Tag: Anthem RC

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 3 – November 9, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Major League Rugby fans suffered yet another body blow last week as the Utah Warriors announced that they too would be withdrawing from the league and would not take part in the 2026 season. The Warriors become the fifth team to either merge or fold this offseason, leaving the league with 6 teams remaining for their 9th season in 2026, their lowest ever number of teams.

With the Utah Warriors now added to the list of Former MLR teams, this leaves even fewer spots available for the over 450 players that featured in the league during 2025. Where will the Warriors’ heavy hitters be playing next season? We shall have to wait and see. Welcome back to NARDB’s Player Moves Summary Article series! As always, these articles aim to keep fans up to date on all the player movement around Major League Rugby and thanks to a sudden uptick in Player Moves, this is the first time this offseason that this series has been published weekly!

Last week proved another busy week for a number of teams, so let’s get stuck in and start with the re-signings announced over the last week!

A summary of the Player Moves around MLR between November 3-9, 2025

Re-Signings

For the second week in a row, we start in Washington DC where Old Glory have stayed busy. On 3rd November, the Flags announced the return of their 2022 1st Round Draft Pick, Cali Martinez for his 4th season with Old Glory DC in 2026. The British Columbia was selected 3rd overall out of the University of British Columbia, and becomes the first Canadian player confirmed for the 2026 season since MLR changed the designation of players from the north from Domestic to International. Martinez appeared in a career high 17 games for Old Glory DC in 2025, and more than doubled his career starts with 8 (he had 5 in 27 games prior to this year). The 29yo prop also more than doubled his tackle count, with a very impressive 150 tackles completed in 2025 to take his career total to 256. It’s great to see a Canadian confirmed for next season amidst all the uncertainty. Welcome back, Cali!

Source: @oldglorydc via Instagram

A few days later on 7th November, Old Glory DC announced another returning member of their pack, Collin Grosse. Selected 15th overall by Old Glory DC in the 2022 MLR Draft out of West Point, Grosse will play in his 4th MLR season in 2026 having spent his entire pro career with the Flags. He has earned 48 appearances across his 3 seasons so far, scoring 6 tries including a career high of 3 in 2025, and has completed exaclty 400 tackles to date for an impressive average of 133 per season. This shows off Grosse’s impressive work rate on defence when you take into account that he ‘only’ has 24 starts in his career. With Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz moving on, Grosse seems primed to be a regular starter in 2026 alongside THE tackle machine, Cory Daniel.

Just like last week and just like Old Glory DC, the Chicago Hounds kept busy as well. On 5th November the Hounds announced the return of 2025 Top Scorer and All-MLR First XV selection Chris Hilsenbeck for their 2026 season. No stranger to MLR after earning 4 appearances with Rugby ATL in 2023 before returning to the French Pro D2, Hilsenbeck was a late addition to the Hounds roster but made a huge impact. He was the only player league-wide to eclipse 100pts last season, finishing with 109pts in his 15 games and a very impressive 81.96% success rate off the tee. Although test-capped for Germany already, the California-born Hilsenbeck switched eligibility to the country of his birth, becoming eligible earlier this year and earning his test debut for the USA as Eagle #590 against Belgium in July 2025. He is currently on tour with the Eagles once again for their November tests.

The Chicago Hounds biggest announcement of the week came a few days later, however. On 6th November the Hounds announced the return of their 2025 Captain and Major League Rugby’s All-Time Leading Tackler, Lucas Rumball, for their 2026 Season. The Canadian National Team Captain and former Toronto Arrow has recorded over 100 tackles in 5 of his 7 MLR seasons, over 150 in 4 of them, and over 200 in 2021 with his career high of 228. Rumball became the first player in MLR history to pass 1000 tackles in the competition during the 2025 season, adding 198 to his career total which now sits at 1,078 across his 82 career games in the competition. As well as scoring 7 tries in his career so far, Lucas Rumball has proved himself an absolute menace at the breakdown, and a game in which he doesn’t record a single breakdown steal is a rarity. The Hounds are not messing around in 2026, and the return of their Captain spells trouble for the rest of the league.

In what seems like a repeat of last week, Anthem RC were the third team to stay busy with re-signings. On 7th November, 2025 the team announced the return of 2024 1st Overall Pick Erich Storti for his sophomore MLR season in 2026. Anthem RC drafted Storti out of St. Mary’s College in California, and he started 11 of his 12 games for the Rising Stars during 2025, scoring 2 tries in his first 3 games and earning a pair of Team of the Week Selections during his rookie season. Effective on both sides of the ball, Storti recorded over 350m gained in possession and 76 tackles completed. He earned his test debut as Eagle #582 following the MLR season in November 2024, and has featured in every game for the USA so far this year. Storti currently on tour with the Men’s Eagles once again for their November tests in 2025.

Intra-League Signings

This section covers all the signings from last week where players moved from one Major League Rugby team to another. With the turmoil of the MLR offseason and so many teams dropping out, NARDB expects this section to be busy!

Starting in Charlotte, where Anthem RC continue to snap up US talent in their pursuit for that elusive first victory as a team. On 3rd November 2025, the Rising Stars announced the addition of Flyhalf and USA Eagle #536 Luke Carty for their 2026 Campaign! This will be Carty’s 6th season in the League after entering with the LA Giltinis in 2021 and lifting the Shield in his debut season, after which he earned his USA test debut in July 2021. currently touring with the national team in Europe, Luke Carty has earned 56 MLR appearances (38 starts) across 3 teams (LA Giltinis 2021-22, Chicago Hounds 2023-24, NOLA Gold 2025) with Anthem RC becoming the 4th of his career. Although he has only recorded a single try which came in 2024, Carty has racked up 226pts scored in his MLR career with a success rate of 67.65% from the tee, and a career high of 69pts for the Chicago Hounds in 2023. Carty also passed 1000m gained and 200 tackles in his career as a member of the NOLA Gold in 2025, scoring 49pts but now moves to Charlotte following the withdrawal of the Gold from MLR in August.

Not finished with signing just Luke Carty, a day later on 4th November Anthem RC announced the signing of USA Rugby Sevens star Malacchi Esdale for their 2026 campaign as well. Esdale entered the league with the Houston SaberCats in their inaugural season in 2018, starting 25 of his 28 games for the ‘Cats across 3 seasons from 2018-2020, and scoring 4 tries. Following the cancellation of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Esdale joined the USA Sevens setup in Chula Vista and made the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Squad (played in 2021 due to COVID-19) as a travelling reserve before earning his debut during the Canadian leg of the 2021 World Rugby Sevens Series circuit. Esdale played with the USA Sevens team from 2020-2024, featuring at his 2nd Olympic Games in France in 2024. Following these games, Esdale returned to MLR, signing with the Seattle Seawolves for the 2025 season, where he scored a career high 6 tries in 15 games, and racked up over 400m gained despite only earning 3 starts. Malacchi Esdale will no doubt have plenty of wisdom to impart on the young Anthem RC squad in his 5th season in MLR.

Source: @anthemrugby via Instagram

Not letting Anthem RC have all the fun, Old Glory DC jumped in with a pair of new signings of their own last week, announcing the addition of 2023 1st Overall Pick Rick Rose to their 2026 roster of 5th November. Drafted out of St. Bonaventure University by the Miami Sharks, 6’7 lock Rose appeared in all 16 Miami games during his rookie season, racking up well over 100 tackles and starting 12 times. Although he missed a chunk of his sophomore season in 2025, Rose still managed 9 further appearances for the Sharks as well as a Team of the Week Selection in Round 11 to help Miami earn their first ever postseason appearance. Rick Rose’s move to Old Glory DC comes after the Miami Sharks announced their withdrawal from MLR back in August.

Later in the week on 9th November, Old Glory DC also announced the addition of MLR Draftee Aidan King for his sophomore season in 2026. Selected 6th overall in the 2024 MLR Draft by the NOLA Gold out of Penn State, back rower King enjoyed an impressive rookie season and was almost definitely on the shortlist for 2025 MLR Rookie of the Year (an award that eventually went to Chicago’s Peyton Wall) and was easily the best forward of his draft class last season. He started 9 of his 14 appearances for the Gold, racking up 166 tackles and scored his first MLR try. Aidan King is a valuable addition to a fearsome looking Old Glory DC pack in 2026 and although he was born and raised in Australia, he will count as a domestic player for the Flags in 2026.

Departures

As mentioned a couple of times throughout this article already, with 5 teams folding or merging during the 2025/26 offseason already there are far more players fighting for far fewer places and despite a shift towards home-grown talent, a large number of domestic and international players will be looking further afield for contracts.

On 4th November, French Pro D2 side RC Vannes announced the addition of 2023 All-MLR scrumhalf Richard Judd, who heads across the pond after representing the San Diego Legion in both 2023 and 2025. A New Zealander, Judd scored 7 tries in 14 games (all starts) for the Legion during their record-breaking 2023 season, earning not only an All-MLR First XV selection, but a Super Rugby contract with the Hurricanes for the following year. Following a year in Wellington, Judd returned to the Legion for the 2025 season where he added another 2 tries in 12 games (10 starts) as San Diego missed out on the postseason by a single point. In total, Judd scored 9 tries in 26 games for the Legion over 2 seasons, also completing over 200 tackles (213) as a scrumhalf! Very best of luck in France, Richard!

Source: @rugbyclubvannes via Instagram

Wrapping Up

With Anthem RC, the Chicago Hounds, and Old Glory DC making up the vast majority of last week’s Player Moves, the same three teams stay busy for the 2nd week in a row, while there is still silence from the other three teams playing in the 2026 Major League Rugby Season, the California Legion, New England Free Jacks, and Seattle Seawolves. Perhaps MLR has arranged to stagger these announcements into two waves of 3 teams? Only time will tell.

Be sure to check back next Monday for this week’s Player Moves article, covering all the announcements from November 10-16, 2025. If the last two weeks are anything to go by, it should be a busy one!

Thank you very much for reading! If there are any Player Moves that you notice, you can let NARDB/James know on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Finally, if you’re looking to jump into the End of Season sales or pick up some discounted merch, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!

MLR Player Moves Summary: October 6 – November 2, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The leaves on the trees are changing colour, the temperatures are dropping, and the nights are closing in, but the Player Moves around Major League Rugby are starting to gain some speed! Welcome back to NARDB’s Player Moves Summery Article series!

These articles aim to keep MLR fans up to date on all the retirements, signings, re-signings, and departures of players both to and from Major League Rugby teams ahead of the 2026 season. This edition covers the very busy period from October 6th to November 2nd, 2025, a longer period than usual due to the author taking a few weeks abroad (unfortunate timing!), but rest assured that this article contains every officially announced move during this period, resulting in all sorts of activity. Below is the handy (2 page!) graphic, and we start with some big moves from the Nation’s Capital!

2-Page Player Move Summary graphic posted to all NARDB Social Media streams

Departures

In the previous Player Movement Summary from October 6th, NARDB mentioned that Old Glory DC had announced the departure of a trio of players, with no indication of where they were headed. A 4th player joined this group on 21st October when the Flags announced the departure of USA capped scrumhalf Ethan McVeigh. Earning his test debut for the US as Eagle #575 against Scotland in 2024, McVeigh has played in Major League Rugby for 3 seasons: two with Old Glory DC (2024-2025) and one with the San Diego Legion in 2021. In total the California native has started 17 of his 38 MLR games so far, scoring 4 tries in total. 29 of these appearances came with Old Glory DC, whom he joined after a few seasons in Super Rugby Americas with the American Raptors. As a test capped American who was included in the Eagles squad for the November tests, it is likely that a scrum-half of McVeigh’s calibre will easily find a spot on a different MLR roster for 2026, should this be his desire.

A 5th player was confirmed to be leaving Old Glory DC on October 28th, when the club announced the departure of former Captain Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz after 6 seasons with the team. With the Flags since their inaugural season in 2020, USA Eagle #534 ‘JFS’ has 70 MLR appearances in his career including 62 with Old Glory DC (remaining 8 with the Houston SaberCats in 2019), for whom he scored 13 of his 16 career tries including a career high of 4 in 2025. JFS also passed 600 career tackles this most recent season, recording 91 in 13 games (all starts) to help the Flags secure their 3rd successive postseason appearance. Undoubtedly an Old Glory DC legend, it will be very interesting to see what the next step is for the 29yo back row.

On October 6th, 2025, French Top14 powerhouse Stade Francais announced the addition of Old Glory DC and USA capped prop Jack Iscaro as a medical joker for their 2025/26 season in the French top flight. Iscaro has been a stalwart for Old Glory DC since his MLR debut in 2021, starting 56 of his 76 appearances for the Flags and scoring 1 try per season as well as gaining over 1,400m in possession (as a front row!) and completing 667 tackles in his MLR career. As well as being a regular first-choice loosehead prop for the USA Eagles, the impressive scrummager is a 4x All-MLR selection and has been named in the All-MLR First XV twice, in 2023 and MLR’s most recent season, in 2025. Playing in the top flight of French rugby with Stade Francais is an excellent opportunity for Jack Iscaro who is an impressive scrummager in his own right, and doesn’t ruling him out of the 2026 MLR season. Congratulations, Jack, and very best of luck!

Source: @stade_francais_paris via Instagram

Sticking on the subject of medical jokers, on October 15th the Bristol Bears announced that Jack Iscaro’s fellow USA Eagle Toby Fricker would re-join the club on a short-term contract. This marks his 3rd stint with the PREM Rugby club after also playing there on a short-term deal in 2024, and representing them for 4 seasons from 2019-2023 before heading stateside with the New England Free Jacks for the 2024 season. Although still signed to the 3x MLR Champions, Fricker was loaned to Anthem RC for the 2025 season where he scored 2 tries and started all 10 of his games for the Rising Stars, gaining over 450m in possession and tying his career high of 47 tackles in defence. As a capped USA Eagle (#578) playing with the Bristol Bears on a short-term deal, it is expected that Fricker will return to MLR for the 2026 season, most likely with New England. Best of luck in the PREM, Toby!

Moving to a more permanent move, also from October 15th. Scottish Rugby announced a full-time Men’s Sevens programme with a core of 6 contracted Scottish players including former Old Glory DC Wing/Fullback Damien Hoyland. A capped Scotland international at both Sevens and 15s levels, Hoyland played with the Flags in MLR for two seasons between 2024-2025, gaining over 2,000m in possession in his 25 games for Old Glory DC, starting every time. Playing primarily at Fullback, Hoyland was one of only 3 players to record over 1,000m gained in 2025, racking up 1,073m in his 13 games, also scoring his only MLR try that year. Although an effective player for Old Glory DC, Hoyland’s return to Scotland was most likely influenced by MLR’s planned reduction in international player spots ahead of the 2026 season. Very best of luck on the Sevens circuit, Damien!

Source: @scotlandteam via Instagram

Fan’s learnt of another MLR player heading to Europe on 20th October, when URC side Zebre announced the addition of USA Eagle #581, Shilo Klein for the remainder of the season. Sacramento-born, New Zealand raised Klein represented the San Diego Legion for 2 seasons in 2023 and again in 2025, separated by a stint with the Blues in Super Rugby. In total, he started 10 of his 31 games for the Legion, scoring 12 tries and averaging 114 tackles per season. Klein also gained a total of 559m in possession, and earned his test debut for the USA in November 2024. Go well, Shilo!

In a slightly more unusual move, on 27th October, Russian Rugby Championship side Lokomotiv Penza announced the signing of former Seattle Seawolves prop Njabulo ‘Juice’ Gumede on a 2yr contract. Gumede only made 5 appearances for the Seawolves off the bench, but was named the 2025 Seattle Seawolves Community Impact Player for his work off the field and in the community. Very best of luck in Russia, Juice!

Intra-League Moves

Staying on the topic of former San Diego Legion players, on October 17th the Chicago Hounds announced the first incoming player of the entire Major League Rugby offseason when they announced the addition of 2022 MLR Rookie of the Year and USA Eagle #543, Tevite Lopeti.

Selected 3rd Overall out of St. Mary’s College in the 2021 MLR Collegiate Draft by the Seattle Seawolves, Lopeti spent 3 seasons with the Seawolves between 2022-2024, earning 44 appearances (32 starts) and scoring 8 tries for the Seawolves. He gained just under 1000m in possession during his rookie season, and was a clear frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award in 2022. Following the 2024 season where he finished as a MLR runner-up for the 2nd time with the Seawolves, Tevite Lopeti made a splash when he returned home and signed with the Seawolves’ historic rivals, the San Diego Legion. In his lone season with the Legion in 2025, he scored another 2 tries and started 11 of his 15 appearances, completing over 100 tackles. With the Legion merging with Rugby FC LA to form the California Legion for the 2026 season, and former San Diego players’ contracts no longer guaranteed, Lopeti has decided to move to Illinois and join the Hounds.

Source: @chicagohoundsrugby via Instagram

Chicago wasn’t done there, however. On October 22nd, Rugbypass published an article announcing that talismanic Chilean international Santiago Videla had signed with the Chicago Hounds for their 2026 campaign. The Hounds confirmed this on October 26th, making Videla the first international player announced by an MLR side since the league chose to slash the number of foreign player slots per team. Along with being Chile’s leading points scorer, Santiago Videla was the Miami Sharks’ all-time top scorer, with 120pts in 23 games across 2 seasons, including 5 tries. Playing primarily at fullback in 2025 but also at both 10 and 12, the 27yo recorded 550m gained for the 2nd consecutive season, and is an excellent pick-up for the Hounds!

To complete the Chicago Hounds hat trick (for this edition of Player Moves, atleast!), they announced the addition of 2025 Western Conference winning Captain Nathan Den Hoedt on October 24th 2025, following the surprise exit of the Houston SaberCats in September. A native of Brisbane, Australia, Den Hoedt has played in MLR since 2021, lifting the Shield as a member of the LA Giltinis in his debut season. To date, the 6’6 lock has earned 74 MLR appearances (32 with LA, and 42 with Houston), starting 70 times and scoring 7 tries in total including 5 for the SaberCats in 2025 alone. He passed 1000m gained in his career in 2025, adding 147 tackles to take his career total to 644. It seems that the Chicago Hounds are not playing around this off-season!

Not to be left out, Old Glory DC also announced their first new acquisition for the 2026 season on 25th October, signing Nathan Den Hoedt‘s Houston SaberCats teammate Max Schumacher, who heads to the Capital for his 3rd MLR season. Schumacher was drafted 2nd overall by the SaberCats out of UC-Berkeley in 2023, and earned 33 MLR appearances for Houston. The California native enjoyed a breakout season in 2025 however, earning his first 13 pro starts and appearing in all 19 games for the SaberCats (the maximum possible number of appearances for any player in 2025). Schumacher set career highs across the board in 2025 and scored 5 tries including a pair in the 2025 Championship Game as the SaberCats fell to the New England Free Jacks. A very tidy pickup for the Flags!

Source: @oldgloryDC via Instagram

Not finished there, a few days later on October 29th Old Glory DC announced the addition of former Miami Shark and USA Eagle #546 Ben Bonasso for his 6th MLR season in 2026. A 2022 MLR Champion with Rugby New York where he earned the majority of his 69 MLR appearances, Bonasso spent the last two seasons with Miami, scoring 6 tries in 29 games. In 2025, he recorded over 165 tackles for the 4th time in his career, completing 172 to help the Sharks to their first postseason appearance. Bonasso sits on 812 career tackles made (15th all-time) and over 2,300m gained in possession, proving that the US-born Argentinian is a threat on both sides of the ball. He earned his test debut for the USA against Uruguay in October 2021. As with the Chicago Hounds, Old Glory DC seem to be loading up!

Re-Signings

With the Major League Rugby Signing Window now open, fans were finally treated to the first few returning players ahead of the 2026 season. As they seem to be a running theme throughout this article, Old Glory DC announced their first returnee for next season, tackle monster Cory Daniel! In his 5 seasons in MLR with the Flags, Daniel sits 10th all-time in tackles completed with 888 in 59 games for an average of 15.1 tackles per game and has finished as the League’s Top Tackler on two occassions, in 2022 & 2024, and finished 2nd in 2025. Test capped as USA Eagle #551, Cory Daniel isn’t just a defensive presence. He has 15 tries to his name and just under 1,500m gained in possession, and will be looking to re-take MLR’s single-season tackle record after his 2024 record of 276 was broken by Frank Lochore last season, who completed 301.

Source: @oldglorydc via Instagram

As well as re-signing one of MLR’s top tacklers in Cory Daniel, Old Glory DC also announced the return of Fijian born USA capped lock Tevita Naqali for his 7th season both in MLR and with the Flags. Although Fijian born and raised, Naqali is a stalwart of rugby in the USA having represented Old Glory DC since their inaugural MLR season in 2020, spending the off-seasons playing in the ARP, and earning his USA debut as Eagle #591 in July 2025. Naqali has earned 71 appearances in MLR, starting 64 times and scoring 9 career tries. He recorded 132 tackles in 2025, his 5th consecutive season with over 115 tackles, and passed 2,500m gained in his career!

Old Glory DC weren’t the only team to begin their re-signing announcements on October 21st, as at almost exactly the same time as the Flags announced the return of Cory Daniel, the Chicago Hounds announced that 2025 MLR Rookie of the Year Peyton Wall would return for his sophomore season. Although he only earned his pro debut in Round 12, Wall made a huge impact for the Hounds in his limited game time. He appeared in 7 games, starting 6 times and scoring 4 tries, rackingup 572m gained and setting two single-game franchise records for Chicago in metres gained (142m) and clean breaks (5). With Peyton Wall named as a reserve for the USA’s November tests, his meteoric rise looks like it will continue into 2026!

Along with Peyton Wall, on October 27th the Chicago Hounds announced the return of veteran MLR scrumhalf Michael Baska for his 4th season with Chicago and 8th in MLR dating back to the league’s inaugural season. Baska spent two seasons with the NOLA Gold between 2018-2019, earning 19 appearances before heading to Utah, earning a further 17 appearances with the Warriors during the COVID-19 affected 2020 & 2021 seasons. After 2 years in the Beehive State, Baska headed to France and played in the ProD2 with Rouen Normandie for another 2 seasons. In his return stateside ahead of the 2023 MLR season, Michael Baska signed with the Chicago Hounds and has earned 34 appearances to date. In total, Baska has earned 70 MLR appearances (32 starts), scoring 8 tries and 49pts. In 2025, he started 2 of his 12 appearances and passed both 1000m gained and 250 tackles completed in his MLR career.

To complete the 2nd Chicago Hounds hat trick of this article, they also announced the return of ferocious winger Mark O’Keeffe for his 8th season in MLR and 4th with the Hounds. Born & raised in Dublin, O’Keeffe entered MLR with Rugby United New York in 2019, scoring 5 tries in 17 games in the big apple before heading south to Rugby ATL for 2021, scoring 7 tries in 13 games and finishing as an MLR Runner-Up to the LA Giltinis. For the 2022 season, O’Keeffe joined the sister team of the Giltinis, the Austin Gilgronis, and enjoyed a career year in black and orange. He scored 8 tries in 14 games and gained 1,215m (both career highs) before the disqualification of the AGs. The Chicago Hounds picked up Mark O’Keeffe in the subsequent dispersal draft, and he has scored a further 6 tries in 37 games across 3 seasons so far. In his career, O’Keeffe has 26 tries in 81 games (68 starts), and sits 6th All-Time in MGained, with 4,770m. Capped as USA Eagle #584 in November 2024, Mark O’Keeffe is likely to continue as an effective threat out wide, as long as he remains healthy.

Source: @chicagohoundsrugby via Instagram

And finally for the Hounds, for good measure they announced the return of 2x All-MLR Flanker Maclean Jones for his 4th season in Chicago. Prior to joining the Hounds, the Brisbane, Australia native earned 22 appearances for the Austin Gilgronis, completing 276 tackles, scoring 2 tries and recording 560m gained including 423m in 2021 which remains his career high. Since joining the Hounds in 2023, Jones has scored 16 more tries in 49 appearances and recording 609 tackles including a career high of 222 in 2025. He has finished in the Top 10 MLR tackles in the last 3 seasons, and has been an All-MLR Second XV selection in the last two. There is no reason to believe that Mac Jones won’t have another outstanding season with the Hounds in 2026.

Perhaps feeling a bit left out, Anthem RC announced a trio of their own returning players towards the end of October, starting with 2023 Rookie of the Year and USA Eagle #558, Sam Golla on October 28th! Selected by the Dallas Jackals with the 1st overall pick of the 2022 MLR Draft out of UC-Berkeley, Golla has started 40 of his 41 MLR games to date including 26 across 2 seasons with the Jackals, scoring 8 tries total. Perhaps his real value lies in his tackling, however. He has recorded over 100 tackles in each of his 3 seasons to date, averaging 172 a year for 517 total while also passing 1000m gained in 2025, when he finished with 187 tackles. A regular in the USA Men’s squad, Anthem RC Co-Captain Golla is sure to add some danger on both sides of the ball the in the hunt for that elusive first win.

Source: @anthemrugby via Instagram

A day after Anthem RC announced the return of 2025 Co-Captain Sam Golla, they announced the return of fellow back row and newly capped USA Eagle, Makeen Alikhan. A teammate of Golla’s with the Dallas Jackals, Alikhan was raised in England but is US-eligible through his US-born mother, and earned his test debut as Eagle #489 against Belgium in July 2025. Alikhan has scored 3 tries in each of his two MLR seasons so far, completing 320 tackles in 27 games, starting 24 of them. He started all 14 of his appearances for Anthem in 2025, completing a career high 172 tackles. In combination with Golla, Anthem look to have a strong young forwards core for 2026.

Two days later, Anthem RC announced their 3rd re-signing in 4 days as they confirmed the return of Charlotte native Alex Maughan for his 2nd season with the Rising Stars, and 8th in Major League Rugby. The 30yo prop/hooker entered MLR with the NOLA Gold in 2019 but really broke out after moving to Rugby ATL ahead of the 2020 season. Over 4 seasons with the RATLers where Maughan primarily played at hooker, he scored all 18 of his MLR tries to date in 53 games (36 starts), finishing as a MLR Runner-Up in 2021 and setting career highs in metres gained (365m) and tackles (136) in 2023. Maughan followed the franchise to LA when they relocated under new ownership and rebranded as Rugby FC LA for the 2024 season, before joining Anthem RC for 2025. In total, Maughan has 79 MLR appearances (57 starts) to date over 7 seasons, recording just under 1000m gained (980) and over 500 tackles. Entering his prime as a front row, Maughan will bring valuable experience to a young Anthem RC side in 2026.

Wrapping Up

That does it for a bumper Player Moves article, focused on the Chicago Hounds, Old Glory DC, and Anthem RC! 2 temporary departures, 3 more permanent moves, 5 intra-league transfers, and NINE re-signings results in the first two-page summary graphic of the 2025/26 Major League Rugby off-season. As predicted in the previous Player Moves article, October seems to be when announcements being to really pick up speed. With announcements now flowing more regularly, NARDB hopes to have these Player Move Summary articles released on a weekly basis as more teams begin their announcements. Check back next week for all the moves from November 3rd to November 9th, 2025!

Thank you very much for reading! If there are any player moves that you notice, you can let NARDB/James know on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Finally, if you’re looking to jump into the End of Season sales or pick up some discounted merch, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off of your order!

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 11 of MLR2025!

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Round 11 of the 2025 season saw a bumper seven games during Major League Rugby’s first ever ‘Storm Week, including games on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and a number of teams playing two games in 1 round! With so many games, it’s hardly surprising that we saw some standout stats across the league for both teams and players, as well as some incredible appearance achievements!

Welcome back to Midweek Milestones, the weekly article that keeps fans informed of all the standout stats from the latest round of MLR action! The purpose of this article series is to highlight some of the milestones or achievements from around the league that might not otherwise get the coverage they deserve by the league itself. If you’re a fan of these articles, please go back and read the past editions (if you haven’t already!) and share them with your friends. As with last week, we begin with the appearance achievements

Appearance Achievements – Utah’s First Centurion!

On Saturday, Utah Warriors prop Angus MacLellan was in the starting XV for his 100th MLR game, becoming just the 3rd player in league history to feature in 100 matches! The Michigan native is the 2nd player to reach 100 games played with a single team after JP Smith for the Seattle Seawolves just last week. Although all 3 MLR Centurions (Dylan Fawsitt, JP Smith, and now Angus MacLellan) having represented the United States at test level as USA Eagles, MacLellan is the first US-born player to enter MLR’s ‘100 club’!

Angus MacLellan becomes the first US-Born player to reach 100 MLR Appearances

Major League Rugby

SeasonTeamGPGSTCPACDGMGTacklesKS/KAPts
MLR 2018Warriors99100003156105
MLR 2019Warriors16162000024396010
MLR 2020Warriors55000001083200
MLR 2021Warriors1713000003329200
MLR 2022Warriors155000002057600
MLR 2023Warriors164000002117200
MLR 2024Warriors146000001347500
MLR 2025Warriors14100000277900
Total-10659300001575583015

The Traverse City, MI man has spent his entire MLR career with the Utah Warriors, earning his debut in the league’s inaugural season in 2018 where he started all 9 games for the Warriors, including their lone playoff appearance that year. MacLellan started all of his 30 games for Utah between 2018-2020 and has racked up 59 starts in 100 games in his MLR career to date. Congratulations, Angus! His full career stats in MLR can be seen above.

MacLellan’s impressive accomplishment was not the only appearance milestone during a bumper Rd 11 of MLR action. Another member of the front row earned his 50th MLR appearance in a convincing victory over Anthem RC on Sunday, Miami Sharks prop Alec McDonnell! The Missouri native and Lindenwood alum made his MLR debut with New York back in 2020, but really broke into the league with the SaberCats in 2022, starting 8 of his 9 games for Houston that year. He followed this with 16 appearances and a career high 56 tackles in 2023 before moving from Houston to Miami and signing with the Sharks. McDonnell has earned 24 appearances with the Sharks since, and set a career high 101m gained in their inaugural season in 2024. To date, McDonnell has started 18 of his 50 appearances in the league, and passed 200 career tackles on his 50th cap, congratulations, Alec!

Source: @Miasharksrugby via Instagram

From a 100th appearance to a 50th, and now from a 50th appearance to a bunch of debutants. MLR’s first ever ‘Storm Week’ saw some teams play 2 games within 4 days of each other and as such, squad rotation came into play. Some fringe players that might not have had the chance came in to bolster lineups and as a result, FIVE players earned their MLR debuts in Round 11, with three of them for Anthem RC! Starting in their first game of Round 11, when a trio of front rowers earned their first MLR appearances. Recently acquired on loan from the Chicago Hounds, Indiana native Alexander Hernandez appeared in both of Anthem’s Round 11 matches, coming off the bench in both games! Hernandez was drafted 34th overall in 2024 by the Chicago Hounds out of Marian University, and impressed with the Hounds academy during their fall season, earning an MLR contract. He was loaned to Anthem where he had a better opportunity at earning game time, and that was proved correct. Congratulations, Alexander!

Born in the US but raised in Canada, Neil Trainor was selected 2nd overall in the 2024 MLR Draft by Anthem RC out of Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. The Pacific Pride hooker earned just under 30 minutes of game time for Anthem in a tough 19-60 midweek affair last Wednesday, completing 4 tackles. In that same game, Californian prop Quinton Tindel also earned his MLR debut, coming on for the final 8 minutes and completing 2 tackles. Tindel, an alum of Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo and two-time Collegiate All-American, signed with Anthem RC as a free agent on a Homegrown Player Contract, and has now earned his Pro debut. Congratulations, both Neil and Quinton!

Moving away from Anthem RC and to one of their opponents from Round 11, the Miami Sharks. We have already discussed Alec McDonnell’s 50th MLR appearance, but packing down just behind him in the Sharks second row for the final few minutes of the match was Calvin Ihrig. The Chicago-born Lindenwood University alum discovered rugby which at school in Thailand, and was selected 3rd overall by the Sharks in the 2024 draft, now earning his debut off the bench in a comfortable 31-5 home victory. Congratulations, Calvin! Finally for the MLR debutants from Round 11, we head to the nation’s capital where Irish utility back Declan O’Loughlin made his Pro Debut for Old Glory DC in the final 10 minutes after earning his first pro contract during the DC academy season in the fall. A native of County Galway in Ireland, O’Loughlin made 7m and won a turnover as the Flags fell to the SaberCats in the Houston heat. Congratulations, Declan!

Victory Milestones

As mentioned just above, on Saturday the Houston SaberCats were able to hold of Old Glory DC for a comfortable victory at home, securing their second win in a row and staying atop the ferocious Western Conference. The SaberCats’ 48-27 victory over the Flags marks their 50th victory in MLR dating back to the league’s inaugural season in 2018, and claimed their 50th Try Bonus Point to boot! They hold an all-time regular season record of 50-0-53, and are 0-3 in the postseason. This makes them only the 4th team in MLR history to reach a half-century of victories in the competition. Congrats, ‘Cats!

The Houston SaberCats were not the only team to reach this marker during Round 11, however. The following day, the NOLA Gold recorded a big win over the Seattle Seawolves to claim their 50th MLR win, becoming the 5th team to reach the half-century of victories! The Gold have an all-time regular season record of 50-1-52 and are 0-1 in the postseason. In MLR’s All-Time Regular Season Standings, the Gold (274pts) sit just 9pts ahead of the SaberCats (265pts), both with 103 regular season games played.

Individual Scoring Milestones

Moving from team milestones to player achievements, starting with Tomas Aoake in San Diego. The Legion managed to snap their 4 game losing streak and retain the Cali Cup thanks in part to an Aoake score against Rugby FC LA over the weekend. This the 23rd try of Aoake’s MLR career, with all 23 having been scored for the Legion. The New Zealander’s 23rd tally and 5th of the 2025 season takes him ahead of team legend Nate Augspurger to become the San Diego Legion’s All-Time Top Try Scorer!

Although he had 4 tries in his debut MLR season in 2022, Aoake exploded in the Legion’s record-setting 2023 season, dotting down 11 times and running for 1,160m gained as San Diego finished as runners-up. These are still both career highs for Aoake. With 5 tries this year already to take him to T-12th all-time, how high can he get in 2025? Congratulations, Tomas!

Tomas Aoake becomes San Diego’s All-Time leading Try Scorer!

Moving from California over to the East Coast, the Miami Sharks’ dominant 31-5 victory over Anthem RC secured their 3rd victory in a row, setting a longest-ever win streak for the franchise! This victory was helped by the return of their talismanic Chilean international, Santiago Videla. As well as racking up just under 100m in meters made, Videla slotted 3 conversions and a penalty from the tee for 9pts in the game, taking his MLR total to 106. Scoring 100pts in Major League Rugby is an achievements in and of itself but with 106pts scored for the Sharks, Videla is the first player to pass 100pts scored for Miami! Congratulations, Santiago!

Heading to Texas, where the SaberCats recorded a runaway 48-27 victory over Old Glory DC, thanks in large part to a stellar performance from AJ Alatimu. The Samoan MLR veteran slotted 5 kicks from the tee (2pens, 3 cons) and added a try for 17pts in total from the man who sits 2nd All-Time in league scoring. This is the first time this season that a player has recorded over 15pts scored in a single game, setting a new 2025 record and surpassing the SEVEN players who have all scored 15pts in a game! With 6 weeks of action left in this regular season, will Alatimu’s season-high be beaten?

Alatimu sets new 2025 record with 17pt game for Houston

Miscellaneous Milestones!

Ending with a couple of tidbits from around the league that are worth mentioning and applauding, beginning with the Seattle Seawolves, who came close to a MLR record in their huge 19-60 road victory over Anthem RC in their first game of Round 11. The Seawolves ran riot in the Queen City, scoring 9 tries from 9 different players to equal the Toronto Arrows’ 9 different try scorers from a 31-64 victory over the Utah Warriors way back in 2019. This is T-2nd to only the Dallas Jackals, who scored 10 tries from 10 different scorers with a huge 28-68 road victory last season.

Now to a bit of history from the Chicago Hounds, who fielded their first pair of brothers in their clash with the Utah Warriors on Saturday. Mason Flesch started at lock while his younger brother Noah Flesch was at center for the match at Zion’s Bank Stadium and although they aren’t the first pair of brothers to start a MLR game together (The Suniula brothers come to mind for Seattle in the early years of the league, as well as the Kruse brothers for the Utah Warriors), they are the first pair of Canadian siblings to suit up together in a MLR starting 15. Congratulations to the Flesch brothers from Cobourg, Ontario!

Source: @chicagohoundsrugby via instagram

Wrapping Up

A bumper, 7-game Round 11 brought a bumper edition of Midweek Milestones this week, with all manner of appearance achievements, a new Legion try leader, 50th victories, and much more! With another midweek game to kick off Round 12, as well as a weekend full of MLR action, can we expect the same? You’ll have to check back in next week to find out!

Thank you for reading! If you like this series, please get in touch on social media and share this article to help highlight these achievements! If there’s anything that has been missed that you feel is worth mentioning, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB or James on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! NARDB also has a Youtube channel: NARStats!

Finally, If you’re looking to get your hands on some of the new Macron merch for 2025 or add to your jersey collection, visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new gear, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 10 of MLR2025!

NARDatabase

James Deeley

It’s hard to believe that we’re already 10 rounds in to the 2025 Major League Rugby season, and no closer to knowing where this season is going. Both conferences are still incredibly tight, with early season juggernauts reeling, and shaky starts evening out and starting to compete for the top spots! Let’s explore some of the standout stats from Round 10 of the 2025 MLR season.

Welcome back to Midweek Milestones! This weekly article highlights the big, and sometimes the small milestones that teams and players reached during the latest round of Major league Rugby action. The purpose of this is to highlight achievements that deserve recognition, that may have gone unnoticed otherwise. This week begins with the now-regular segment for Appearance Achievements, because there was a big one!

Appearance Achievements – MLR’s Second Centurion!

On Friday April 18th, the Seattle Seawolves defeated the Chicago Hounds in front of a home crowd. Seawolves scrum-half JP Smith started his 90th MLR game for the team, appearing in the 100th MLR game of his career to become just the 2nd player to feature in 100 matches in the competition. JP Smith is MLR’s Second Centurion!

JP Smith becomes MLR’s 2nd Centurion, and the first player to reach 100 appearances with a single team.

The South African joins fellow capped USA Eagle Dylan Fawsitt in MLR’s 100 Club, with Fawsitt having earned the achievement earlier this season with the Chicago Hounds (Seattle and Smith’s opponent for his 100th game, but Fawsitt did not feature). Although JP Smith is the second player to 100 MLR appearances, he is the first player in MLR history to play in 100 games for a single team, having played all 100 matches with the Seattle Seawolves since his debut in 2019. Smith is a 2019 MLR Champion and has finished as a Runner-Up twice, in 2022 & 2024. He was and All-MLR First XV selection in 2022, and has been included on the All-MLR Honorable Mention XV twice (2023, 2024). Congratulations, JP!
Smith’s stats can be found below:

JP Smith – MLR Stats

Major League Rugby

SeasonTeamGPGSTCPACDGMGTacklesKS/KAPts
MLR 2019Seawolves181160000264117030
MLR 2020Seawolves55200009943010
MLR 2021Seawolves1414100102388907
MLR 2022Seawolves1919432103621525/634
MLR 2023Seawolves171740010364131022
MLR 2024Seawolves191630000255110015
MLR 2025Seawolves14142000013669010
Total-1069622323017187115/6128

Although JP Smith’s achievement is probably the biggest highlight from Round 10, it’s not the only appearance milestone around the league. On the opposing side of Smith’s Seawolves were the Chicago Hounds and MLR Draftee Jake Kinneeveauk on the bench. The big Alaskan was selected in the 2nd Round, 22nd overall in the 2024 MLR Draft out of the University of Utah, and came on for the final 7 minutes to earn his MLR debut, completing two tackles as the Hounds comeback fell just short. Congratulations, Jake!

Speaking of Draftees, Major League Rugby’s first ever draft pick made his 50th MLR appearance on Friday as Conner Mooneyham and Anthem RC faced the New England Free Jacks. Mooneyham was selected 1st overall by the Dallas Jackals in MLR’s first draft back in 2020 and represented the Austin Gilgronis from 2021-2022, scoring 8 tries in 23 games before signing with the Seattle Seawolves. The Life University alum played with the Seawolves from 2023-2024, finishing as an MLR runner-up in 2024. A capped USA Eagle, Mooneyham was then traded (at his request) to Anthem RC for the 2025 season, where he earned his 50th MLR appearance in Round 10! He is the 3rd MLR Draftee to reach 50 appearances after Emmanuel Albert and Tavite Lopeti. Congratulations, Conner!

Lining up opposite Mooneyham in Friday night’s clash was New England Free Jacks center and Namibian international Le Roux Malan. Born in Namibia and raised in South Africa, Malan also earned his 50th MLR appearance in Round 10, playing all 50 games with the Free Jacks and starting 46 times since his debut in 2022. Malan has scored in the past two MLR Championship games, bagging the Shield-Winning score for New England in 2023. He suffered a nasty injury in between while representing his country at the Rugby World Cup in 2023, but came back in time for a try in the 2024 Final as well. Malan has 16 tries in his MLR career to date and over 3,100 meters made. Congratulations, Le Roux!

Source: @NEFreeJacks via Instagram

The final new member of the half-century club is San Diego Legion’s Tiaan Loots! The South African back started his MLR journey with the Houston SaberCats in 2020, playing 5 games before that season was cancelled due to COVID. He returned in 2021, signing with the San Diego Legion and representing them from 2021 onwards. He has started 40 of his 50 games in the competition, scoring 14 tries including a career high 6 last season! A MLR runner-up with the Legion in 2023, Loots has over 3,300m made in his career to date and was named in the All-MLR 2nd XV for the 2024 season. Congratulations on reaching 50 MLR appearances, Tiaan!

Team Milestones

Over the last few weeks, two of the 2024 expansion sides have passed the 500pt mark in Rugby FC LA and the Miami Sharks. After Round 10, the final team has also crept over this milestone! Although Anthem RC are still hunting for their elusive first win as a club, their point scoring isn’t too far off that of the Sharks or RFCLA. Thanks to 6 points from the boot of USA Eagle Mitch Wilson, the Rising Stars now sit on 502pts scored as a franchise. They were on the brink of that first victory earlier in the season but seem to have dropped off a bit. Can they get over the hump with 7 games remaining this season?

Before Anthem RC, the Miami Sharks were the latest team to hit the 500pt mark. The Sharks have garnered a bit of a reputation of nail-biting finishes this season, and that reputation won’t be helped by their 35-37 victory over Old Glory DC! In what was almost a repeat of their Round 1 clash, the Sharks raced out to a healthy 7-31 lead before DC battled back, and it was only two second half penalties from Shane O’Leary that spared the Sharks’ blushes in this one. At a combined 72pts scored, this is the highest scoring game in Miami Sharks history, eclipsing the 71pt total from a 50-21 victory over Anthem RC in Round 4 of the 2024 season. Congratulations, Sharks!

DC’s Run of Alternating Results Comes to an End!

On May 11th 2024, Old Glory DC recorded a 21-22 road victory over the Chicago Hounds to move to 2 wins in a row. Since then, the Flags had alternated between wins and losses for 16 games, before the Miami Sharks handed them a 35-37 defeat and 2nd loss in a row in Round 10 of the 2025 season!

Old Glory DC’s run of 16 alternating games ends

This streak (if you want to call it a streak) lasted for 16 games and went through the end of the 2024 regular season, continued through the 2024 playoffs, and made it half way through the 2025 regular season. Old Glory DC had not been on a streak of any kind in almost a calendar year!

Wrapping Up

A second MLR Centurion, a MLR debut, and Old Glory DC‘s strange streak comes to an end, all in this week’s edition of Midweek Milestones! With midweek games starting in Round 11 and running for the next few weeks, there’s bound to be some more standout stats. These articles will still be posted weekly and cover the latest round of MLR action, so next week’s article will cover the SEVEN matches from Round 11 of the 2025 Major League Rugby season!

Thank you for reading! If you like this series, please get in touch on social media and share this article to help highlight these achievements! If there’s anything that has been missed that you feel is worth mentioning, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB or James on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky! NARDB also has a Youtube channel: NARStats!

Finally, If you’re looking to get your hands on some of the new Macron merch for 2025 or add to your jersey collection, visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new gear, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 6 of MLR2025!

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Round 6 roughly marks the final round of the first third of the 2025 Major League Rugby season, and so far it’s been a thriller. There are historically good teams faltering, there are written off teams on win streaks, and Anthem RC creep closer to that first victory. Welcome to the Midweek Milestones article for Round 6!

Just in case you haven’t read any of the previous Midweek Milestones articles, these weekly posts highlight milestones or standout stats achieved by players and teams that might have gone under the radar in order to bring more attention to them, as well as inform fans of some of the big milestones and the less publicized (but no less deserving) achievements around the League for each match week.

Utah join the 100 Club!

The Utah Warriors join the likes of the Seattle Seawolves, San Diego Legion, and Houston SaberCats to become the 4th team in MLR history to reach 100 games played in the competition! They are the 2nd team to win their 100th MLR fixture, claiming a 27-30 road victory over the Seattle Seawolves to secure their 41st victory as a team. The Warriors have an all-time record of 41-3-56, which includes both 98 regular season games (41-3-54) and 2 playoff appearances (0-2).

The Utah Warriors’ 100th game falls in line with a very strange pattern. All 4 teams that have reached 100 games played in MLR have played their 100th match on the road against a fellow founding member. No team has played their 100th game in front of a home crowd yet!

Heartbreak for Anthem RC

The USA’s rising rugby stars are still looking for their first win as a franchise and came agonizingly close in Round 6 as Anthem RC had their hearts broken by a last minute Davy Coetzer penalty. The aspiring Eagles fell 45-46 in Charlotte, having set new single game franchise records for points scored (45) and tries scored (7). The 45pts scored by Anthem RC in this game accounted for over 10% of the points ever scored by the team!

As further proof that Anthem are closing the gap, their average losing margin in 2024 was an eyebrow raising 23pts. So far in 2025 that has fallen to 15pts and in their last 3 games the gap is, on average, just 2pts. Anthem picked up 1 losing BP all season last year, but have picked up 3 in a row in 2025 (including this game) and have secured try BPs in two of those as well. Although it might not seem like much, Anthem RC are moving in the right direction and it’s just a matter of time before they claim that elusive first win. Will it come before their next bye week in Round 13?

Kicking Credits

A handful of kickers made noteworthy news over the weekend, whether that be for reaching new scoring milestones or other standout stats.

We begin with Jason Robertson, who had arguably a First XV-worthy performance for Old Glory DC as they routed their Eastern Conference rivals the New England Free Jacks in the first of two ‘Red, White, & Blue Bowl’ matchups in 2025. Not only did Robertson pass the 2,000m made mark to become the 5th player to reach 2,000m made with the Flags, but he scored 13pts including a rare drop goal. Amazingly, this is the FIFTH drop goal of Jason Robertson’s MLR career and he now take sole possession of the record for the most drop goals scored in MLR history! What’s more, Robertson missed another drop goal attempt in the same game! He passes San Diego Legion legend Joe Pietersen, who had 4.

On the subject of the San Diego Legion, they recorded a convincing victory over the Miami Sharks in Florida, with Lincoln McClutchie assuming the role of place kicker. The New Zealander converted 3 tries for 6pts, pushing his MLR and Legion total past the 100pt mark to 104! McClutchie is just the 5th player to pass 100pts scored for the Legion, and is currently sat on 23pts this season to add to his 81pts from 2024. Congratulations, Lincoln!

A little way up the road from McClutchie is USA Eagle Luke Carty, who’s enjoying his first season in New Orleans with the Gold. Carty banked another 2pts in the Gold‘s 24-31 loss to Rugby FC LA over the weekend to just nudge his career total over 200pts after coming off of the bench. Although his time with NOLA has only just begun, Carty has already racked up 24pts with the Gold this season and is only the 16th player in MLR history (9th active player) to pass 200pts in the competition! Congratulations, Luke!

NOLA Gold’s Luke Carty

Staying on the subject of kickers but moving to the Gold’s opposition this weekend, Rugby FC LA. The 2nd incarnation of a MLR team in Los Angeles appear to be finding their groove, securing back-to-back victories the last few weeks. In fact, with another 31pts scored over the weekend, RFCLA have become the first 2024 Expansion Team to pass 500pts scored as a franchise! They sit on 506pts scored in total, with Andrew Coe‘s 58th minute try taking the lads from Los Angeles over the milestone.

A key part of Rugby FC LA‘s scoring has been international rugby veteran Christian Leali’ifano. Test capped for both Australia and Samoa, Leali’ifano is currently tied as MLR’s leading points scorer with 40 on the season so far. Coming into Round 6, he had a flawless record from the tee with 15/15, the best record in MLR! It turns out that the 37yo is human after all however, as Leali’ifano missed his first two place kicks of the season in Round 6. Let’s blame them on the wind, shall we?

Appearance Achievements

In what is quickly becoming it’s own segment within these Midweek Milestones articles, there were a number of players celebrating milestone appearances over the weekend, starting with a pair of MLR debuts!

After being named on the bench in Round 5 but not used, Hawaiian former football player Isikeli Kava earned his Major League Rugby debut on the 2nd attempt when he came off the bench for Old Glory DC in the 77th minute of their convincing 28-14 victory over the New England Free Jacks. Kava played with the American Raptors crossover program before joining the Flags for the 2025 season, and made 3 tackles in his MLR debut. Congratulations, Isikeli!

MLR Debutant Isikeli Kava (center)


Round 6’s other debutant was another #18. Nova Scotia native and test-capped Canadian Prop Tyler Matchem came off the bench for the NOLA Gold in the 67th minute to earn his first MLR appearance and help the Gold to salvage 2pts from their 24-31 defeat to Rugby FC LA. Congratulations, Tyler!

From debuts to half-centuries, three US-eligible players reached 50 appearances in MLR over the course of Round 6, including a very impressive MLR first for one of them! Starting on the West Coast with the San Diego Legion, Australian back rower and 2021 MLR Champion Christian Poidevin earned his 50th MLR appearance and his 44th start in the competition! The son of 1991 RWC Winner Simon Poidevin, Christian earned 28 appearances with the LA Giltinis between 2021-2022 before joining the Legion in 2023 where he has earned 22 further appearances. Poidevin is eligible for the USA through his Chicago-born mother, and has scored 13 tries in MLR including 3 in 5 games to start 2025! To date, he has made 1,429m in possession and completed 591 tackles with a high of 200 in 2022. Congratulations, Christian!

Staying in the Western Conference but moving to the Lone Star State, Houston SaberCats’ forward Emmanuel Albert also reaches his 50th appearance in MLR! The Minnesota native has developed into a certified MLR starter over his 4 years in Texas, with 11 of his 14 career starts coming in the last 2 seasons, including 5 starts in 5 games so far in 2025. Albert has scored 3 MLR tries and is approaching both 1,000m made in possession & 350 tackles completed and, after setting career highs in both categories last season, is well on track to do the same again this year! Albert was drafted 2nd overall by the Houston SaberCats in the 2021 MLR Collegiate Draft out of Lindenwood University, meaning that his half-century of games comes with an MLR first: Emmanuel Albert is the first MLR Draftee to reach 50 games played in the competition! This is a testament to the viability of the draft and the player pathway system, as well as to Albert’s hard work and determination. Congratulations, Emmanuel!

Source: @usmlr via Instagram

The final player to enter the 50-cap club in Round 6 is Ex-Rugby New York Ironworker and 2022 MLR Champion, Connor Buckley! The Iona College alum earned his 19th appearance (11th start) for Old Glory DC in their victory over New England, to add to his 31 games for New York between 2021-2023! Buckley has 30 starts in his MLR career and 9 tries including the first (and to date, only) playoff hat trick in MLR history in the 2024 Eastern Conference Semifinal, also against New England. Congratulations, Connor!

Wrapping Up

Another team joins the 100 club, a trio of kickers reach new scoring milestones, and a handful of players earn appearance achievements! That does it for all the standout stats from another week of Major league Rugby action, and the Midweek Milestones article for Round 6 of the 2025 season. Be sure to check back next week for Midweek Milestones from the 7th match week of the 2025 Major League Rugby season, we we see more MLR firsts?

If you like this series, please get in touch on social media and share this article to help highlight these achievements! If there’s anything that has been missed that you feel is worth mentioning, you can reach out to NARDB via the ‘Contact’ tab on this site. Alternatively, you can reach out to NARDB or James on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky!

Finally, If you’re looking to get your hands on some of the new Macron merch for 2025 or add to your jersey collection, visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new gear, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 16-22, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The last week before Christmas 2024 saw a huge number of roster moves from MLR teams as they all scramble to get their last-minute shopping done in time for the holidays. Each week, NARDB summarises every single roster move around the league so fans can easily stay up to date with all the goings on during the off-season. This week, we’ll add a little detail to all the roster moves from the week between December 9th & December 16th!

20 re-signings in total across five teams, including nine for the NOLA Gold alone should give some idea of how busy the week was. This doesn’t even include the nine new faces joining MLR from other leagues around the world, or the four 2024 Collegiate draftees that were officially signed, or the three intra-league moves that saw a pair of loanees return to their clubs for 2025! It’s a busy week, and as usual we’ll start with the Page 1 summary graphic, and dive right in to the re-signings:

MLR Player Moves Summary: December 9-16, 2024 (1 of 3) – Please note that Tomy Malanos signed with the Miami Sharks, not Rugby FC LA as noted above.

Re-Signings

As mentioned, last week saw 20 re-signings in total including nine for the NOLA Gold alone, who announced their returning props and halfbacks for the 2025 season. Starting in the front row, Gold academy product Bart Vermeulen returns for a 2nd season after earning 5 appearances from the bench, and ex-Arrow Isaac Salmon (36a, 25s) also returns for a 2nd season in New Orleans alongside fellow New Zealander Jarred Adams, who returns for a 3rd season with the Gold and has over 800m gained in his 29 games (21 starts) to date. Having been with NOLA for slightly longer, Matt Harmon (73a, 45s) and James ‘Doc’ Irey (24a, 3s) each return for their 7th seasons with the team.

As well as announcing the return of five props, the NOLA Gold announced a pair each of returning scrumhalves and flyhalves, with Namibian international scrumhalf Damien Stevens the most experienced of the four, with 6 tries and 98pts in his 47 games (26 starts) for the Gold to date across 4 seasons. Alongside Stevens will be Luke Campbell returning for his 3rd season with the Gold. Campbell has 5 tries and 29pts in hs 27 games (24 starts) since 2023, and well over 125 tackles completed (high for a 9). Moving to the 10 jersey, academy product Reece Botha returns for his 3rd season with the team after a stand-out 2024 in which he scored 2 tries and 53pts, appearing in all 17 Gold games and starting 6. Fighting with Botha for starts will be welshman Dorian Jones who’s back for a 2nd MLR season in NOLA. Jones had limited game time in 2024 but still scored 1 try and 38pts in his 5 games (all starts).

Moving to the other team with mass re-signings but staying in the Eastern Conference, Old Glory DC continue their ’24 days of re-signings’ with another six returning faces. US-eligible English prop Joe Wrafter is back for a second season in the nation’s capital after earning 2 appearances off the bench in 2024, and joining him in the front row is test capped Uruguayan hooker Facundo Gattas, who has 5 tries in 25 games (9 starts) since 2022 and is back for his 4th MLR season in 2025. Moving to the DC second row, Gattas’ Los Teros teammate Ignacio Dotti is back for a 6th MLR season and 2nd with the Flags. Dotti has over 1,000m gained and 331 tackles in his 46 MLR games (35 starts) since 2019. Joining him in the engine room is capped Scotland international Rob Harley, who can also play flanker and earned 15 appearances (14 starts) for DC in 2024 and finished 5th MLR-wide in tackles completed, with a huge 189. Finally for Old Glory, a pair of speedsters are back for 2025. Sticking with the South American theme, Argentine winger Axel Müller returns after scoring 5 tries in 11 games in 2024, while also completing over 70 tackles. Also returning on the wing is another test capped Scot, Damian Hoyland, following 12 appearances and over 1000m gained in his debut season in North America.

Things were a little quieter in the Western Conference in terms of re-signings. The Houston SaberCats announced the return of stalwart Emmanuel Albert and academy graduate Aiden Kerr. A 2nd overall pick in 2021 out of Lindenwood, Albert scored 2 tries in 2024 earned 6 of his 9 career starts, and completed a career high 121 tackles. At the early stages of his development, Washington native Aiden Kerr will look to earn his MLR debut in 2025. Heading to the coast, Rugby FC LA announced a single returnee last week, but it was a good one. Test capped Canadian back row Matt Heaton returns for a second season in LA and 6th in MLR. Heaton passed his 50th league cap in 2024, scoring his 7th try and recording a hefty 166 tackles. This takes his career tackle total over 800, just the 6th player in league history to pass that milestone. Moving back inland to the Beehive State, the Utah Warriors have begun announcing their returnees, with another tackle machine, Dylan Nel. Nel recorded 128 tackles of his own in only 11 games (all starts), also racking up over 750m gained for the Warriors. Ex-Arrow Tyler Wong is also returning for Utah after earning 3 appearances off the bench for his new club, having been selected by them in the Toronto & NY Dispersal Draft in 2023.

MLR Player Moves Summary: December 9-16, 2024 (2 of 3)

New to MLR

As mentioned just above, Rugby FC LA had just the one re-signing announced last week, but boy were they busy. The fresh-look RFCLA announced five of last week’s nine new faces, including a trio from the Randwick Galloping Green to add to the two they had already announced. Maybe the ‘R’ in ‘RFCLA‘ actually stands for Randwick? 2023 Shute Shield winning Captain Ben Houston joins Nick Chan and Matias Jensen, as do fellow 2023 Champions Declan Leaney and Cronan Gleeson. Irish prop Gleeson is no stranger to MLR, having played with Rugby ATL in 2020 and the San Diego Legion the following year, earning 17 appearances total (6 starts) and 99 tackles. Another ex-pat heads to California via Australia, Ed Timpson. English back row Timpson played alongside new RFCLA teammate Ben Sugars at the University of Nottingham in the UK, and was playing with the Northern Suburbs in the Shute Shield, a favoured hunting ground for RFCLA Head Coach and Director of Rugby, Stephen Hoiles. Lastly for LA, but most definitely not least, dual-test capped fly-half Christian Leali’ifano joins for 2025 from the Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby. The Brumbies Centurion and 7th player in Super Rugby history to pass 1,000pts has test caps with both the Wallabies and Samoa, and is test debut was against the British & Irish Lions. Leali’ifano represented Australia at the RWC in Japan in 2019, and Samoa at the RWC in France in 2023.

Sticking in the Western Conference, the Houston SaberCats were also picking around Australia. The Texas team signing Scottish prop Michael Scott from the Northern Suburbs in the Shute Shield. Another addition for the ‘Cats is Jacob Merklinger, a So-Cal native prop who came up through the San Diego Legion system, and represented the San Clemente Rhinos in the World Rugby Tens before making the final jump from the SaberCats academy to the MLR side. Jumping back across the Pacific, Kiwi utility back Vilimone Koroi is headed over to the Eastern Conference and the Big Easy, signing with the NOLA Gold from the Highlanders in Super Rugby. Koroi is a capped All Blacks Sevens man, winning a Commonwealth Gold in 2018. To wrap up the new faces we’re staying in the East but in Chicago, who signed fellow Australasian Liam Fletcher from back-to-back Hospital Cup winners Brothers Rugby Club.

New Draftees Confirmed

While not completely new names in Major League Rugby, a flurry of 2024 Draftee signings hit us last week, as the Houston SaberCats confirmed their 2nd Rd Pick, signing utility back Jake Negrete, one of six draftees out of St. Mary’s College in the 2024 Draft Class. Negrete was selected 20th overall in 2024 and will be hoping to make a similar impact to 2023 rookie Max Schumacher. The remaining three draftee signings happened over in the Eastern Conference, starting with the Miami Sharks signing their 27th overall pick Lautaro Soto Ansay. Born in the US but raised in Argentina, Soto attended the rugby powerhouse Lindenwood University, from where he was drafted. Heading up to the home of the Champions in Massachusetts, the New England Free Jacks signed both of their 2024 draftees last week, penning deals with Kaipono Kayoshi and Matt Carrion. Kayoshi, a USA U18 & U20 back rower already, was selected 4th overall and is another of those six St. Mary’s College Gaels that were drafted in 2024. Matt Carrion is another US age-grade representative, having payed with the U18s before attending Life University, where the Running Eagle back row was selected 14th overall. Adding a pair of rookies to an already very crowded Free Jacks back row doesn’t bode well for their playing time in 2025, but fingers crossed both Kayoshi and Carrion can string together some minutes.

MLR Player Moves Summary: December 9-16, 2024 (3 of 3)

Intra-League Moves and Retirements

Although we still haven’t heard anything from Anthem RC in terms of who is playing for them when the season starts in under 50 days, other team announcements are giving us an idea of who isn’t returning for their sophomore season. The New England Free Jacks announced the return of Central Washington Alum Ivan Pula, another draftee who was selected 37th overall in the 2022 Collegiate Draft by the Free Jacks. the Washington prop earned 7 MLR appearances for Anthem while on loan there for the 2024 season. Pula wasn’t the only loanee returning to their team from Carolina, though. Canadian born US- eligible forward Logan Weidner was confirmed as returning to Old Glory DC. The 6’6 USA U20 player earned 2 starts in 12 appearances for Anthem RC on loan, completing a solid 81 tackles in the process. Staying in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Sharks signed Argentinian centre Tomy Malanos after two seasons with the Dallas Jackals. Malanos scored 9 tries in 29 games for Dallas, recording over 1,250m gained and just shy of 200 tackles completed (198).

Not listed on the summary graphics from last week is a lone retirement. Austin White announced the end of his professional playing career after 4 seasons in Major League Rugby. A 2021 Runner-Up, White represented Rugby ATL from 2020-2023 before following the franchise to LA, playing with Rugby FC LA for their debut season in 2024. White scored 8 tries in his 43 games (30 starts), recording over 1,800m gained and 127 tackles in his MLR career. Best of luck in your next chapter, Austin!

In Conclusion

This Player Move summary is a few days late due to the holidays. They are typically published every Monday so if you are reading this article on it’s release date (December 28th, 2024), you’ll only have to wait a couple more days for the next summary. A busy week from December 16-22 makes way for a much quieter week for the holidays, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been moves. The purpose of this article is to keep MLR fans up to date during the off-season and now that we are under 50 days away from kick off on the 2025 season, teams are hurriedly preparing for training camps, that are only a couple of weeks away.

As always, it’s recommended to follow NARDB and James on social media to stay up to date on moves as they happen. Follow @MLRStats on Instagram and Threads, @NARugbyDB or @JamDelay on Twitter/X, and @NARDB & @JamDelay on Bluesky.

NARDB’s Ranking of the MLR2025 Away Jerseys

NARDatabase

James Deeley

On Tuesday December 3rd, 2024, almost entirely out of the blue save a vague TRN tweet, Major League Rugby revealed the home and away jerseys for all 11 teams for the 8th season of the competition in 2025. Credit where it’s due, a huge round of applause to MLR, Macron, and all 11 teams for getting these jerseys ready to launch before the holidays. Even though all jerseys are currently only available to pre-order and may not ship until after the 2025 season kicks off on February 15th, fans will know what they are getting if they ask for their teams’ jerseys from Santa!

Last week, NARDB revealed it’s rankings for all 11 MLR2025 Home Kits. The article for which you can read here. Now this article will follow the same format but for ranking the 11 Away kits for MLR2025. Generally speaking, the away kits feel like the weaker selection, but that could be because I tend to find white jerseys plain and a little lazy, most of the time. We have five away jerseys that are primarily white, and it’s been difficult to a) tell them all apart and b) rank them. As with NARDB’s Home kit rankings, it’s impossible that everyone will agree with the Away kit rankings completely. This is just to offer my opinion. If you disagree, please let me know your favourites in the comments section below, but please keep things civil. We are all rugby and MLR fans, and ‘Kitmas’ is always the major event of the off-season, kick-starting the hype for the upcoming season. Here are my rankings of MLR’s 2025 away kits, followed by an explanation of each ranking. A reminder that each row is also ranked left to right:

Excellent – San Diego Legion

Okay, but just hear me out. The Legion’s 2025 home kit really grew on me, and I’d always preferred the Legion away of the two of them. Perhaps because it looks very similar to a Rugby Canada kit, right down to the Macron logo! The shading stands out better on the red, and the ‘fulmina’ (lightning bolts used in the insignia of some units of the Roman Army, such as Legions) remain. the San Diego Legion claim that the pattern is based on ‘Dazzle Camo’ used on warships, tying the kit in with the close relationship that San Diego has with the US Navy. I’ll let you decide which explanation is better, or if both things can be true. This fits with the Legion’s traditional red and is still a really clean look. The white edges and collar are a nice touch but similar to my comment on their home kit, what if they were black? As mentioned already, the away kits seem weaker in general than the home kits for 2025, but the Legion’s Away is my personal favourite.

Excellent – Chicago Hounds

A double-Excellent for the Chicago Hounds 2025 kits! The Hounds, unlike the Legion, have always had white as a part of their brand, and the collar, sides, bottom edge, and houndstooth sleeves really pops on that beautiful green. I was initially puzzled by the darker design across the body of the jersey, but the Hounds posted a great, informative little video explaining the design:

The design is based on the patterns in the water that are made when the Chicago River is dyed green for St. Patrick’s Day, an iconic feature of the City of Chicago. Adjusted to the darker Hounds green, the simple, effective link to their city makes the Chicago Hounds 2025 away kit an excellent jersey.

Great – Utah Warriors

The Utah Warriors away kit is a colour-swapped version of their home, which NARDB also ranked as ‘Great’. The black parts of the home kit become red on the away, with the outlines and edges now white. I still think this jersey really works and if anything, the jersey sponsor actually fits in better on the away kit. The 4 lines representing the Utah Warriors’ core values of Community, Family, Tradition, and Respect still look great in white, stopping behind the crest again. Those core values also look to be written around the edges of the sleeves, which wasn’t obvious on the home jersey but is a great addition. although I prefer the Warriors’ home kit of the two, and don’t think the away kit is quite as good as San Diego or Chicago, it’s still a bold jersey. If they go with red shorts and white socks, it could look fantastic on the field.

Great – Miami Sharks

If you thought the Miami Sharks home kit was unique, take a look at this. the black works great with the vibrant hot pink, the simple shark fin design throughout works perfectly with the brand, outlined with a slightly different shade of pink to add layers. It’s madness. An absolutely bonkers design, and it’s exactly the kind of thing I hoped for out of Miami. Someone (who shall remain nameless) said that it looked a little like a kid’s pajamas which, is a fair point that took a while for me to unsee, but I love this thing. The white Macron logo with the subtle outline fits really well with the sponsor that is the right size, and the blue of the crest still sits on top of the main design. Unlike the Utah Warriors just before this, the Miami Sharks’ away kit is a truly unique jersey that I hope to see plenty of in the crowds. Only Miami could go for a kit like this, and I’m glad they have.

Great – Old Glory DC

At the start of this article I mentioned that generally speaking, I’m not a fan of white away kits. The Old Glory DC away kit for 2025 is the exception to this rule. Perhaps it’s because I keep seeing the little stars and thinking they’re maple leafs which, like the San Diego Legion, make me think it could be a Rugby Canada jersey. Perhaps it’s because the navy and red edges, coupled with the white body and dark Macron logo look incredible similar to the Rugby Canada away jersey from 2024. The busy-ness of all the stars don’t alter the colour on the Old Glory DC away kit like they do with the Home kit, and the edges, while very similar to Canada’s 2024 away, look sharp. It still has a bit of ‘polo shirt’ about it, however. It’s been a while since the Flags had a white away kit and this is a solid entry, my preferred Old Glory DC jersey for 2025.

Solid – Seattle Seawolves

The Seattle Seawolves’ home jersey was one of NARDB’s top three for 2025, but the away kit finds itself in the middle of the pack. This jersey is straddling the line between bland white away kit and something unique, but definitely leans more towards the latter. The Seawolves explained the unique design as a nod to the ‘Crashing Waves’ of the Pacific Ocean and, now that I know what they were going for, I see it. The colour of the jersey sponsor has changed to navy to fit with the accents throughout which look fantastic, and that’s about it. It’s a relatively simple design that fits with the Seawolves away kits of recent years and, as is typical for a Seattle Seawolves kit, contains details tying it to the PNW and Washington State.

Solid – New England Free Jacks

The New England Free Jacks aren’t used to having their kits below the first or second tier of my rankings, but there’s a first time for everything. I can’t quite put my finger on why the Free Jacks 2025 ‘Member’ (away) jersey doesn’t speak to me in the same way as previous years, or even the 2025 ‘Club’ (home) kit. Perhaps it’s because the thicker hoops just end half way down, turning into a block of plain red. If they continued the hoops I think it would look better, but then it would look too similar to their home kit. On one hand the first top half of this jersey looks phenomenal, the navy Macron logo on the white is great, and the sponsor is un-invasive in the centre. On the other, that big patch of plain red doesn’t sit well with me. This isn’t to say that it’s anything remotely close to a bad jersey, It’s solid and the white collar on the navy shoulders is gorgeous, it’s just not quite at the regular high standard of Free Jacks jerseys.

Fine – Anthem RC

For their 2025 away kit, Anthem RC didn’t change much from their home kit. The ‘rising stars’ design stays in the background but in white, with the blue being relegated to the accents on the sleeves and around the neck. The team crest and Macron logo stay the same colour, but don’t seem to work as well against the white as they do against the blue of their home kit. The blue pops around the collar more than on the sleeves, and I can’t help wondering what the kit would look like if the logos shared that same shade of blue or better still, the away kit was a complete colour swap of the home with blue logos on a gold jersey. THAT I would like to see. In essence, the Anthem away kit is just a white version of their home kit, which is a bit boring. We are beginning to enter the territory of bland white alternate kits.

Fine – NOLA Gold

A break with tradition from the NOLA Gold for their 2025 away kit, that has just missed the mark. As one comment I saw online put it: ‘it looks like a golf shirt you’d see on the rack at Goodwill’, and it’s hard to argue against that. This kit may work if NOLA go with purple shorts and/or socks, but any other colour feels like it’d be a mish mash. The NOLA away kit was so close to being in the ‘Meh’ category, but after taking another look, it doesn’t quite deserve that. The Gold tried something different while maintaining the Mardi Gras colours that look fantastic in previous kits such as their 2024 Away jersey. The jersey sponsor fits really well in that green band, and the white actually works really well with the gold logos, seams, and collar (which are actually, obviously gold, unlike the Houston SaberCats…). From the white line under the jersey sponsor up, this is a good looking kit but the large purple section, while a unique colour, just doesn’t look right, similar to the plain red section in the Free Jacks away kit. The Gold made a bold decision in going for something different, and they were close to nailing it but as I stated at the start of this section, they just missed the mark.

Meh – Rugby FC LA

Unfortunately for Rugby FC LA fans, their away kit ranks even lower than their home kit for 2025. The seams and sides change to the light blue seem on the home kit, while the team and Macron logos stay dark blue which actually looks quite good in the chest. The yellow collar and sleeve edges worked better on the home kit, as the blue and yellow looked like a beach, or which LA has some famous ones, of course. The strange dots remain and the team have not given any reasons behind this choice. Unlike the home kit which looked just like TV static, the dots on this away kit start random around the shoulders, but seem to form vague lines further down the kit, before fading completely. At least it’s not complete copy of the home kit but in white, it is however a pretty bland effort. I mentioned this for RFCLA’s home kit, but I was really hoping for a bit more purple like their 2024 City Jersey, which I think was their best kit to date.

Meh – Houston SaberCats

Speaking of boring white recolourings of home kits, the Houston SaberCats. The stripe at the bottom, Macron logo, and neck line have changed from yellow to black, but otherwise this kit is almost identical to the home kit, but in white. Some points for the subtle SaberCat logo pattern as the background, but there is still the baffling decision not to include a crest (again, after announcing a ‘new’ logo, why would you not use it?), which subtracts a lot of points. At least the Houston home kit was their classic black and yellow (maybe gold? It doesn’t look like it…), but white has never been a kit colour for the SaberCats, and is a boring choice for a new colour to try. What happened to the yellow? That was unique and usually a strong kit. I keep mentioning this almost unnoticeable ‘rebrand’ that the SaberCats announced, stating that they were ‘entering their gold era’ (Hello, NOLA?), but the gold that is used still looks yellow, and there’s barely any of it on either kit. The SaberCats may finish top of the league in the regular season again in 2025, but unfortunately, their kits are very disappointing. It’s a double ‘Meh’ for the Houston SaberCats kits in 2025.

That concludes NARDB’s rankings for Major League Rugby’s Away kits for the 2025 Season. As with the Home Kit rankings, I don’t expect everyone to agree with me completely. There will be people that disagree with my rankings of the Legion, New England, Miami, NOLA, etc. but that is part of the fun of ‘Kitmas’, it generates debate and begins the build the hype for the upcoming season, which is what this article is hoping to generate. Please let me know in the comments below or on social media what you think of my rankings, what you agree with, or what you disagree with, and why!

You can find NARDB and James on social media at @MLRStats on Instagram and Threads, at @JamDelay or @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky. Additionally, now that all jerseys are available to pre-order, be sure to visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

NARDB’s Ranking of the MLR2025 Home Jerseys

NARDatabase

James Deeley

On Tuesday December 3rd, 2024, almost entirely out of the blue save a vague TRN tweet, Major League Rugby revealed the home and away jerseys for all 11 teams for the 8th season of the competition in 2025. Similar to last year, the jerseys were announced league-wide but unusually, they were announced shortly after 9am EST, differing to many league announcements that typically come at noon or 1pm EST to accommodate the west coast. Unless you’re an early riser out west, you could have missed the drop! Unlike last year’s jersey reveals that were posted on January 10th, MLR fans know all what all 22 kits look like roughly five weeks earlier, and long before the holidays.

I am often hard on MLR, because I believe they can and should succeed in making rugby a major sport in the North American market, and often disagree with and/or criticize their moves. However, to be able to reveal every single kit for the 2025 season 3 weeks before the holidays, after announcing the partnership with Macron just a few weeks prior on November 13th, is a phenomenal achievement. It’s worth noting that kits are only available for pre-order right now and won’t be delivered until January or February, but at least MLR fans will know what they’re getting if they ask Santa for a 2025 jersey. This is excellent work from MLR, Macron, and all 11 teams.

Now, to the matter at hand. This article will outline my personal rankings of the home kits of all 11 MLR teams for 2025. This is not to say that this ranking is correct, or that you are wrong if you prefer another jersey, but is just to offer my opinion. If you disagree, please let me know your favourites in the comments section below, but please keep things civil. We are all rugby and MLR fans, and ‘Kitmas’ is always the major event of the off-season, kick-starting the hype for the upcoming season. With that said, lets get into it. Here are my rankings of MLR’s 2025 home kits, followed by an explanation of each ranking. A reminder that each row is also ranked, left to right:

Excellent – Chicago Hounds

As anyone who has seen my jersey rankings from previous years will know, I’m a sucker for hoops and a collar. The Chicago Hounds stick with a winning formula and it looks so clean. The thick stripe bordered by two thin stripes fits really well, and both the team and Macron logo sit perfectly on the chest. The Hounds continue to evolve their hooped kit first seen in 2023, adding the collar in 2024 and removing the hooped sleeves for 2025, making them a flat shade of that trademark green. The houndstooth edges stay on the sleeves (an amazing little detail), and feature subtly in the numbering on the back of the jerseys. Another really strong kit from the Chicago Hounds, and my personal favourite home jersey for 2025. The Rugby Network even pitted the Hounds jersey against the Free Jacks jersey in the ‘Battle of the Hoops’, and Chicago just took the win: 51.2% to 48.8%!

Excellent – New England Free Jacks

Another Eastern Conference team sticking to their classic ‘hoops & collar’ look are the reigning champs, the New England Free Jacks. Always high on my jersey rankings, the Free Jacks’ design for their ‘Club’ (home) kit is really quite simple, seemingly random hoops of red, white and blue throughout, based on the Serapis Flag used by John Paul Jones during the Battle of Flamborough Head during the Revolutionary War. Very Free Jacks. Similar to their previous kits is not a criticism, as New England deliver excellent kits year in and year out, and the addition of ‘Lets Ride’ to the bottom of the jersey is a wonderful touch. The jersey sponsor remains the same as pervious years and fits very well on the chest, and the team and Macron logos fitting perfectly into that red stripe is very pleasing.

Excellent – Seattle Seawolves

The third and final home kit in the ‘Excellent’ tier is the more subtle hoops and collar approach of the Seattle Seawolves. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I am very fond of the Seawolves’ return to their classic colours. Echoing the ‘traditional’ colours of Seattle’s sports teams, the light green accents really pop against the navy. The green Macron logo is a nice touch, and the jersey sponsor isn’t invasive. The subtle hoops are alternating nods to the mountainous ‘Pacific Northwest Cascade and Olympic Landscapes’ and the ocean waves of the Puget Sound. I was never particularly high on the Seawolves move to more black primary jerseys, and I’m looking forward to seeing this ‘classic’ look on the pitch in 2025.

Great – Utah Warriors

The first non-hooped jersey on the list. The Utah Warriors are another club with consistently strong jerseys, with their 2023 away being one of my all-time favourites. Their 2025 home kit sees a return to the more bold designs after a safe (but strong!) 2024 selection. The mountains of Utah feature prominently in the Warriors’ home kit for next season, and the black and red colours are always a strong combination. Breaking with tradition slightly, the four red lines that represent ‘Community, Family, Tradition, and Respect’ differ from previous years. These lines are present in every single Utah Warriors jersey, and they do not run across the chest as they typically have in the past, instead running over the left shoulder and behind the team logo. I really like this small change that keeps with a Warriors’ tradition, but I’m curious to see what that looks like on the back of the jersey.

Great – Anthem RC

Anthem RC’s late addition for the 2024 season meant that I didn’t have a chance to fairly rank their kits from last season (click here for my first impressions video). Fortunately, it looks like the World Rugby, USA Rugby, and MLR partnership team have gone with a very similar design for this season’s home jersey. The mission statement of Anthem RC is to develop the next generation of USA Eagles ahead of the home World Cup in 2031. as such, they have stuck with the ‘rising stars’ background and although the number of stars has been reduced, I think this works better as a more predictable pattern. The black detailing around the edges of the sleeves and neck has been changed to a dark grey that fits with the great shade of blue, but my favourite change is to the Anthem RC logo itself. Going from white last year to gold this year is a huge improvement and really pops on the chest. The gold Macron compliments it well too. We’ll have to wait and see if a jersey sponsor goes on there, but based on this picture alone, I’m a big fan of this combination.

Great – Miami Sharks

If you thought last year’s Miami Sharks jerseys were bold, wait until you see their 2025 kits. This home kit with it’s blurred pattern evokes imagery of waves of blue waters washing up on a Florida beach at sunset. the Miami Vice-esque kit is bright, bold, vibrant, and bonkers. In their young history, the Miami Sharks already seem to have nailed the ‘Miami’ vibe to their kits, and the pink and light blue fit in with other sports teams around the city. The jersey sponsor, although large, doesn’t feel intrusive and the white goes with the Macron logo. This choice may be a surprise to some, but a unique choice is exactly what I expected from the Sharks, and I’m glad I haven’t been disappointed! I’m curious to see how the numbering will look on the back, however.

Solid – NOLA Gold

Why fix what isn’t broke? Similar to the New England Free Jacks, the designs for the NOLA Gold haven’t changed a great deal, and in NOLA’s case the home kit has varied very little since 2021. Although some fans (myself included) may prefer the black and gold quartered jersey that the Gold used as their 2023 away kit, There’s no denying that the lighter gold and white is a solid jersey. A few small changes for this year sees the addition of white to the gold sections to give the impression of shimmering scales, and the quarters divided with a diagonal line across rather than dead horizontal. The horizontal like works well with the classic Gold jersey, and the Macron and team logos alternating colours works. Another jersey sponsor not taking over the entire jersey is very welcome, too!

Solid – San Diego Legion

This one may raise some eyebrows. Having being harsh on the Legion last year for revealing their ‘Military Series’ jerseys that gave the impression that there were more Legion jerseys on the way, those camo jerseys turned out to just be the Legion’s 2024 kits. This, coupled with San Diego being the only team to opt out of the City Jerseys, left much to be desired. The Legion’s 2025 kits however, are much improved. The Legion have traditionally been black and red (similar to the Utah Warriors), this year the choices are black or red for home or away. I think this black home kit is pretty sharp, and work really well with the white collar and edging, reminiscent of an All Blacks jersey. For history nerds like me, the ‘lightning’ motif in the background is reminiscent of ‘fulmina’, used in the insignia of some units of the Roman Army (such as Legions). This may have been unintentional, but it’s a nice touch nonetheless! There’s no jersey sponsor on the image above, so I’m curious to know how that would look on the kit. Additionally, as mentioned the Legion are traditionally red & black so although this is a clean look, how would it look if the white parts were red?

Fine – Old Glory DC

Now we move into the home kits that, in my opinion, aren’t anything special, but aren’t awful. At the top of this list is Old Glory DC. Although the Flags do stick with their typical ‘Red, White, and Blue,’ ‘Stars and Stripes’ brand, this year’s iteration falls a little flat compared to some of their previous home jerseys. It seems that OGDC have moved away from red as a jersey colour, but this kit looks as though the main colour is supposed to be a navy but because of the outline of all the starts it looks more like a grey. Although the stripes at the edges and on the collar are sharp, coupled with the lack of jersey sponsor, the kit looks like a Ralph Lauren polo shirt, or a souvenir shirt from the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, thank the Old Glory DC home kit. It actually looks like it could be a USA National Team kit or piece of merch, which I suppose is a good thing given that the team is named after the US Flag. This kit isn’t bad, it’s fine. I’m sure plenty of DC fans will pick these jerseys up and they’ll look fine on the field, but compared to some of the other home kits around MLR for 2025, this kit doesn’t stand out. Perhaps they are trying to get away from similarities to the other red, white, and blue team in the Eastern Conference?

Fine – Rugby FC LA

For their sophomore season, Rugby FC LA’s home kit is a very similar colour to their 2024 away jersey. The light blue remains but the ‘wave’ effect is gone, replaced with…static? I’m not sure what the pattern is supposed to be, or how that relates to LA, but it’s a good shade of blue that invokes the blue summer sky, as well as the blue sea on the yellow beaches. The darker seams work with it as do the darker areas up the sides. The yellow around the neck and sleeves is another carry over from last year’s away kit, but bonus points for the addition of the collar. Although this is a fine jersey that, like Old Glory DC, many fans will pick up, it doesn’t improve on the darker blue of their 2024 Home kit. I was hoping to see the purple of RFCLA’s 2024 City Jersey make a return in some capacity, but there’s always next year.

Meh – Houston SaberCats

Another of my braver choices in this list, but this one comes with a few caveats. Last year, I docked the San Diego Legion points for seemingly not having their jerseys ready on time. In 2021 I gave ATL and LA an F by default for not revealing their jerseys in time. This ranking is (partly) similar to that. Let’s start with the good. I’m glad to see the SaberCat logo is sticking around. I was worried that following Houston’s subtle ‘rebrand’ that the Cat was gone, but it makes up the background pattern across most of this shirt. The black and yellow has always been a strong combination and that hasn’t changed with the SaberCats’ 2024 home kit, but here we encounter one of the issues. It looks black and yellow. A few weeks ago Houston announced a very subtle re-brand, moving from yellow to gold and seemingly adopting their wordmark as a new primary logo. Why do that if you’re sticking with yellow on the pitch? Is it just that it’s too subtle to notice? In which case why announce the change at all? It’s a strange one. And talking of strange, I may have been burying the lead here a bit. Where is the crest? It’s bizarre to announce the adoption of a new primary logo and then leave it off the jerseys. Without the crest it looks like a training kit or athleisurewear, (especially looking at the flat black sections on the shoulders) rather than the primary jersey. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this jersey is bad. There’s just a few odd choices in here. It’s a bit more ‘huh?’ than ‘meh’. If I were a Houston SaberCats fan, I’d stick with last season’s home jersey.

There you have it, NARDB’s ranking of all 11 Home Jerseys for Major League Rugby’s 2025 season. As mentioned at the start of this article, there are bound to be people that disagree with this list, and that’s absolutely fine. One of the most fun parts of ‘Kitmas’ (as it’s affectionately known among MLR fans) is debating each kit with other fans. That is exactly what this article is hoping to generate, passionate debate for the kits we’ll be watching on the field in 2025. NARDB’s ranking of the Away kits for 2025 will be coming in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Do you agree with these rankings? Do you disagree? Do you agree with some but not with others? Please let me know in the comments section below but please keep things civil. These rankings with snippets of each explanation are also live on my personal Twitter/X @JamDelay, please feel free to comment there as well or on Bluesky, also @JamDelay.

A reminder that all jerseys are available to pre-order now! Visit shopmlr.com to place your order and let me know which jersey you’ve gone for! A reminder, using code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout will get you 15% off of your order.

Major League Rugby Releases Full Schedule for 8th Season in 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

On November 19th, a gloomy Tuesday deep in the off-season, Major League Rugby announced it’s full slate of regular season games for it’s upcoming 2025 season that kicks off on February 15th, 2025. With it, there were a number of tidbits surrounding venues for 2025, and as with almost everything when it comes to Major League Rugby, it was not without it’s share of controversy.

For those of you who prefer to listen than to read, below is a video I made (NARStats on Youtube) that basically summarises this article. Give it a watch and let me know what you think!

The Facts

Let’s start with the facts. The 2025 Major League Rugby season will begin on Saturday February 15th, 2025 with a 88 game regular season spread over the 17 weeks to June 8th, 2025. From there, the Post-Season will begin with the Conference Semifinals, Conference Finals, and finally the 2025 Championship Game to finish a 95 game season. The beginning of the season is a few weeks earlier than last year, and the regular season is squeezed from 18 weeks to 17 to ensure that the season is finished by the July test window that wreaked havoc on the post-season in 2024. This is a good thing. The 2-week break between regular season and playoffs in 2024 stopped all the momentum that a great regular season generated, and caused a lot of the more casual fans to forget that the MLR season hadn’t actually finished yet.

The season will kick-off with the Miami Sharks playing host to Old Glory DC in an Eastern Conference clash, the first of 3 games on February 15th that unfortunately all have some overlap with one another. The Utah Warriors pulled the short straw and have to sit through a week 1 bye. This is pretty silly on the surface, but with only 11 teams in the competition this year there was always going to be an odd one out.

The reigning Champion New England Free Jacks start their 2nd title defence in a row on the road against Rugby FC LA, and play 5 of their first 6 games on the road. This may be because of the climate in Massachusetts in February/March, similar to how the Toronto Arrows would always start their season with a huge number of road games, although the Chicago Hounds in Illinois play 3 games at home in their first 5 games in a similar climate. Round 1 treats us to a classic MLR rivalry when the San Diego Legion host the Seattle Seawolves on February 16th, as well as the Cats v Dogs game, when the Chicago Hounds travel to Texas to face the Houston SaberCats.

Venue Changes

The release of the 2025 schedule brought with it a bit of news regarding venues for 2025. In typical MLR fashion, the schedule released with venues listed, spoiling a few surprises for eagle-eyed fans. Firstly, that all of the San Diego Legion’s home games were listed as TBD suggesting a move away from the venue of the 2024 Championship Game, Snapdragon Stadium. Sure enough, a few hours after the schedule was released, Legion season ticket members received an email confirming the rumour that the Legion were returning to Torero Stadium, their home from 2018-2021 and the venue for the 2018 & 2019 MLR Finals. For Legion fans, they had been waiting for Snapdragon to be completed and were treated to a truly world-class venue, only to take a step back to a much smaller, older venue. However, this will no doubt help the team save on costs, and a large contributing factor to moving back to Torero was to ensure good time slots for Legion games that just weren’t available at Snapdragon.

Source: San Diego Legion

Staying in California, mere minutes after all teams announced the schedule and the buzz was at it’s max, Rugby FC LA slipped in the news that they were moving from Dignity Health Sports Park to the 2,145 seater Wallis Annenberg Stadium within UCLA, which will host 6 of RFCLA’s 8 home games in 2025. The team also announced that there were two ‘marquee’ matches with venues still to be announced, indicating a larger venue may be hosting their season opener against the New England Free Jacks, and the Cali Cup clash with the San Diego Legion. Also included in LA’s announcment was the news that they would begin to reveal their roster for 2025 on Monday, November 25th, so keep an eye on NARDB’s social media and summary articles over the next few weeks!

RFCLA & the San Diego Legion appear to be the only teams relocating for the entire season, but Anthem RC appear to be playing a number of games at the Mecklenberg County Sportsplex in Matthews, NC. The first of which is to support the Carolina Ruggerfest. Pro teams supporting local rugby, you love to see it! Additionally, the Utah Warriors will be returning to America First Field towards the end of the season, likely for another ‘Warriorsfest’ party that reported an attendance of over 10,000 for their final game of 2024.

Mid-week Matches and Player Welfare

As mentioned in the introduction, the 2025 regular season has been squeezed from 18 weeks to 17. As a result, a small number of the 88 games will be played during the week on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. In 2025 there will be 7 games played mid-week. This blurs the lines of when one round of matches starts and another begins, and is a bit of a shift from a league that has typically only had one or two matches a season played on a “school night”.

Of the 11 teams competing in MLR in 2025, only the Miami Sharks will avoid a mid-week game. The New England Free Jacks, Anthem RC, San Diego Legion, NOLA Gold, Houston SaberCats and Old Glory DC will play in one each, while Rugby FC LA, the Utah Warriors, Seattle Seawolves, and Chicago Hounds will play in two each. From a fan perspective, this is not ideal. In general, teams have made good progress in making a day out of attending a game and at weekends. For example the Free Jacks turn every home game into a different themed festival. The majority of fans obviously don’t have to worry about work or school on Friday/Saturday/Sunday, can bring kids along, etc. For these mid-week games, fans will get home from work already tired and have to head straight out into the heavier traffic to get to games. In general, we can expect to see lower attendances for these games. Judging by the reaction on social media, many fans are confused as to why MLR have shifted to mid-week games at all.

Finally, to the controversy surrounding these midweek games and player welfare. For all of the games held during the week, teams will often be playing a second game that weekend. For example, in Round 11 Anthem RC host the Seattle Seawolves on Wednesday, April 23rd, before flying to Miami to face the Sharks on April 27th, just 4 days later with travel. Similarly, the Seawolves will finish their game against Anthem, only to fly to New Orleans to face the Gold on the same turnaround. Rugby FC LA have it really tough that same week, facing the New England Free Jacks on Tuesday, April 22nd only to then fly the roughly 2,500 miles back to LA to host the San Diego Legion on the Saturday. The Legion who only have to travel the roughly 100 miles down the I-405. Unsurprisingly, playing so many high intensity, professional games has implications for Player Welfare, and the United States Rugby Players Association (USRPA) & Major League Rugby Players’ Association (MLRPA) jumped on this. Here is their statement:

Source: United States Rugby Players Association

At the most basic level, without ensuring the safety of the players, they will stop playing in MLR and without players, Major League Rugby cannot hope to grow. With teams only getting 4 days between games, and in many cases needing to travel large distances to make their next games, to claim this is ‘at least four “clear days”‘ rest is a tough sell. The fact that the league rolled out this schedule without consulting the PA is, unfortunately, not a huge surprise to anyone who has been following the league for some time. I encourage everyone reading this article to check out the USRPA’s site at rugbyunionnow.com.

To conclude, we have a kick-off date for the 2025 MLR season, and a full 88 game regular season that is going to be excellent quality professional rugby games that will continue rivalries that have been forged over past seasons, and maybe even generate some new ones. It’s fantastic news that MLR has avoided the July test window to allow the season to run uninterrupted, but the league needs to be careful not to jeopardise player welfare with a compressed schedule.

Thank you very much for reading, what’re your thoughts on the schedule and mid-week games? Did you notice the venue changes? For more news and stats around Major League Rugby, be sure to follow James and NARDB on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram & Threads, and either @JamDelay or @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, or @JamDelay/@NARDB on Bluesky.

MLR Player Move Summary: November 11-17, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Could Player announcements be starting to slow down as we plod towards US Thanksgiving? for the first time in three weeks the Player Move summary is “only” two pages, and with the San Diego Legion seemingly finished their roster announcement, the tide may be starting to let up! As with every week, this article will provide more context and detail around all of last week’s moves, helping MLR fans to stay on top of the latest signings from their team and from around the league. As always, here is the first page of this week’s summary:

Summary of MLR Player Moves: November 11-17, 2024 (1 of 2)

In total last week, there were 19 re-signings from 5 different teams, 4 inter-league moves, 4 new signings, 2 departures and a trade. Just like in past summaries, we’ll start with the re-signings which make up the bulk of last week’s announcements.

Re-Signings

The San Diego Legion, who have been announcing their entire roster from November 1st to 15th, completed their announcements with another 6 returnees from last years’ squad. Wingers James Vaifale, Ryan James, and Tomas Aoake all return, as do centres Marcel Brache & Tiaan Loots, as well as utility back Ethan Grayson. Vaifale has 32 MLR caps since 2020, but only earned 3 appearances for the Legion in 2024, starting twice and scoring 2 tries, however. A 2021 MLR Champion with the LA Giltinis, Ryan James earned half of his career MLR starts for the Legion last season, also setting career highs in Meters Gained (821m) and tackles made (83). Tomas Aoake returns for the 2nd year of a 3yr deal that will see him stay with the Legion through 2026, and has scored 18 tries in 37 games (all starts). He passed 250 career tackles and 2,500m gained in 2024. Moving to the centre, veteran MLR-er Marcel Brache, who turned 37 in October, will return for a 4th season in the league and 3rd with San Diego. Brache has scored 5 tries in 41 games (39 starts) since his first season with the Austin Gilgronis in 2022. He passed 250 tackles and 2,000m gained in 2024. Tiaan Loots is also back for his 5th season with the Legion, having scored 14 tries in his 41 games (37 starts) since 2020, amassing over 3,200m gained and over 360 tackles. Englishman Ethan Grayson, the son of Rugby World Cup winner Paul Grayson, returns for a 2nd season with the Legion. Grayson can play across the back line and is currently playing in the 10 shirt for the Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership. He scored 2 tries in 9 games (6 starts) for the Legion in 2024.

Moving east from the coast of California to the mountains of Utah, the Warriors announced another 4 familiar faces returning for their 2025 campaign. The 4 forwards are Warriors veterans Saia ‘Uhila, Bailey Wilson, Angus MacLellan, and Matt Jensen. Two of these, MacLellan and ‘Uhila, have represented the Warriors since 2018 and are returning for their eighth seasons in 2025. They’re two of the most capped players in league history, ‘Uhila with 82 appearances (54 starts), scoring 7 tries and completing over 500 tackles, and MacLellan with 92 appearances, tied for 3rd all-time with Seattle scrum-half JP Smith. MacLellan also has over 500 tackles completed and 58 starts, with his 3 tries all coming before 2020. The other returners announced last week, Matt Jensen and Club Captain Bailey Wilson, both return for a 5th season with the Warriors. Wilson has represented the Warriors continuously since 2020, scoring 7 tries in his 66 games (57 starts), amassing just over 2000m gained and completing a huge 660 tackles. Jensen played with the Warriors between 2018-2021 before stepping away, returning in 2024. He’s earned 54 appearances (50 starts), scoring 4 tries. He will likely pass 500 tackles made in 2025.

Continuing our journey east into Texas, the Houston SaberCats also announced 4 returning players from their 14-2 2024 season. Stand-out scrumhalf André Warner is back after being the only SaberCat named to the 2024 All-MLR First XV, scoring 8 tries in 15 games and completing almost 120 tackles (as a scrumhalf!). Points machine AJ Alatimu returns for a 2nd season in Houston after 3 in Seattle. Alatimu hasn’t scored a try, but has 406pts in his 56 games (52 starts) since 2021 and is currently MLR’s 3rd highest scorer all-time but will likely move to 2nd in 2025, passing Legion legend Joe Pietersen on 420pts. A SaberCats stand out in the pack will also return in the form of Ronan Murphy, the former American Raptor has 20 MLR appearances since 2022 and appeared in all 17 games for Houston in 2024, starting 15 times, scoring 6 tries and completing a huge 172 tackles. Murphy was unlucky to miss out on a Eagles call up for their 2024 tours, and is surely a lock for an international debut if he has another season like 2024. Finally for the Texas team, English centre Sam Hill is back after earning 8 appearances (all starts) in his debut MLR season.

Summary of MLR Player Moves: November 11-17, 2024 (2 of 2)

Reaching the east coast, the Miami Sharks keep sprinkling in re-signing announcements, confirming the return of prop Reinaldo Piussi and fly-half/fullback Shane O’Leary. At 6’4 and over 280lbs, Uruguayan international Piussi is a formidable presence in the Sharks scrum, scoring 1 try in his 8 appearances (7 starts) during Miami’s inaugural season. Canada-capped Irishman Shane O’Leary has 63pts in MLR since 2023, scoring his only MLR try for the Sharks, earning 5 appearances (all starts).

Finishing our cross-country journey by moving up the east coast to Boston, the New England Free Jacks announced another trio of returnees from their 2024 Championship squad, including a loanee to the Miami Sharks. Tongan prop Tevita Sole has earned 25 MLR caps since 2022 (7 starts), spending 2022-2023 with the Free Jacks before being loaned to the Sharks for the 2024 season, where he earned 6 appearances. He returned to the Free Jacks for the playoffs and came off the bench in the 2024 Championship game, his only appearance for New England in 2024. Also returning in red, white, and blue is Canadian eligible back row Piers von Dadelszen who scored 2 tries in 17 games (11 starts) and completed over 120 tackles, starting all 3 Free Jacks playoff games in 2024, and Fijian/English scrumhalf Cam Nordli-Kelemeti who started 8 of his 14 games for New England in 2024.

Intra-League Moves & New Signings

There’s a steady trickle of Dallas Jackals players finding new homes for 2025, which is excellent to see. The Houston SaberCats confirmed the signing of fearsome runner Sam Tuifua after selecting him 8th. Tuifua scored 6 tries in 10 games (all starts), racking up over 950m gained in possession. The busiest team for the 2nd week in a row was the San Diego Legion, who announced the first of two blockbusters early last week when they signed MLR Draftee and USA Eagle #543, Tavite Lopeti. Lopeti was drafted 3rd overall by the Seawolves out of St. Mary’s College in 2021 and was named as MLR’s Rookie of the Year for the 2022 season. Lopeti has scored 8 tries in 44 games for Seattle (32 starts), completing almost 300 tackles and amassing over 2,100m gained. He and the Seawolves have finished as MLR runners-up twice (2022 & 2024), and although he’s a California native, I’m sure Seattle fans aren’t thrilled that he’s joining their biggest rival. The Legion also announced the addition of US-eligible Welsh fullback/fly-half Steffan Crimp. Crimp, a former Legion U23 player who’s mother was born and raised in San Diego, joined Anthem RC late in 2024, making 4 appearances (3 starts). The second intra-league blockbuster came right at the end of last week, when the NOLA Gold announced the signing of veteran Utah Warriors fullback Caleb Makene for 2025. Makene was a stand-out during his 3 seasons with Utah, scoring 12 tries and 98pts across 44 games (all starts) and averaging over 1,100m gained per season. He was one of the many many departures announced by the Warriors in September, and probably one of the most high-profile players.

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

Moving on to new faces entering MLR for the first time, the San Diego Legion announced the signing of Bond University stand-out Rhian Stowers for 2025. the 2024 Slipper Trophy recipient has played almost every format of rugby imaginable, and was a regular on Bond’s 7s team. Additionally, the Legion picked up another former Melbourne Rebel in Australian utility back Nick Jooste. the former Western Force player was a regular in the Rebels’ Super Rugby Lineups, and will join fellow Rebel Brad Wilkin in San Diego. The Legion were not the only team shopping around Super Rugby, however. The reigning Champs announced that Wallabies capped hooker Connal McInerney will join the Free Jacks from the Brumbies, where he won a Super Rugby AU title in 2020, and the NOLA Gold announced the signing of NZ-born centre Nikolai Foliaki, joining from the Western Force where he had played since 2023. Foliaki is internationally capped for Tonga, representing them in the 2024 Pacific Nations Cup.

Departures & Trades

On the subject of Super Rugby, the top flight of rugby in Australia & New Zealand began announcing their rosters last week, and both the Utah Warriors and NOLA Gold will be wishing they hadn’t. Both Utah & NOLA lost stand-out players to the Highlanders for their 2025 Super Rugby Season. The Utah Warriors lost Player of the Season candidate Michael Manson, who was named to the Highlanders squad after scoring 14 tries in 12 games for the Warriors in 2024, racking up 1,491m gained. The NOLA Gold lost another prolific try scorer in Taniela Filimone who, although not named to the Highlanders squad, is believed to have been included in the wider training squad. Filimone amassed 1,071m gained in possession, scoring 11 tries in 17 games (all starts) for the Gold. Both Manson & Filimone were under contract for the 2025 season, so this is a definite both to both teams and fanbases.

Finishing up with the only trade of the week, on November 13th the Houston SaberCats acquired Brazilian international prop and 2022 MLR Champion Wilton Rebolo from Rugby FC LA in exchange for their 1st Rd Draft Pick in 2025. This is a valuable pick to give away but Rebolo is a quality player. He is the first Brazilian to play in MLR and, when he joined the Western Force for their 2023 season, became the first Brazilian to sign for a Super Rugby team. Rebolo earned 27 appearances for New York between 2021-2022, including a high of 15 in their Shield-winning 2022 season, and made 7 appearances for RFCLA in their inaugural season in 2024. As mentioned, a first round pick is a valuable asset to trade away, but if the SaberCats are looking to win now, then at the very least this pick will be lower in the first round, Houston will be hoping 11th. RFCLA now have two first round picks in 2025, so depending on their exact position, we could see one (or both) of these moving as the draft approaches in August.

Source: MLR Trade Wire

That concludes this week’s summary of last week’s player moves around MLR. The purpose of these articles are to add context and some more detail to all the movement around Major League Rugby, allowing fans to stay up to date with every player signing in one easy-to-digest article. These articles are released every Monday along with posts on all of NARDB Social Media. Please visit @MLRStats on Instagram or Threads, or either @JamDelay or @NARugbyDB on Twitter/x and Bluesky.

As we’re edging closer to the holidays, remember to visit shopmlr.com and pick up some swag in the end-of-season sales, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!