3rd place with a 5-5 record playing a highly entertaining brand of rugby. They didn’t secure a home semifinal, instead facing the Seattle Seawolves at the formidable Starfire Stadium, but they proved more than up for the task. They defeated the 2x Champs in their own backyard to earn a chance to fight for the Shield in their first year. Unfortunately, awful weather and ill-discipline hindered their game plan, and they were comprehensively beaten by the undefeated Chicago Hounds in the 2026 final.

Records

2026 MLR Runners-Up

all time

Top Scorer: Coby Miln (130pts)
Top Try Scorer: Joe Mano / Ben Houston (6)
Top Playoff Scorer: Coby Miln (35pts)
Top Tackler:
Top Meter Eater:
Most Capped Player: Gonzalo Bertranou / Jason Damm / Coby Miln / Keni Nasoqeqe / Joe Taufete’e / Justus Tavai / Lance Williams (12)
Most Starts: Gonzalo Bertranou / Jason Damm / Coby Miln / Lance Williams (12)

single season

Top Scorer: Coby Miln (130pts) – 2026
Top Try Scorer: Joe Mano / Ben Houston (6) – 2026
Top Tackler:
Top Meter Eater:

historical performance

2026: 5-0-5 (+53) – 29pts: 3rd

Overall Regular Season Record: 5-0-5
Overall Championship Series Record: 1-1
Championship Series Appearances: 1 (2026)

The Old Mate

Total Possessions: 1
Longest Streak: 1
First Possession: 2026 – Rd 2
Last Possession: 2026 – Rd 3
Successful Challenges: 1
Failed Challenges: 2
Challenge Success Rate: 33.33%
Successful Defences: 0
Failed Defences: 1
Defence Success Rate: 0.00%

head coach & captain

head coach
captain

Branding

The California Legion primary logo is almost identical to it’s predecessor, the San Diego Legion. The ‘San Diego’ across the top has been replaced with ‘California’, and the red shield remains, having replaced ‘SD’ with ‘CA’.

As a part of the announcement of the merger, the California Legion released a number of different colour schemes relating to different areas of Southern California, leading some to speculate that the team could have different branding for each city. These can be seen below and correspond to San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Long Beach, respectively:

San Diego
Los Angeles
Orange County
Long Beach

 

 

venues

As mentioned in the ‘Background & History’ section, the California Legion aimed to play their 2026 home games between San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange County as well as a number of games in Northern California. For their inaugural season in 2026, The California Legion played 5 homes games at 5 different ‘home’ venues: The Championship Soccer Stadium at Great Park in Orange County, Torero Stadium in San Diego, Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles, St. Mary’s Stadium within St. Mary’s College just outside San Francisco, and Heart Health Park in Sacramento, respectively.

Robbie Abel

Australian coach Robbie Abel coached in MLR between 2021-2026. He has coached with the Utah Warriors (2021-2025) and the Seattle Seawolves (2026), both as an Assistant Coach.

The older brother of Chicago Hounds forward Charlie Abel, Robbie was an accomplished hooker in his playing career. He represented the Brumbies, Melbourne Rebels, and Waratahs in Super Rugby, as well as Northland and Auckland in New Zealand’s NPC, and Perth Spirit and the Canberra Vikings in Australia’s NRC in a playing career that spanned 2013-2021. Abel has also represented the Māori All Blacks a handful of times during their 2018 tour of the USA and South America.

In 2021, Abel joined the Utah Warriors coaching staff as Forwards Coach under Head Coach Shawn Pittman, a role that he occupied from 2021-2022 before becoming Utah Warriors Assistant Coach under Greg Cooper in 2022. Abel served as Assistant Coach from 2022 until Greg Cooper stepped away from the Warriors following a successful 2025 campaign, and on July 1st, 2025, the Utah Warriors named Robbie Abel as Head Coach for the 2026 campaign. Unfortunately for Abel, the Utah Warriors withdrew from Major League Rugby in November 2025 but on 23rd December, 2025, the Seattle Seawolves announced that Robbie Abel had joined the organisation as Forwards Coach for the 2026 season.

 

Peyton Wall

Outside back Peyton Wall played in Major League Rugby between 2025-2026. He represented the Chicago Hounds for his entire MLR career.

A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wall started playing rugby from an early age, and grew up around the game, attending Leo High School as well as Indiana University. He played rugby throughout his time there, and was included in the USA U23s in 2023. He declared for the MLR Draft in 2024 and was selected in the first round, 10th Overall by the Chicago Hounds, who then signed his for the 2025 season following a solid fall season with the Hounds academy.

Wall first appeared in a matchday 23 during Round 12 of the 2025 season, when he was named on the Hounds bench for a clash with the Miami Sharks at home, a 14-7 victory in which Peyton Wall earned his MLR debut. Although he did not appear until well into the 2nd half of the season, Wall exploded in his limited gametime. He scored 3 tries and started 6 of his 7 appearances including both of Chicago’s playoff games, gaining well over 550m in possession and putting together a very strong rookie season. He was named as the 2025 MLR Rookie of the Year on 24th July, 2025, as well as Chicago Hounds Rookie of the Year.

On Octobe 21st 2025, the Chicago Hounds announced the return of Peyton Wall for his sophomore season in Major League Rugby. He was the first returning player announced by the Chicago Hounds ahead of their 2026 Campaign.

Achievements
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2026 – Rd 8
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2026 – Rd 7
  • 2025 MLR Rookie of the Year
  • 2025 Chicago Hounds Rookie of the Year
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2025 – Rd 16
  • 2024 MLR Draftee: 10th Overall (1st Rd) – Chicago Hounds

NARDB Player #1,573

Tom Pittman

US-Eligible English Fly-half Tom Pittman played in Major League Rugby between 2026-2027. He represented Anthem RC for his entire MLR career.

Born and raised in England, Tom Pittman attended the King’s School in Taunton, playing rugby while there and entering the Bath Rugby Academy while there. He attended the University of Bath and played in the BUCS during his time there. When COVID-19 cut his university playing short in his final year, Pittman headed to Scotland to play in the Super 6 with the Boroughmuir Bears, before joining the Jersey Reds in the English Championship as injury cover in 2021.

Pittman played with the Reds under former Chicago Hounds head coach Rob Webber from 2021 until their demise in 2023, when he joined the Cornish Pirates for the 2023/24 Championship season. At the conclusion of that campaign, Pittman headed to France and joined C’Chartres in the Fédérale 1, the French 5th tier. Pittman is the grandson of capped Ireland hooker John Hewitt Wilson who was born in Massachusetts, making Pittman US-eligible and leading to his inclusion in the USA Extended Player Squad (EPS) for 2025. Roughly 3 weeks after this inclusion, in the middle of the 2025 season, Anthem RC announced the signing of Tom Pittman for the 2026 & 2027 MLR seasons.

On 14th November 2025, Anthem RC confirmed this move ahead of the 2026 season. Since initially signing with Anthem during the 2025 season, Pittman earned his test debut with the USA against Spain in July 2025 as Eagle #592.

NARDB Player #1,572