Tag: Major League Rugby

The Most Carded Active Teams in MLR

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Last week, NARDB posted a graphic and article analysing the overall number of cards shown per Major League Rugby season, identifying trends and offering explanations for the reasons behind them. That article can be found here. As promised, this is a continuation of that. We’ll be breaking down the most carded teams in MLR, both all-time and per season, while also highlighting some of the most carded teams and games in Major League Rugby history.

As identified last week, MLR put in place a new Match Official Management Team ahead of the 2024 season. This was a contributing factor to the huge increase in cards handed out this year and this article will focus on the 2024 season above others, as it is (obviously) the season most likely to influence how carding in the 2025 season will unfold.

The below graphic shows how many cards in total each active MLR team has received all time, as well as each team’s Yellow Cards per Game (YCpG) and Red Cards per Game (RCpG) and their most heavily carded seasons:

How often each active MLR team are shown yellow & red cards. Table is sorted by YCpG

There are only two active teams in Major League Rugby that are averaging over 1.0 yellow card per game, and both of those enjoyed their inaugural season in 2024. The Miami Sharks averaged 1.13 YCpG, and Rugby FC LA lead the league in this unenviable category, with a huge 1.38 YCpG. Both Miami and RFCLA are head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the league, with the San Diego Legion sitting third with only 0.75 YCpG. This means that RFCLA average an additional yellow card than the Legion every 2 games, and Miami average an extra yellow every 3 games. In fact, with 3 red cards and a whopping 22 yellow cards for 25 cards total in 16 games, RFCLA‘s inaugural season this year was the most cards a MLR team has ever received in a single season.

The caveat to this is that with the Miami Sharks and RFCLA competing in their first MLR season in 2024, the sample size for these two teams is far lower than most other teams in the league. However, the Sharks and RFCLA were not the only expansion teams in 2024. MLR’s partnership with USA Rugby and World Rugby, Anthem RC, have the same sample size and ARC are sat right in the mid-table on a 0.69 YCpG. Nice. This is level with the 2024 regular season leaders the Houston SaberCats, and the 2024 Champions the New England Free Jacks. Anthem RC received literally half as many yellow cards as RFCLA in as many games. This will not be the record that Rugby FC LA’s players and coaches enjoy, and I’m sure their new coaching team for 2025 will be working hard to not see a repeat of this.

As mentioned in last week’s article, the 2024 Major League Rugby season saw a big jump in the number of both yellow and red cards shown compared to previous seasons. As a result, in addition to the 3 expansion sides, four active MLR teams received a season high in total cards in 2024. The San Diego Legion, NOLA Gold, Seattle Seawolves and Old Glory DC. A fifth team, the Utah Warriors, tied their most carded season with 14 yellows and a red, level with their 2023 season.

The Seattle Seawolves are worth mentioning for a couple of reasons. Firstly and most impressively, they have played the most games of any team in MLR, at 105 in total since 2018 and In that time they have only received 56 yellow cards in total. This is tied with Old Glory DC for the lowest YCpG among active teams, at only 0.53, roughly 1 yellow card every two games. Old Glory DC have received 4 red cards total, however. The Seattle Seawolves, remarkably, have never had a player red carded. They have gone 105 games without seeing a red card, the only other active team in MLR to have never received a red card is the Miami Sharks, who have only played 1 season. 56 yellow cards in 105 games is excellent discipline from the 2x MLR Champions. However, in 2024 they received the 2nd highest number of yellow cards among active teams with 20, and are just the 2nd team in league history to have been shown 20+ cards in a season (behind RFCLA, also in 2024). The Seawolves received 35.7% of every yellow card they’ve ever had in the 2024 season alone.

As mentioned above, Rugby FC LA were the most carded team in Major League Rugby in 2024, setting a new record for the number of cards received by a team in a single season. Despite the jump in cards in 2024, last season did not see the most carded game in MLR history. That honour goes to an infamous game between the Dallas Jackals and the Chicago Hounds in the final round of the 2023 regular season. This match, a nail-biting 28-29 victory for the visiting Hounds, saw a brawl shortly after half time, resulting in five red cards, two for the Jackals and 3 for Chicago. Add this to the 4 yellow cards the Hounds received throughout the match and this becomes the most carded game in MLR history at 9. Unsurprisingly, the 9-card punch-up contributed significantly to Round 18 of the 2023 season becoming the most carded round in MLR history with 13 yellows and 6 reds handed out in total.

Proportion and amounts of Yellow & Red Cards in the Western Conference in 2024

Last week’s article went some way to explaining why (in theory) 2024 saw a noticeable jump in cards. That explanation can be found at the bottom of that article, and centres around MLR’s introduction of a Director of Match Officials, and a Match Official Management Team. As mentioned at the start of this article, the 2024 season, being the most recent, will give us the best idea of how the 2025 season may unfold, so let’s jump into how regularly each team was carded last season.

The above graphic shows the breakdown of cards for the 2024 Western Conference. This includes the Dallas Jackals, who unfortunately will not compete in 2025. Of the 180 yellow cards shown in 2024, 105 were shown to Western Conference teams, that’s 58%. Of those went to the top 3 most yellow carded teams, Rugby FC LA & the Seattle Seawolves (as mentioned earlier), and the San Diego Legion. Even the best regular season team in MLR, the Houston SaberCats, recorded close to 1 yellow per game (0.81 YCpG) and four of the six teams in the Western Conference had a YCpG over 1. The picture looks similar when we turn to red cards. A record 17 reds were shown in 2024, and 9 of those (53%) were shown to Western Conference teams. When remembering that the Seattle Seawolves received 0 red cards, that evens out to almost 2 reds for each of the five remaining Western Conference teams. Unsurprisingly, the most carded team in 2024 received the most red cards in the West, averaging around 0.19 RCpG, over double the Western Conference average of 0.09 RCpG. Is there something about the way that Western Conference teams play that causes them to be carded more? Possibly. If I knew the reason/s why this was the case I would probably have a much higher paying job, but I believe there is value in identifying these patterns.

Moving over to the Eastern Conference, after a quick look at the below graphic a couple of things should stand out almost straight away. Firstly, the lack of red (with one obvious exception). The Eastern Conference received 8 of 2024’s 17 red cards, with five of those going to the NOLA Gold. The Gold received more red cards than any other team last season and recorded a whopping 0.29 RCpG, significantly higher than even RFCLA. NOLA’s indiscipline counteracted the three teams in the East who didn’t see red (the Chicago Hounds, Miami Sharks, and the Champions, the New England Free Jacks), bringing the RCpG in the east to 0.08, essentially identical to the West.

Proportion and amounts of Yellow & Red Cards in the Eastern Conference in 2024

The second stand out, when looking at the above a little deeper, should be the numbers of yellows shown to teams in the east. The Western Conference teams were all in the teens and above, but the East only saw one team in the teens: The Miami Sharks on 18. The remaining 5 teams received between 10-12 including Old Glory DC, a historically low-carded team (0.53 YCpG, level as lowest among active teams in MLR). Old Glory DC received 12 cards in total (10y, 2r), the joint-least carded team in 2024 with Anthem (11y, 1r), Chicago (12y, 0r), and New England (12y, 0r). with the Sharks collecting almost a quarter of the yellow cards in the east, and the NOLA Gold collecting almost two thirds of the reds, there’s room for improvement on both sides, and with the Gold bringing in a new Head Coach in Danny Lee for 2025, will we see a decrease in reds down in Louisiana? For the remaining four teams in the east, while I’m sure all coaching teams would rather see fewer cards shown to their squads, they’re being carded a whole lot less than the Western Conference, and are all below the YCpG average of 0.73 for the East.

As mentioned earlier and last week, while I have presented a theory as to why the number of red & yellow cards increased across the league generally in 2024, the reasons for certain teams being carded more than others could be down to ‘over-zealous’ individuals, it could be down to the way certain teams play (giving away more penalties generally likely results in more yellows from repeat infringements, for example), or it could even be down to the officiating team on the day. There aren’t numbers available (publicly, anyway) for which officials hand out the most cards, but if there is an interest in that then NARDB will happily dig into that. In the meantime, for any questions or comments, feel free to leave them under this article or reach out to @MLRStats on Instagram and Threads, or either @JamDelay or @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X.

MLR Player Move Summary: November 4-10, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

For the 2nd week in a row, three pages are required for the graphic to summarise all the moves around MLR from last week! In total there were TWENTY-SIX re-signings around the league, 10 completely new signings from outside MLR, four players returning to MLR after some time playing elsewhere, and 3 inter-league moves. This article will go into more detail on all the activity from last week, allowing you to stay up to date on all the goings on ahead of the 2025 season! As always, we start with the first page of our summary, and jump into the returning players:

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 4-10, 2024 (1 of 3)
Relentless Re-Signings

As mentioned in the introduction, Six MLR teams announced the return of 26 players from their 2024 rosters who will return for 2025, including NINE for the San Diego Legion alone. The Legion appear to be announcing their entire roster between November 1st to 15th, and announced all their locks, back rows, scrum-halves, and fly-halves last week! We will get into the new additions for the Legion later in the article, but returning to the Legion in the second row are Charlie Hewitt and Brandon Harvey. MLR veteran Hewitt, a Champion with New York in 2022, has 68 caps and 34 starts in MLR since 2018, and scored 1 of his 3 tries in 2024, earning 3 starts and 11 appearances in his first year with the Legion. Brandon Harvey earned his MLR debut in 2024, making 3 starts in 5 games for the Legion and running for over 100m gained in possession. Also announced as returning for San Diego were Jay Tuivaiti and Vili Helu, who can both play on the flank. Tuivaiti scored 2 tries in 8 games (all starts) for the Legion in his debut MLR season in 2024, and Helu appeared in all 17 Legion games (12 starts) and has 61 MLR appearances since 2020, closing in on 1,500m gained and 500 tackles made in his MLR career. Capped USA Eagle Paddy Ryan will return to the Legion back row along with Australian veteran Christian Poidevin. Ryan was a late addition in 2024, earning 2 starts and 7 appearances for the Legion after joining from the English Champinoship, and 2021 MLR Champion Christian Poidevin returns for his 5th MLR season and 3rd with the Legion after an injury-affected 2024 . Poidevin has 10 tries in 45 MLR appearances (40 starts) since 2021, including 6 tries in 17 games for the San Diego Legion over the last two seasons.

Moving away from the pack to the Legion’s half backs, Connor Tupai will return in the 9 jersey for San Diego after scoring 5 tries in 15 games (14 starts) in 2024, completing over 120 tackles on defence. Wallabies legend Matt Giteau will not be returning for the Legion in 2025 after re-announcing his retirement, but Lincoln McClutchie and Harris Rutherford are returning. McClutchie was the Legion’s starting 10 for much of the first half of the season last year, finishing 6th in MLR scoring with 2 tries and 81pts in 12 games (8 starts). US-eligible Scottish fly-half Harris Rutherford didn’t get many minutes in 2024 as the Legion’s 4th 10 behind McClutchie, Giteau, and Josh Henderson, but still earned 3 MLR appearances, scoring 14pts and earning a Team of the Week selection in Round 17. That just about does it for the Legion’s returning players announced last week, and we’ll see the returning back line players in next week’s summary!

It’s not quite the 9 re-signings of the Legion, but the Houston SaberCats were also busy with 5 re-signings of their own. Recording a MLR-best 14-2 regular season in 2024, the SaberCats fell short in the playoffs and will be looking to take it a few steps further in 2025. Fly-half/fullback Davy Coetzer will return for a 4th season with Houston after signing a long-term contract through 2027. Coetzer has scored 16 tries and 291pts in 42 MLR games (all starts) for the SaberCats, and is MLR’s 9th highest points scorer of all-time. Joining Coetzer in the back line will be former Toronto Arrow Tautalatasi Tasi. Tasi has 4 tries in 20 MLR games since 2023 including 2 in 10 games (all starts) for the SaberCats in 2024. Also returning is 2024 Co-Captain Nathan den Hoedt, a 2021 MLR Champion with LA has 56 appearances under his belt including 24 with Houston since 2023. As well as den Hoedt, the SaberCats pack will see the return of lock/back row Johan Momsen and front row Pita Anae-Ah Sue. Momsen, MLR’s Forward of the Year in 2021, has just under 750 tackles made in his 66 games in MLR, scoring 13 tries including 1 in his 13 games (12 starts) in his first season with the SaberCats in 2024. Anae-Ah Sue is also returning for his 2nd season with Houston in 2025 after he scored 4 tries in 13 games (all starts) in their very strong 2024 season.

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 4-10, 2024 (2 of 3)

Staying in the Western Conference, the Utah Warriors continue to announce their returnees following the exodus of a few weeks ago, confirming that 4 Warriors veterans will be returning. Fan favourite centre Paul Lasike will return for a 5th season with Utah in 2025 after earning a career high 11 appearances (all starts) in 2024, and setting a career high in tackles with an even 100. Fellow long-time Warrior Emerson Prior will return for a 4th season after the Canadian prop was drafted 37th overall by Utah in 2021. Prior has 32 MLR appearances (16 starts) since 2022 and set career highs in both meters gained and tackles made in 2024. Also returning for a 4th season with Utah will be US-eligible kiwi scrum-half Zion Going, who has 4 tries in 34 games (16 starts) for the Warriors since 2022 and is another player who set career highs in meters gained and tackles in 2024. In fact, Going started more games in 2024 (9) than he had in the previous two seasons combined (4+3=7). Finally, promising Utah local Tomasi Tonga is back once again. Tonga has 3 tries in 18 games (7 starts) for the Warriors since 2022 but had limited game-time in 2024 with just the 1 game. He’ll no doubt be hoping to get those numbers back up in 2025.

The final returnee in the Western Conference is capped Canadian international hooker Jesse Mackail, who will return to the Seattle Seawolves for 2025. Mackail did not feature for the Seawolves in 2024, but spent the pre-season with Seattle before having to return to Canada.

Still on the many, MANY re-signings announced last week but moving over to the Eastern Conference, the Miami Sharks announced a trio of returnees including Captain Tomás Cubelli. Cubelli was the first player ever announced by the Sharks, and the Los Pumas veteran appeared in 11 games (10 starts) for the Sharks in their inaugural season. Along with Cubelli, the Sharks announced the return of a pair of capped Uruguayan internationals in Tomás Inciarte and Manu Ardao. Centre/scrum-half Inciarte scored 3 tries in 15 games (all starts) for the Sharks, completing just shy of 150 tackles on defence, and back row Ardao scored 5 tries in his 12 games (also all starts), carrying for well over 550m gained with ball in hand.

Finally, the reigning Champions announced the return of four depth pieces for their title defence. Kiwi prop Malakai Hala-Ngatai was a regular for the Free Jacks in 2024, scoring 3 tries in 15 games (7 starts) and carrying for over 200m gained as a front row. New England announced the return of a pair of veterans in Isaac Olson and Foster DeWitt, both test capped for Canada. Isaac Olson has earned 13 appearances (1 start, 1 try) for the Free Jacks since 2022, and Foster DeWitt has 3 tries and 9 starts in 35 games in the same timespan. Both Olson and DeWitt return for their 4th MLR seasons with the Free Jacks in 2025. Last but not least, Boston born Irish wing/centre Killian Coghlan also returns after earning 4 MLR appearances off the bench in 2024.

Source: @NEFreejacks on Instagram
New Names Entering MLR

Now that the heaps of re-signings are out of the way, we can move on to the new players joining MLR teams for the first time and will make their Major League Rugby debut in 2025. Another pair of Canada Sevens players step back from the national program and will enter MLR next season, following Brock Webster and Josiah Morra last week. Back row Matt Oworu will link up with a number of Canadians in Chicago with the Hounds. Born in Canada but raised in Zimbabwe, Oworu has been capped for both the 7s and 15s national sides, most recently starting at 12 for Canada’s November test against Chile in Romania. Also entering MLR from the national program is Cooper Coats, who played for the Ontario Arrows in their exhibition season in 2018 before entering MLR as the Toronto Arrows in 2019. Coats will join fellow Canadians Callum Botchar and Kaden Duguid with the NOLA Gold, and is also capped for Canada at both 7s and 15s level, most recently coming off the bench for Canada’s test against Chile, the same game that Oworu started.

On top of their 9 re-signings covered earlier in this article, the San Diego Legion announced the addition of 4 new faces for their 2025 roster. Waratahs veteran and capped Wallaby Jed Holloway heads to California, having made his test debut against Argentina in 2022 as Wallaby #955, and can play lock or loose forward. Holloway will be joined by fellow Australian flanker Brad Wilkin, a former Wallabies U20 player who played alongside Holloway at the Waratahs between 2017-2018. Wilkin joins the Legion following the demise of the Melbourne Rebels. The Legion back row is going to be packed with Australians, as the team announced the addition of promising young prop Jimmy Hokafonu from Eastwood in the Shute Shield, and finally the addition of capped Samoan prop Brook To’omalatai, a late blooming prop who caught the eyes of the Legion during the 2024 PNC, where he played on the Samoan side that defeated the USA in the 3rd place playoff.

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 4-10, 2024 (3 of 3)

Along with Matt Oworu from the Canadian sevens program, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of fellow Canadian Noah Flesch. The younger brother of current Hound Mason Flesch, Noah joins from the Pacific Pride, Canada’s high performance pathway, and earned his full test debut over the weekend as Canada faced Chile in Romania. Another young talent joining the Hounds for 2025 is Australian utility back Ben Pollack, an Australia U19 & U20 player who enters MLR from Gordon in the Shute Shield, earning his 50th first grade appearance for the Highlanders in 2024. Finally for the Hounds, a veteran Scottish lock joins their pack in Hamish Bain, who played under former Hounds Head Coach Rob Webber for the Jersey Reds during their dominant 2022/23 Championship Season. Bain, a former Glasgow Warrior, joins from Vannes in the French Pro D2.

Finally for new faces joining MLR for 2025 is long-time Sharks hooker Kerron van Vuuren, who will enter the Seattle Seawolves front row after representing the Sharks Currie Cup side, and progressing to represent the senior team in both Super Rugby and the URC, and helping them to their first Challenge Cup title in 2024.

Source: @chicagohoundsrugby
Familiar Faces, Inter-League Signings, and Other News

Unusually for Major League Rugby, last week saw teams announce the return of 4 players who had played in MLR prior to last season, but played elsewhere in 2024. This includes a pair of familiar faces for the San Diego Legion, who were by far the busiest team last week. Both returnees come from their record-breaking 15-1 season in 2023 where they finished as runners-up. 2023 All-MLR First XV scrum-half Richard Judd returns after spending 2024 with the Hurricanes in Super Rugby, and Kiwi hooker Shilo Klein also returns having spent 2024 between the Blues in Super Rugby, and North Harbour in the NPC. Judd earned an MLR-high 6 Team of the Week selections in 2023, tied with then-Legion teammate Nate Augspurger, and scored 7 tries in 14 games (all starts). Klein added another 2 tries in 15 games (4 starts), and racked up over 300m gained in possession. The return of Judd and Klein will be a huge boon for the Legion in 2025.

The New England Free Jacks also have the benefit of a familiar face returning in Joe ‘The Mechanic’ Johnston to add to their already deep back row. a 2023 Champion with New England, Johnston earned 48 MLR caps for the Free Jacks between 2021-2023, starting 37 times and scoring 8 tries while completing over 575 tackles. He returned to New Zealand to finish his education in 2024, and played with Bay of Plenty in the NPC. Unlike the 3 familiar faces just mentioned, the final returnee joins a different team to the one he previously played with in MLR. Tongan born, Hawaii raised prop Ma’ake Muti featured in 6 games for the LA Giltinis in their Shield-winning 2021 season, before joining the American Raptors and spending a couple of seasons playing in Super Rugby Americas. For 2025, Muti joins the Miami Sharks. This may be following the announcement that the Raptors would not be playing pro rugby in 2025.

Onto the inter-league signings. Seeing new players from flashy overseas leagues is without a doubt exciting, but to have players moving between MLR teams and generating these ‘organic’ moves, helps to build rivalries between fanbases and is great news for the league. Firstly, we learned of the desitination of another ex-Dallas Jackals player in Dewald Kotze, the capped Canadian hooker signing with the Seattle Seawolves for 2025. Kotze scored 14 tries in 35 games (29 starts) across 3 seasons with the Jackals, including 11 in 17 games in 2024 that featured a MLR record FIVE-TRY performance against the Seawolves, who selected him 10th overall in the Dispersal Draft for Jackals players. The Seawolves’ signing of Kotze may explain why USA Eagle hooker Joe Taufete’e is moving on from Seattle, instead signing with the NOLA Gold who are putting together an exciting looking team for 2025. The Gold will be the 4th different team in as many seasons for the 2021 MLR Champion Taufete’e, who is Eagle #466.

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

And finally, to finish off this weeks summary article we have yet more news from the San Diego Legion. The California club announced the return of 2023 draftee James Rivers for 2025. English born Rivers was selected 10th overall by the Legion and spent 2024 on loan with Anthem RC, making over 130 tackles in 13 games (11 starts) during their inaugural season. On the topic of Legion draftees, San Diego also confirmed the signing of 2024 7th overall pick Inoke Waqavesi for 2025, drafted out of Saint Mary’s College where he played alongside 1st overall pick Erich Storti, Waqavesi can play across the back line. The Legion also confirmed the signing of academy product Aidan Konja out of SDSU as a homegrown player, and he will continue to develop in the Legion system in 2025.

That, finally, is the end of NARDB’s summary of all of the moves around Major League Rugby for the week of November 4-10, 2024. Feel free to share or quote this article but please do credit NARDB, and we look forward to seeing just how busy this week will be for player moves. Summaries articles and graphics are posted every monday on this site and across social media. be sure to follow @Jamdelay/@NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @MLRStats on Instagram & Threads.

Breaking Down the Number of Overall Cards in MLR: 2018-2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

Although still a young league by global standards, Major League Rugby is entering it’s 8th season in 2025 and has come along leaps and bounds since that inaugural season back in 2018. While enjoying the 2024 season unfold as a real neutral for the first time, one recurring thought kept coming to me: ‘Wow, another yellow card?’. It felt like almost every game had at least 1 card, and the majority had a few. So, now that the off-season has freed up some of my time, I decided to crunch the numbers on this, and see how 2024 compared with previous MLR seasons in terms of the amount of cards shown.

Obviously, there are a few caveats to list. Firstly, the 2018 season only had 7 teams that played 8 regular season games total. Including playoffs, this is only 31 games in total so the total yellow & red cards awarded in 2018 will be far lower than other seasons. Similarly, the truncated 2020 season saw each team only play 5 games each for a total of 30 games. To help overcome these caveats, I also calculated the average yellow & red cards per game for each season.

Historical Carding

Lets begin by taking a look at the number of red & yellow cards per season, from MLR’s inaugural season in 2018 to the 2023 season. It should be no surprise that 2018 saw the fewest yellow (30) & red (3) cards in MLR history. Also unsurprisingly, once we see the league expand to a 16 game regular season with more than the 7 teams in MLR, we see more cards. As you can see from the bar chart below, we have seen a general increase in both red & yellow cards from season to season.

A bar chart visualising the increase in the number of yellow & red cards in MLR over the years. The tables on the right show the YCpG & RCpG, and the YoY increase.

Worth noting is the 2020 season. As mentioned in the introduction, the season was cut short by COVID-19 after each team played only 5 games, totaling 30 games that year. While this makes it tricky to compare with 2019, or 2021-2024, it’s only 1 game fewer than the 2018 season and while there was only 1 red card that season (fewer than the 3 in 2018), there were 45 yellow cards. This is FIFTEEN more yellows than in the 2018 season. While it’s impossible to know how the 2020 season would’ve played out, it’s almost a guarantee that there would have been more than the 68 yellow cards and 3 reds in 2019.

The average number of yellow cards per game (YCpG) hovered just below 1 between 2018-2019, but rose to 1.5 during the 2020 season and although this is the smallest sample size we have, the average has not fallen back below 1 YCpG since 2019. Moving forward in time slightly, the 2021 MLR season saw almost twice as many total cards (129) as the previous full season in 2019 (71). The 2021 season had 99 games in total, a significant jump from the 75 in 2019 and this can be explained by the increase in teams from 9 to 12. Roughly a 33% increase in games matches up with a 33% increase in the number of teams. The YCpG and Red Cards per Game (RCpG) both increased from 2019, but the YCpG fell from 1.5 in 2020 to 1.23 in 2021.

The change between the 2021 season and the 2022 season in interesting. While the overall number of cards increased ever so slightly (129 to 131), 2022 is the only Major League Rugby season that saw fewer yellow cards handed out than the season before (not counting 2020), a slight decrease from 122 to 120. Interestingly, the 2022 season was the first MLR season to feature a Television Match Official (TMO) for every game, and had the most teams in league history, with 13 teams competing for the Shield that was ultimately won by Rugby New York following a dramatic end to the regular season. Consequently, there were 10 more games in 2022 than in 2021 for a total of 109 games in the season, the most games in a MLR season to date. Although red cards rose above 10 for the first time ever, the total number of yellows went down and as a result, so did the YCpG. Falling from 1.23 in 2021 to 1.10 in 2022, the second season in a row that the YCpG fell.

This wouldn’t last into 2023 however, as the YCpG rose to 1.29 and the RCpG reached a high of 0.12, with 130 yellows and 12 reds in 101 games for a total of 142 cards. All three of these were all-time highs. Even though there was an increase in cards in 2023, it wasn’t a significant jump despite reaching all-time highs across the board. Generally speaking, cards were around the same level for the three MLR seasons between 2021-2023, averaging 124 yellows and 10 reds per season. Both yellow and red cards increased by under 10% from 2022 to 2023, by far the lowest Year-over-year (YoY) increases in MLR history.

Pie Charts of Yellow & Red Cards per MLR season from 2018-2024.
Last Season – 2024

Remember that thought that kept coming to me during the 2024 season: ‘Wow, another yellow card?!‘. After crunching the numbers, it seems like there was something to that thought.

The 2024 season had 103 games in total, around normal for full seasons in the ‘Conference Era’ (2021-2024). In those 103 games, a massive 180 yellow cards were shown, and 17 red cards. This is around a 40% increase to both yellows and reds from 2023,. In numerical terms: FIVE more red cards and FIFTY more yellows. The YCpG and RCpG for the 2024 MLR season skyrocketed to all time highs of 1.75 and 0.17 respectively. More games had at least two yellow cards than just one, and almost 1 in 5 games had a red card shown. The only area that stayed roughly level was the number of red cards as a percentage of total cards, which has stayed roughly level for three seasons now, around 8-9%. So the numbers and charts clearly show a huge jump in cards handed out in the 2024 season, but why? What is the reason or the explanation for this increase? While I don’t have the answer, here’s my theory:

In February 2024 MLR and USA Rugby announced a collaboration on referee development. ‘This collaboration is aimed at solidifying a pathway for domestic referees into MLR in the lead up to Rugby World Cup 2031’. As part of this collaboration, former IRFU National Referee Manager David Wilkinson was appointed as Director of Match Officials, a role which will ‘manage all aspects of officiating in MLR’. With a new man in charge of officiating, MLR’s first Director of Match Officials, it’s possible that Wilkinson has tightened up officiating on a lot of things that may have been missed in previous seasons. Additionally, as MLR grows the quality of the game improves and, by necessity, the general quality of officiating improves with it.

The Officials for the 2024 MLR season.
Source: Major League Rugby

It seems possible to me that the addition of MLR’s Match Official Management Team has resulted in a jump in the quality of officiating generally in order to match the improvement of the quality of play in MLR over the next 5 years. Teams and players were caught short by this jump in 2024, hence the large increase in the number of cards. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the number of cards for 2025 stay around the same level, or even drop as they adapt to playing with Wilkinson’s Match Official team.

This article identifies general trends in the overall number of cards per season in Major League Rugby between 2018-2024. For a breakdown of which teams receive the most cards overall and per season, and the highest number of cards in a single game, you’ll have to wait for next week’s article.

Follow @NARugbyDB and/or @JamDelay on Twitter/X or @MLRStats on Instagram to stay up to date on all the news and numbers around Major League Rugby!

MLR Player Moves Summary: October 28 – November 3, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

Another week deeper into the off-season, and it was busiest week so far in terms of player movement around Major League Rugby! This is your weekly player movement breakdown for last week, October 28th to November 3rd and for the first time this off-season, we have a three page summary to go through! Be sure to check the MLRStats instagram for the full summary. This article will dive deeper into last week’s moves and it’s going to be a long one, so buckle up! As always, the first page of the summary is below:

Player Move Summary: October 28-November 3, 2024 (1 of 3)
Trade Wire Playing Catch-Up

On October 30th, the MLR Trade Wire updated to reveal FIVE trades that dated back to October 9th, three whole weeks prior to the trade being made public. The MLR Trade Wire is an excellent piece of transparency between the league and fans but unfortunately, between it being notoriously slow to update and little inaccuracies, it seems MLR don’t value it as much as fans do. As mentioned, although these trades date all the way back to October 9th, they only became public knowledge on October 30th, hence their inclusion on this week’s summary.

These trades revealed the destinations for a number of Dallas Jackals players following the dispersal draft, starting with the acquisition on October 9th of US-eligible Argentinian front row Tomás Bekerman by the Miami Sharks in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown) to Anthem RC. Bekerman scored 5 tries in 14 games (2 starts) for the Dallas Jackals in 2024, before being selected 12th in the dispersal draft following the Jackals’ withdrawal from MLR. Given the strong South American influence in the Miami squad and staff, this move makes a lot of sense. Two days later on October 11th, the Houston SaberCats acquired Californian lock Javon Camp-Villalovos from the NOLA Gold in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown), after he was selected 17th in the dispersal draft. A third former Jackal was also included in a trade, as it was revealed that the New England Free Jacks had acquired Canadian prop Kyle Steeves, also from the NOLA Gold in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown). The NOLA Gold had selected Steeves 6th in the dispersal draft and although the trade is dated October 13th, the Trade Wire didn’t update until October 30th, and the Free Jacks had already announced the signing of Steeves on October 17th, and he was included in the Player Moves Summary that week.

On top of trading their dispersal draft picks for Cap Space, the NOLA Gold acquired Tongan back row Tupou Ma’afu Afungia from the San Diego Legion in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown). Afungia scored 5 tries in 25 games (22 starts) for the Legion since 2023, and set a career high for meters gained in 2024, with 692m. Also on the move is Samoan prop Fred Apulu, who earned 14 of his 19 MLR appearances for the Chicago Hounds in 2024, earning his first career start. Apulu is headed to the Utah Warriors after they acquired him in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown). The Warriors weren’t finished shopping there, though. The final trade in this week’s summary saw them acquire Gabe Casey from the New England Free Jacks in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown). Casey was the first player in MLR history to be drafted twice, by the Toronto Arrows in 2022 and the Free Jacks in 2023, and earned his league debut off the bench last season. The MLR Trade Wire shows the date of this transaction as October 31st, but given that the Utah Warriors announced Casey’s signing on October 28th, this is clearly wrong.

Player Move Summary: October 28-November 3, 2024 (2 of 3)
Re-Signings: Free Jacks, Sharks & Legion Announce Returnees

The New England Free Jacks and Miami Sharks continue to announce returnees from their 2024 squads, and with the San Diego Legion beginning to announce their 2025 roster, we have a dozen players returning to their 2024 teams for the 2025 campaign.

The Miami Sharks announced the return of 2023 1st overall pick Rick Rose, and capped Canadian international center Guiseppe du Toit for their sophomore season in 2025. Both Rose and du Toit appeared in all 16 games for the Sharks in their inaugural season, starting 12 games & 6 games respectively, with Rose completing 117 tackles and du Toit carrying for over 260m gained in possession. The New England Free Jacks announced another quartet of returnees from their 2024 Shield-winning squad, including 2024 MLR Player of the Year Wayne van der Bank and 2022 MLR Champion Kaleb Geiger. Van der Bank gained over 1,300m in possession during 2024, scoring 10 tries in 17 games (16 starts) for the Free Jacks while completing 187 tackles on defence. Geiger added a try and almost 100 tackles in 14 games (1 start) in his first season in Quincy. Also announced as returning by the reigning champions were Oscar Lennon, who appeared in more playoff games for the Free Jacks in 2024 (3) than regular season games (2), and Jackson Thiebes, a Free Jacks original who has earned 27 MLR appearances for New England (22 starts) since 2020. Thiebes played between 2020-2021, before taking a couple of years out and returning for 2024.

The remaining returnees are all members of the San Diego Legion, who began announcing their 2025 roster on November 1st and look like they will be announcing 2-4 players every day between the 1st and the 15th of November (see below). The Legion announced the return of SIX front row players last week, starting with Nate Sylvia, a MLR veteran who has earned 76 appearances (33 starts) over 7 seasons with the Legion, scoring 4 tries total and completing well over 500 tackles. Next came Djustice Sears-Duru, a 64-time capped Canadian prop and 2019 MLR Champion who has earned 57 appearanced to date including 20 for San Diego (4 starts, 1 try) since 2023. Third was Payton Telea-Ilalio, a Californian prop who enjoyed a break-out year in 2024, earning 14 appearances (10 starts) and recording almost 300m gained in possession as a front row. Also returning is Australian hooker Hugh Roach, one of only 21 players in MLR history to reach 20 tries scored in the competition, doing so in 41 games (36 starts) since 2021, including 3 tries in 12 games for the Legion in 2024. Roach’s compatriot Darcy Breen also returns for his 2nd MLR season in 2025, having gained 298m in 16 games (7 starts) for San Diego in 2024, completing over 70 tackles. Finally, 2022 MLR Collegiate Draftee Oli Kane will return for a 3rd season with the Legion in 2025. Kane was selected 21st overall by San Diego out of USD in 2022, and has earned 4 MLR appearances to date. His development will continue under British & Irish Lion Alex Corbisiero.

Source: @sdlegion on Instagram
Inter-League Moves and Familiar Faces

The Utah Warriors were involved in many of the inter-league moves from last week, on both sides. The Warriors announced five new signings including Fred Apulu who was mentioned above. First was Nic Benn, a capped Canadian international raised in Australia, who the Warriors picked 4th in the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft (his 2nd dispersal draft in as many seasons after joining Dallas following the Toronto & NY dispersal draft in 2023). Benn missed much of 2023 due to injury but had a strong 2024 for Dallas, scoring 5 tries in 16 games (15 starts) including two in their nailbiting Western Conference Final defeat to the Seattle Seawolves. The Utah Warriors also announced the signing of Sione Latu, a Utahn flanker and Warriors pathway product who spent the 2024 season with Anthem RC, completing 77 tackles in 13 games (8 starts) during their inaugural season, Latu will return home to Herriman for 2025. A familiar face to LA or NOLA Gold fans, the Utah Warriors also announced the signing of Jordan Trainor, an New Zealand fullback who represented the LA Giltinis (2022) and NOLA Gold (2023), earning 23 MLR appearances (22 starts), scoring 5 tries and 29pts and amassing over 1,800m gained in possession. Trainor spent 2024 with Northland in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship.

Also involving the Utah Warriors but instead on the leaving side, the NOLA Gold announced the signing of test capped prop Paul Mullen for 2025. A MLR veteran and Eagle #525, Mullen has earned 72 appearances in MLR (49 starts) since 2018, including 57 for the Warriors between 2021-2024. News of Mullen‘s departure was announced by the Warriors on October 2nd. The final inter-league move saw the Chicago Hounds sign USA Eagle Faka’osi Pifeleti from the San Diego Legion. A 2x MLR Runner-up with the Legion (2019 & 2023), 59 of Pifeleti’s 72 MLR appearances came with the Legion between 2018-2021, and again between 2023-2024. It’s not clear whether the Hounds acquired Pifeleti via trade or signed him as a free agent, so keep an eye on that transactions page!

Including Jordan Trainor signing with the Utah Warriors, three players are returning to MLR after a year or two playing elsewhere. The San Diego Legion announced the return of US-eligible hooker Shilo Klein, who scored 2 tries in 15 games (4 starts) for the Legion in their record-breaking 2023 season, before being selected for the Blues wider training squad for the 2024 Super Rugby season. Also returning to MLR is Canadian speedster Brock Webster, who is capped at both 7s and 15s levels for Canada and scored 3 tries in 5 games (all starts) for the Toronto Arrows in 2022 before returning to the Canadian sevens program. The New England Free Jacks added Webster to their already strong Canadian contingent for 2025.

Player Move Summary: October 28-November 3, 2024 (3 of 3)
New Signings and Retirements

On the subject of Canadian Sevens, along with Brock Webster the New England Free Jacks added Josiah Morra for 2025. Morra has played with the Canadian Sevens side since 2016 and is capped for the Canadian 15s. He was included in the Canada squad for the 2024 PNC and their November tests, and also featured for the Ontario Arrows when they defeated New England in the Free Jacks’ first ever match.

Continuing with the Canadian theme, the NOLA Gold announced the signing of towering Alberta lock Kaden Duguid. The 6’8 Duguid, brother of professional players Tyler and Abby, joins the Gold after playing with the Vancouver Highlanders during their 2024 exhibition season, and has played a number of seasons in the French Fédérale 1. Duguid earned his test debut with Canada during the 2024 PNC, and was included in the Canada squad for their November tests.

Heading back to California, the San Diego Legion announced the addition of two new faces to their 2025 roster, hooker Liki Chan-Tung and prop Brook To’omalatai. Hawaiian born Australian Liki Chan-Tung represented the Wallabies at U20 level and joins from the Gungahlin Eagles in the ACTRU Premier Division. 31yo Brook To’omalatai is a late bloomer, playing club rugby for much of his career but he represented the Canterbury NPC side in 2023, and earned his test debut for Samoa in the 2024 PNC against the United States, where he caught the eye of the San Diego Legion.

In addition to acquiring Faka’osi Pifeleti from the Legion, the Chicago Hounds added a trio of new signings for next season, including a pair from the English Premiership. English-born South African fly-half Tim Swiel will join the Hounds from Saracens, having previously represented the likes of Harlequins and Newcastle in the Premiership, the Stormers and Edinburgh in the URC, and the Sharks in Super Rugby, as well as a stint in Japan. As if Swiel wasn’t enough experience, the Hounds also added England-capped utility back Ollie Devoto. Devoto is a 2x Premiership Champion and Champions Cup winner with the Exeter Chiefs, and has close to 200 appearances between Bath (2012-2016) and the Chiefs (2016-2024). Continuing their European recruitment, Scottish lock Hamish Bain will also join the Chicago Hounds, joining from Vannes after helping the French Pro D2 side win promotion to the Top 14. Bain was also part of the Jersey Reds team that won the 2022/23 Championship season under former Hounds Head Coach Rob Webber.

Finally, following the announcement by the Utah Warriors that he would not be returning for the 2025 MLR season, South African lock Louis Conradie announced his retirement on Instagram at the age of just 28. Conradie made 8 appearances (3 starts) for the Warriors during their tough 2024 season.

https://twitter.com/HoundsChicago/status/1852084895683649558
Source: @HoundsChicago on Twitter/X

And there (finally!) concludes the summary of all player moves around MLR for last week. With the off-season showing no signs of slowing down, expect more moves and longer articles as we breka down all the moves. Summary graphics and accompanying articles are published on Mondays on this site and on our instagram page, @MLRStats. Also be sure to follow my personal twitter/x @jamdelay for any schedule changes/news items. Thank you as always for reading, especially if you got this far!

MLR Player Move Summary: October 21-27, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

Another week gone by, and another boat-load of player moves to break down around Major League Rugby. This is your weekly summary of new signings, re-signings, and departures from last week, October 21st to October 27th, 2024. It’s a multi-page summary graphic again this week, and here’s Page 1:

Re-Signings Galore

The Miami Sharks are going steady with their re-signings, announcing another pair of returning players for their 2025 campaign. US-born Argentinian back row Ben Bonasso will return for his 5th MLR season and the 2nd with the Sharks, and veteran hooker Sean McNulty will also return for Miami in what will be his 7th season in the competition. Both Bonasso and McNulty are capped USA Eagles and both have also won an MLR Shield in their careers, McNulty with the LA Giltinis in 2021 and Bonasso the following year for Rugby New York, actually playing against McNulty’s Seattle Seawolves in the final that year. Both players also have over 50 MLR appearances, and were core pieces of the Miami Sharks squad for their impressive inaugural season in 2024.

The Chicago Hounds also continue to announce the return of players from their impressive 2024 season. The Hounds confirmed that Canadian National Team captain Lucas Rumball, will return for their 2025 season, as will Irish winger Michael Hand II, who impressed with 3 tries in 8 games while on loan to the Miami Sharks in 2024. Rumball, a long-time Toronto Arrow before their demise in November 2023, currently sits 2nd on MLR’s All-Time top tacklers list on 880, and will no doubt be eying the 1,000 mark in 2025.

Finally for re-signings, the back-to-back reigning Champion New England Free Jacks announced a quartet of familiar faces that will be back at Fort Quincy next season. Canadian international and 2024 S. Marcus Calloway Award recipient Ben LeSage will return for his 6th MLR season (3rd with New England), and back row monster and Namibian international Wian Conradie will also return having missed a huge chunk of the 2024 season with injury. Fellow Namibian international Le Roux Malan also returns after his heroics in the 2024 MLR Championship Game. Malan’s last 2 MLR tries have come in consecutive MLR finals, scoring against the Legion in 2023, and the Seawolves in 2024. Speaking of the 2024 final, the MVP of that game is back for his first full MLR season. Jed Melvin was a late addition to the Free Jacks in 2023, but scored 4 tries in 8 games (including a hat trick), and was named MLR Finals MVP for his performance at Snapdragon Stadium. The New England Free Jacks seem to have the majority of their 2024 roster returning, and will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with again in 2025.

New Signings – Warriors fill out and Free Jacks beef up

The New England Free Jacks weren’t just busy with re-signings last week. The reigning champs also added a pair of new faces to their roster for 2025 in the form of Fijian prop Jone Koroiduadua, and Kiwi lock Sam Caird. Koroiduadua joins the Free Jacks from the Fijian Drua in Super Rugby, and although missing out on the 2023 Rugby World Cup due to injury, earned his test debut for Fiji during the 2024 Pacific Nations Cup. 6’7 lock Sam Caird joins from Northland in the NPC, where he has played since 2019 after a couple of seasons with Waikato. Caird helped the New Zealand U20 side to a U20 World Championship Final victory in 2017, and has also represented both the Waratahs and Highlanders in Super Rugby, as well as the Kintetsu Liners in Japan. Both Koroiduadua and Caird add plenty of size to what is already a formidable Free Jacks pack.

MLR has a strong connection with New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC) competition, as the two leagues have no overlap, allowing players to play professional rugby year-round between New Zealand and the USA. This is why so many MLR names head to Aotearoa during the off-season, and so many new MLR signings come from NPC sides. This is no different this offseason, and the Utah Warriors added four NPC players last week. The Warriors announced the signing of Logan Crowley (the son of former Canada head coach Kieran Crowley) from the Taranaki Bulls, who was signed with the Warriors ahead of 2024 but did not feature, instead remaining in New Zealand. The Warriors also announced the signing of Australian prop Remsy Lemisio, a teammate of Sam Caird’s at Northland. Lemisio played with the Australian U20 side before moving to New Zealand to play with Northland in 2023. The Warriors also went shopping in North Harbour, adding back row Tamarau McGahan who has represented the team since 2020, and Manawatū, adding Turbos centre Kyle Brown who has played in green since 2023.

The only inter-league move last week saw former NOLA Gold center/fly-half Rodney Iona join the Seattle Seawolves for 2025. Iona scored 4 tries and 128pts in 23 games (all starts) for NOLA between 2023-2024, but his departure from the Gold was announced by the team on October 7th. It seems like the Samoan international then signed on with the 2024 runners-up as a free agent, with the Seawolves announcing the signing of Iona on October 24th.

Departures – Destination Unknown

On the topic of the NOLA Gold, they continued to bid farewell to members of their 2024 team, thanking Sean Paranihi and Sebastiano Villani for their service. Paranihi earned 18 appearances for the Gold (16 starts) between 2023-2024, completing 111 tackles, and US-eligible Italian scrumhalf Sebastiano Villani was drafted 2nd overall by the Gold out of St. Bonaventure in 2022, earning 9 MLR appearances (1 start) since then. This takes the number of departures announced by the NOLA Gold to 9, while former French international Kélian Galletier is the only addition confirmed by the team.

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

So ends another weekly wrap up of all the goings on during MLR’s 2024/25 offseason. This summary is going up a few days late (apologies for that) so we already know MLR teams are keeping busy as we move into November. Stay tuned for this week’s summary next monday!

If you’re looking to jump into the end of season sales, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Move Summary: October 14-20, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

The Major League Rugby Off-Season rollercoaster is well and truly off and running, with a second week in a row chock-full of new signings, resignings, and departures! Welcome to NARDB’s weekly off-season summary for October 14-20, 2024, keeping you up to date on all the roster moves around MLR ahead of the 2025 season. For the first time in the 2024/25 off-season, we have a multi-page summary graphic! Page 1 of this week’s summary is shown below:

MLR Player Move Summary: October 14-20 (1 of 2)
New Additions – Mexico Enters MLR and Warriors stay busy!

The San Diego Legion announced a League-first at the start of last week when they shared the news that they had signed Alejandro Pradillo for the 2025 MLR Season. Pradillo has played with the San Clemente Rhinos in the World Rugby Tens Competition, as well as with the Legion Academy side. He’s also a capped Mexican international and the first Mexican player to sign with a Major League Rugby side! Congratulations to ‘Bola’, and welcome to MLR!

A pair of players from the French Top 14 will also make their way over to the US for 2025, for different sides. The NOLA Gold announced the signing of capped French international back rower Kélian Galletier from Les Sang et Or. The Gold’s links to French rugby are baring fruit already, signing the long-time Montpellier player for 2025. Heading northeast from Perpignan to Lyon, the Utah Warriors announced the addition of capped All Blacks hooker and long-time Highlanders player Liam Coltman, who’s impressive resume includes representing New Zealand at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and even a memorable victory over the British & Irish Lions. Coltman joins from Lyon Olympique Universitaire (LOU) Rugby.

The Utah Warriors weren’t finished with the signing of Coltman, however. The Herriman-based team also announced the acquisition of a pair of test-capped Samoans, in fly-half/center D’Angelo Leuila and prop Aki Seiuli. Leuila is a 2021 NPC Champion with Waikato, played with the Moana Pasifika between 2022-2024, and represented Samoa at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. Seiuli has also played in Super Rugby, representing the Highlanders (alongside Liam Coltman) between 2014-2019, before moving to teh UK to represent the Glasgow Warriors then the Dragons in the URC, from whom he joins Utah. Seiuli earned his test debut for Samoa in the 2022 Pacific Nations Cup, which Manu Samoa won. Finally, to wrap up a busy week at Zion’s Bank, the Warriors announced the addition of 6’8 Irish lock Gavin Thornbury who joins following a short-term contract with the reigning Premiership Champions, Northampton. Thornbury is a Leinster academy product and former Ireland U20s player, who spent most of his pro career to date with Connacht in the URC and represented the Irish Wolfhounds in 2022.

MLR Player Move Summary: October 14-20 (1 of 2)
Re-signings A-plenty!

Both 2024 Eastern Conference Finalists began announcing their returning players from 2025. The Chicago Hounds announced the return of their inaugural season co-Captains Bryce Campbell (USA Eagle #497 and Hound #1) and Luke White (USA Eagle #561), as well as stand-out rookie Noah Brown. Campbell‘s agency, BSMI Rugby, announced that his contract runs through the 2026 season. White & Brown’s contract lengths are unknown.

The reigning back-to-back Champion New England Free Jacks also started the ball rolling on their re-signings, announcing the return of FIVE household names in Quincy. Club Captain and capped Canadian international Josh Larsen will return for 2025, as will scrum-half John Poland who missed a huge chunk of 2024 due to injury. I’m sure the fans at the Fort will love to see him back in the 9 jersey. Also returning for the champs is star fly-half Jayson Potroz, who led the league in scoring in both 2023 & 2024, and sits on 327pts scored in his MLR career, all for the Free Jacks. To round out the announcement are a pair of front rows. Fan-favourite Kyle ‘The Eagle’ Ciquera, who has featured for the Free Jacks in the joint-most MLR games in team history (tied with Mitch Wilson, more on that later…), and 2022 S. Marcus Calloway award recipient and capped Canadian international Andrew Quattrin, who will return for a 3rd year in New England.

Also getting in on the re-signing party were the Miami Sharks, who announced a pair of returnees in 50-time Los Pumas capped center Matías Orlando (a late addition for the Sharks in 2024), and the team’s leading scorer and Chilean international Santiago Videla, who finished with 74pts in the Sharks’ inaugural season, 1pt above Uruguayan teammate Felipe Etcheverry.

Inter-League Moves

On top of the SIX new additions from outside MLR, there was a bit of musical chairs within the league last week. The Seattle Seawolves added MLR veteran Siaosi “CC” Mahoni for 2025 from the Houston SaberCats. 2025 will be Mahoni’s 8th season in MLR, having represented the San Diego Legion from 2018-2021, and Houston from 2022-2024. Mahoni has 53 MLR games under his belt and 39 starts, and has recently been included in the USA Eagles squad for their November tests.

The New England Free Jacks also announced the signing of a pair of former Dallas Jackals following their withdrawal from the 2025 season. The back-to-back defending champs signed 2024 MLR Forward of the Year Jero Gomez Vara for their three-peat bid after selecting him 11th in the dispersal draft, an absolute steal. The Free Jacks also announced the signing of capped Canadian prop Kyle Steeves, who was selected 6th in the Dispersal Draft by the NOLA Gold. It’s unclear whether the Gold & Free Jacks were involved in a trade for Steeves, or if he chose to sign in New England as a Free Agent. Steeves joins a strong Canadian contingent at Fort Quincy.

Source: @NEFreeJacks on twitter/x
Departures and Unconfirmed Signings

The NOLA Gold continue to bid farewell to players who will not be returning to the team in 2025. The Gold announced their 6th & 7th departures of the off-season, Fintan Coleman & Dougie Fife. NOLA acquired US-eligible Irish forward Coleman in a trade with Old Glory DC in February 2024, and he earned 10 appearances for the Gold in the team’s best season to date. Capped for Scotland at both 7s and 15s levels, Dougie Fife has played in MLR for 4 seasons to date, with 2 seasons each with the New England Free Jacks (2021-2022) and the NOLA Gold (2023-2024), scoring 13 tries in 55 career MLR games (54 starts) to date, amassing over 3,000m gained in possession. It remains to be seen if Coleman and/or Fife will return to MLR in 2025.

On October 15th USA Rugby revealed the Men’s Eagles Squad for their end-of-year tests against Portugal (Nov 9th), Tonga (Nov 16th), and Spain (Nov 23rd). Within the squad announcement were some little easter eggs that look to have revealed some player moves that were not yet confirmed. For example, the New England Free Jacks had announced the departure of ‘Ironman’ Mitch Wilson back on October 11th, but his destination wasn’t yet known. The USA Squad has him listed as an Anthem RC player. Has the national team inadventantly leaked Wilson’s destination for 2025? This wasn’t the only surprise on the Eagles’ roster. Front row Alex Maughan was also listed as an Anthem RC player after representing Rugby FC LA in 2024 having followed the team from Atlanta, where the he had played for 4 seasons. A USA Eagle and North Carolina native, Anthem is a great fit for Maughan should this be accurate. Finally, the list of reserves looks to have leaked a 3rd new Anthem RC signing, with crossover athlete and former American Raptors lock Mikey Grandy also listed as an ARC player. I know that USA Rugby has a significant stake in Anthem RC and I’m sure this was unintentional, but they may want to check with the team before potentially leaking stuff!

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

Another chaotic week around MLR makes for another lengthy summary article. Thanks very much for reading, and keep an eye out for next week’s article summarising all the moves from October 21-27, 2024! NARDB is the easiest way to stay up to date on all the additions, departures, and general goings-on around the league.

MLR Player Move Summary: October 7-13, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

The 2024/25 Major League Rugby off-season seemed to explode into life last week, with a flurry of activity from a number of teams that made for a busy news week, a welcome change to the sparse announcements through September. This article will cover all the major moves from around Major League Rugby for last week, ensuring you don’t miss a thing! As always, here’s the graphic summarizing all of the confirmed moves from October 7th to October 13th, 2024:

Source: @MLRStats on Instagram
Dallas Dispersal Draft Fallout

As revealed by both NARDB and Americas Rugby News last week, the Dispersal Draft for Dallas Jackals players took place on September 25th, with no public announcement from MLR of either it’s taking place, or the results (despite a statement to the contrary). There were three trades on the day of the Dispersal Draft, but they didn’t appear on the MLR Trade Wire (which is notoriously slow to update) until October 9th, hence their inclusion on this week’s summary.

Two of these three trades are completely administrative, with Anthem RC acquiring the 5th pick in the Dispersal Draft from Old Glory DC in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Space ($ amount unknown). ARC then flipped this pick to Rugby FC LA (who used it to select Vaughen Isaacs) along with 2025 Salary Cap Space ($ amount unknown) in exchange for the 2nd pick in the Dispersal Draft, which Anthem used to select Makeen Alikhan (who was playing for the Jackals on loan from English Premiership side Harlequins), it’s uncertain if Alikhan will return to MLR. The final trade is for an actual player. Old Glory DC picked up Argentine prop JP Zeiss with the 16th pick in the dispersal draft and immediately flipped him to the Seattle Seawolves in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Space ($ amount unknown). Zeiss has 46 MLR caps to date across 3 seasons, starting 44 times and scoring 5 tries. He’s also completed over 350 career tackles.

Short Term Stints Across the Pond

We learned of a pair of players headed over to the UK on short-term deals to hone their game. English Premiership side the Bristol Bears announced the return of 2024 MLR Champion and newly-capped USA Eagle Toby Fricker on a 3 month contract as injury cover, and towering Seattle Seawolves lock Isaia Lotawa is headed to RGC 1404 in Super Rygbi Cymru as part of a player exchange made by former RGC player and current Seawolf Huw Taylor.

Fricker joined the New England Free Jacks late in the MLR season, earning 6 appearances including all 3 of their Playoff games en-route to the 2024 Shield, a 11-20 victory over the Seattle Seawolves which Fricker started. Isaia Lotawa didn’t feature in the 2024 final, but came off the bench in Seattle’s Western Conference Final victory over the Dallas Jackals. Lotawa earned 5 appearances for the Seawolves in 2024 and has 9 to date, including 2 starts. Both Lotawa and Toby Fricker will return to MLR for 2025, so no need for fans to worry!

Source: @bristolbearsrfc on Instagram
New Faces

Following news on October 2nd that 17 players would not be returning for 2025, the Utah Warriors began re-filling the roster by announcing the addition of 5 young, local players including two of their three 2024 MLR Collegiate Draftees. 2nd Round Pick (16th Overall) Tielu Sagala and 3rd Round Pick (28th Overall Cole Semu are officially MLR-ers. Sagala won 3 state Championships each with the 7s & 15s side at BYU, while New Zealand born Semu, also a BYU alum, has represented the USA at U18, U20, and U23 levels already. Also added by the Warriors were Papa Matelau & Mason Barker (the brother of Warriors alum Zak Barker), both of whole have represented the USA at age-grade level, and Tesimale Niupulusu, a 290lb monster front row who has been impressive in both Rugby League and Union in the Utah area.

In addition to Utah, Old Glory DC announced their first acquisition for the 2025 campaign, picking up veteran Welsh center Steffan Hughes from the Dragons in URC, where he has played since 2022. Hughes joined the Dragons in 2022 on a short-term basis but quickly earned an extension and became the team’s Captain for the 2023/24 URC season. Hughes had joined the Dragons from his local URC club the Scarlets, where he had played since 2013, earning well over 100 URC appearances and won the URC Championship in 2016/17. He captained the side through the 2019/20 & 2021/22 seasons and will add valuable experience to the Flags squad in 2025.

Source: @OldGloryDC on Twitter/X
RFCLA Build New-Look Coaching Team

Following the announcement from on October 4th that former LA Giltinis Head Coach Steven Hoiles was returning to MLR as Director of Rugby and Head Coach of Rugby FC LA, the team continued to add to their coaching squad last week with another pair familiar names. 2021 MLR Shield-Winning Captain and former Wallaby Dave Dennis returns to LA, now on the sidelines as RFCLA‘s Senior Assistant Coach, and former Austin Gilgronis and Chicago Hounds Head Coach Sam Harris takes up a position as Attack Coach.

Dennis already has an impressive trophy cabinet as a player. A Super Rugby Championship with the Waratahs in 2014, two Premiership trophies in 2016/17 & 2019/20 as well as a European Champions Cup in 2019/20 all with the Exeter Chiefs, and a MLR Shield with the LA Giltinis in 2021. He’ll be looking to add a second Shield as a coach in 2025. Sam Harris is likely well known around MLR already, having led the Austin Gilgronis through the 2021-2022 seasons before moving to Chicago to lead the Hounds through their inaugural season and the majority of the 2024 campaign before being let go in Round 15. He holds a 29-1-31 record as an MLR head coach, but will coordinate the RFCLA attack in 2025.

Source: @RugbyFCLA on Instagram
Steady Stream of Departures in New Orleans

On October 2nd the Utah Warriors announced the departure of 17 players that raised the eyebrows of many around the league, and it seems the Warriors were not the only team going through significant roster changes ahead of 2025. Throughout last week the NOLA Gold announced the departures of 5 players in total, one almost every day. Rodney Iona, Augusto Böhme, Maciu Koroi, OJ Noa, and Sam Klimkowski were all thanked for their contributions to the Louisiana team individually.

No doubt the names to stick out from this list will be Rodney Iona and Maciu Koroi. Iona has scored 4 tries and 128pts in 23 games (all starts) across 2 seasons for the Gold, and Koroi has earned 33 MLR appearances for the Gold over 3 seasons, starting 7 times and scoring 3 tries. Chilean international hooker Böhme and Samoan back rower OJ Noa both joined the Gold for the 2024 season and both earned 9 appearances, helping the Gold to finally end their MLR Playoff drought. Ohioan prop Klimkowski was drafted 13th overall by the LA Giltinis in 2021 and played with the NOLA Gold Academy side in the fall of 2022, finally earning his MLR debut for the Gold in 2024, when he featured in 4 games, starting 1.

These moves were not included on the Player Move Summary graphic as we are not yet sure of the destination of any of these players. It’s possible we could see them suiting up for another MLR team in 2025, for example. If/when I hear of any of these players signing with another team, the move will be included on that week’s graphic. It’s worth keeping an eye on NOLA to see if they continue to announce more departures this week, and who they bring in to replace these names.

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

A far longer summary article for a far busier week around Major League Rugby to start October. It seems like the off-season is really picking up, and we could be getting many more announcements over the next few weeks. Watch this space for summary articles each week, or follow @MLRStats on Instagram and @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X.

Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft Results

NAR Database

James Deeley

In an article from two weeks ago on this site, I mentioned that Major League Rugby had held the Dispersal Draft for Dallas Jackals players on September 25th, 2024 following the announcement on September 19th that the Jackals were withdrawing from the 2025 MLR season. We have heard nothing since then, and the MLR Trade Wire was only updated with trades from the 25th TWO WEEKS later, on October 9th.

While fans have been left out in the cold for the last few weeks, NARDB has obtained the results of this Dispersal Draft and is very happy to finally share these with you. The results of the 2024 Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft are as follows:

No.TeamViaPlayer
1Sam Golla
2Makeen Alikhan
3Marques Fuala’au
4Nic Benn
5Via Old Glory DCVaughen Isaacs
6NOLA rugbyKyle Steeves
7Darius Law
8Sam Tuifua
9Jason Tidwell
10Dewald Kotze
11Jero Gomez Vara
12Tomas Bekerman
13Lucas Bur
14Ronan Foley
15PASS
16Old Glory DCJP Zeiss
17NOLA rugbyJavon Camp-Villalovos
18Jonah Auva’a
19Evan Conlon
20PASS
21Brock Gallagher
22PASS
23PASS
24PASS
25Martin Elias
26PASS
27Old Glory DCKieran Farmer
28NOLA rugbyPASS
29PASS
30Juan-Dee Oliver
31PASS
32PASS
33PASS
Results not confirmed – Players are not forced to sign with the team that selected them. Any Jackals players not featured above were either not selected, or opted out.

There are a number of things to mention regarding these results. They are not 100% confirmed, but have been verified with a number of sources so until (if) we hear something official, this is what we know. The MLR Trade Wire is notoriously slow to update, so I would not be surprised if we see a flurry of trades from the days immediately following the Dispersal Draft (confirmed to have taken place on September 25th, 2024). Indeed, three trades from the day of the draft were posted yesterday (October 8th), as mentioned at the start of this article.

Just because a player is picked by a team does not force that player to sign there. We have seen with previous dispersal drafts that players picked are often traded to more preferable teams (in the players’ mind). Whether this be because it is closer to a players’ current location or family, or a player feels that they may get more game time with another organization. It may also come from the teams, who could have just picked up players rights to use as assets to flip for Cap Space, draft picks, etc. We already have a player from this dispersal draft on the move. Argentinian prop JP Zeiss was picked 16th by Old Glory DC and, according to the Trade Wire, was traded from the Flags to the Seattle Seawolves on the same day he was picked by DC.

Source: MLR Trade Wire

There are also some things of note among the 33 (22 if you exclude the 11 ‘PASS’ selections). Firstly is the wasted pick by Rugby FC LA in selecting Lucas Bur 13th. Bur has already signed a contract to play with the Sitav Rugby Lyons in Italy, and it’s unlikely he will return for the 2025 MLR season. Anthem RC continue to stock up on promising young USA-eligible talents like Sam Golla (already a capped Eagle), Jason Tidwell, and Canada-born, UK raised USA U20 back row Makeen Alikhan. Alikhan joined the Jackals for the 2024 season on loan from Harlequins of the English Premiership, so it’s still unclear whether he will stay in MLR for 2025.

The Seattle Seawolves grab a pair of Canadian internationals in Brock Gallagher & Dewald Kotze, which is no surprise given their proximity to the border. Kotze will serve as a nice replacement for Peter Malcolm who announced his retirement earlier this year, and Gallagher earned his test debut for Canada in the Pacific Nations Cup in August/September. Gallagher also gave an explosive interview on The Fantasy Ruckers podcast, discussing just how in the dark the Dallas Jackals players were to the team’s troubles.

It’s a slight positive to see that although MLR is losing the Dallas Jackals, many of the players could return to MLR next season for different teams. It’s doubly good news to see that Darius Law, a Life University alum and the Jackals’ sole selection of the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft, was picked up by the San Diego Legion and will have another chance to make the MLR in California. On the other hand, it’s surprising to see Canadian internationals Mitch Richardson & Liam Murray not selected. Richardson (and fellow Toronto Arrows teammate Nic Benn, selected 4th by the Utah Warriors) has gone through 2 dispersal drafts in as many seasons and although he missed the 2024 playoffs and the PNC after suffering an injury playing for Canada in the July tests, he deserves a spot on a MLR roster in 2025 should he want one. My understanding is that both Richardson and Murray opted out of the Dispersal process.

It’s been two weeks since the Dallas Dispersal Draft took place, and as with other Dispersal Draft before it, fans have had to rely on leaks to find out the results. In fact, we haven’t even received confirmation from MLR that it took place at all. Why? What’s so important about this Dispersal Draft (or any dispersal draft for that matter) that MLR has not made the results, or the date it took place, public? Could it be because MLR is aware that many of the players selected in this draft may not end up on the teams that selected them? Maybe it’s because MLR doesn’t want to raise the issue of a team withdrawing? The cynical view is that MLR just doesn’t care to tell you. It’s the off-season, teams (and probably the league) are running on skeleton staff and some players aren’t even in the country!

I care. Fans care. Especially Dallas Jackals fans that want to know where their favourite players might be playing next season. Especially those hardcore fans that are reading this far into an article in the depths of the off-season. It’s an awful situation to have a team withdraw and leave players and staff in the lurch, but the Dispersal Draft was an opportunity to look forward towards MLR2025, begin to get fans excited again, and show that MLR cares about the fans and players. With new signings beginning to be announced by the likes of the Seattle Seawolves and Old Glory DC, the public release of these results could have marked the start point of the hype train for next season. We all want to see this league grow and succeed, and all want to come along for the ride. Instead, it’s a missed opportunity that has damaged fans’ trust in the league.

Major League Rugby’s All-Time Top 10 Tacklers!

NAR Database

James Deeley

The final entry in NARDB’s series on All-Time Top 10 lists, let’s explore Major League Rugby’s most consistent heavy hitters with the league’s All-Time leading Tacklers. Nothing gets fans hyped up like big hits, and it should be no surprise that 8 of these 10 names are forwards! Complete with Tackles per Game (TpG), the leaderboard is as follows:

To any fans who have been following along with this series over the last few weeks, your eyes are not deceiving you. Dylan Fawsitt is on top of yet another MLR All-Time list. The Chicago Hounds try-machine is a monster on both sides of the ball with 883 career tackles across 98 MLR games, for an average of 9 TpG. 678 of his tackles (76.78%) came as a Rugby New York Ironworker including a PB of 181 in 2019, but Fawsitt still completed 131 tackles for the Hounds in 2024, just above his season average of 126.14.

Fawsitt’s lead is far from safe, however. Canadian international Captain and former Toronto Arrows stalwart Lucas Rumball sits just 3 tackles behind, on 880 in 66 MLR games for a much higher average of 13.3 TpG. as with Fawsitt, a huge majority of Rumball’s tackles came outside the Hounds, with 87.5%, including a PB of 228 in 2021 when he finished as MLR’s highest tackler, coming as an Arrow. Rumball completed 110 tackles in 12 games (only 5 starts) in 2024, way down from his season average of 146.67. He’ll be hoping to get back to his regular numbers to crack 1000 in 2025.

Sitting in 3rd despite retiring at the end of 2023 is Rugby New York legend Nate Brakeley, one of the two inactive players on this list. With 842 tackles in 65 MLR games, all with the Ironworkers for a TpG of basically 13, Brakeley was a monster tackler year-in, year-out for New York. He averaged a huge 168.4 tackles per season, only brought down by the truncated 2020 season, when Brakeley still finished with 96 tackles in just 5 games, leading all of MLR.

Source: @rugbynewyork on Instagram

The top 10 MLR tacklers of All-Time currently includes the only 10 players to have passed 750 career tackles, and of these 10 tackling machines, only 6 of them are over the 800 mark. Sitting 4th is NOLA Gold’s JP du Plessis, MLR’s all-time leading Meter Eater and the most tackles of any back in MLR history. Du Plessis averages just under 10 tackles a game, with 837 total in 84 MLR games and averaging 119.57 tackles per season.

The latest player to pass the 800 mark is Rugby FC LA‘s Matt Heaton, holding the highest TpG of all players on this list with a massive 14.3 tackles per game. The Canadian back rower completed almost 80% of his tackles as a member of Rugby ATL, including a PB of 215 tackles in the 2023 season. Heaton shows no signs of slowing down after following the franchise to the West Coast, completing 166 tackles in RFCLA‘s debut season, just above his average of 160.2. With a strong 2025, Heaton could be knocking on the door of the top 3 soon enough…

Source: @RugbyFCLA on Instagram

Bringing up the rear of this list is New England Free Jacks Club Captain Josh Larsen, who sits in the Top 10 despite an injury-marred 2023 season where he only managed 18 tackles that season. This brought Larsen‘s average down to 125.17 tacklers per season, but he exceeded that with 133 tackles in 2024 and has a PB of 231 in 2022 so could easily be over 800 if not for injury. Here’s hoping no injuries prevent any of these guys from continuing to dominate the tackle charts.

Only 2 other players not on this list are over 700 tackles. Matt Heaton’s former teammate, now Houston SaberCat Johan Momsen on 741 (125 tackles in 2024, average of 148.2 per season) and Larsen’s teammate Andrew Quattrin on 706 (PB of 169 in 2024, way up from his average of 117.67 per season. Could we see either of these two crack the Top 10?

As for MLR’s new Single-Season Tackle Leader, Cory Daniel? His 276 tackles in 2024 was more than any other player in MLR history per season, but he’s had a few that have held his career total back. Daniel currently sits 16th with 651 tackles, but has never finished a season with a tackle count between 100-250. He has either fallen well short of 100 due to injury (totals of 59 in 8 games in 2021, and 61 in 4 games in 2023), or exploded to over 250 tackles per season (255 in 2022, record-breaking 276 in 2024). Daniel’s averages are high, with 162.75 per season and a huge 15.5 per game, but he might need another record-challenging season or two to crack the Top 10. If he can remain healthy, could we see him on next year’s list?

Source: @MLRStats on Instagram

Player Movement around MLR: September 30 – October 6, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

Another week deeper into the Major League Rugby off-season, and still no word on the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft. Player moves are still few and far between, with only 1 move confirmed last week. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about however, with plenty of action taking place off the pitch. Here’s everything you may have missed last week:

Kruse heads to the PNW

Last week, the Utah Warriors announced the departure of 17 players that would not be returning in 2025. NARDB understands that this was the choice of the team and these players were let go, rather than leaving of their own volition. One of these former Warriors found a new home almost immediately, with the Seattle Seawolves announcing the addition of USA Eagle #538 Mika Kruse for their 2025 season.

Kruse was the 10th player in MLR history to reach 50 caps in the competition on April 23rd, 2022, and has earned 80 MLR appearances as of the conclusion of the 2024 season including 51 for the Utah Warriors since 2021. Adding his 8 tries in 29 games for the Glendale/Colorado Raptors to his 18 for the Warriors, Kruse has scored 26 tries in MLR. This puts him 8th on MLR’s All-Time leading try scorer list, and he’s the 6th highest MLR Meter Eater, on 4,218m. Still only 26, Kruse is a great addition for the Seawolves and he’ll fill the gap left by Conner Mooneyham on the wing.

Source: Seattle Seawolves
Chicago add Coaching Pair

Moving to the sidelines, newly appointed Chicago Hounds Head Coach Chris Latham announced a pair of Assistant Coaches for their 2025 campaign.

Latham announced fellow Australian Todd Dammers as Forwards Coach, after the pair previously worked together with the South’s Rugby Club in Australia. Dammers has previously served as an Assistant coach for the Samoan National Team in 2019 (also alongside Latham), as well as the Director of Rugby at Sydney University and Forwards Coach with the Tokyo Black Rams in Japan’s Top League. Dammers joined the Hounds from Brisbane Boys College where he was serving as Director of Rugby.

As well as adding Dammers, the Hounds bring in former Leinster centurion and Toronto Arrows center Noel Reid as Backs Coach. Reid, who is capped for the Irish national team and played at Leinster with former Hounds player Dave Kearney, a minority owner of the Hounds with his brother Rob. As well as earning over 100 appearances with Leinster, Reid represented the Leicester Tigers and London Irish in the English Premiership, as well as Agen in France. He finished his playing career with the Toronto Arrows for the 2023 MLR season, where he earned 7 appearances and scored 1 try. Signed to play with the Arrows for the 2024 MLR season, when the Arrows withdrew from Major League Rugby Reid moved to a coaching role with the Arrows Academy, now known as The Rugby Academy. Reid also served as the Head Coach for the Markham Irish in the Greater Toronto Area in 2024.

Hoiles Returns to LA

Moving further from the pitch still, from the sidelines to the offices. Rugby FC LA announced the hiring of former Wallabies international Stephen Hoiles as Director of Rugby for the 2025 & 2026 MLR seasons. The former Waratahs & Brumbies man is no stranger to MLR or even to LA, having served as Forwards & Defence Coach of the LA Giltinis in their Shield-winning inaugural season in 2021. He was appointed as the Head Coach of the Giltinis for the 2022 season, prior to the disqualification and subsequent folding of both the Giltinis and the Austin Gilgronis during the ‘Gilly-Gate’ fiasco. Hoiles returned to his native Australia and took up a position as Head Coach of his former club team, the Randwick Galloping Greens. Hoiles coached Randwick to the Shute Shield title in 2023, the club’s first title since 2004 when Hoiles was a player. He followed his 2023 up by being named as the Shute Shield Coach of the Year in 2024, and now returns to LA.

Hoiles’ appointment with RFCLA is as Director of Rugby, his first such role. It is unclear if he will also be taking on coaching duties while in this role, similar to Seattle‘s Allan Clarke, who serves as both DoR and Head Coach of the Seawolves, or if RFCLA will be announcing a Head Coach in the near future.

Source: @rugbyfcla on Instagram

There’s your round-up for last week around Major League Rugby. These summaries are released every Monday to ensure you stay up to date on all the big news around MLR with NARDB!