Tag: Seattle Seawolves

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 1 of MLR2025!

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The wait is over! Major League Rugby has finally returned to our screens with Round 1 of the 2025 season kicking off with an electric game down in Miami as the Sharks hosted Eastern Conference Rivals Old Glory DC in a game that no-one could’ve predicted the ending of!

This article is the first in a new weekly series, highlighting standout stats and milestones achieved by players and/or teams through each round of the 2025 MLR regular season, that might fly under the radar compared to big stories, but are no less deserving of recognition. This series will be posted some time during the week, but the specific day may change due to personal commitments or midweek MLR games (of which we have many this season!). Let’s dive in to the opening round of 2025!

Müller the Hat Trick Hero!

For the first time in Major League Rugby history a hat trick was scored in the very first game of a new season, and in the most dramatic fashion, too! Argentinian Olympian Axel Müller got his second season with the Flags off to a dream start, scoring his team’s first points of the new campaign after only 2 minutes, before adding a second before the 20 minute mark. He would have to wait until the very last play of the game, however, to be the hero. A charged-down Miami Sharks clearance with the clock in the red led to a Hail Mary cross-field kick from Jason Robertson that the defenders couldn’t handle, allowing Müller to pounce on it for his 3rd of the game, levelling the score at 29-29 before Robertson stepped up to calmly add the 2pts, and Old Glory DC snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

This is the first hat trick of Axel Müller’s MLR career, and he becomes the 4th DC player to have recorded a hat trick for the team (following Martin Vaca, Steven Longwell, and Connor Buckley). Müller also becomes the 3rd player to have scored a hat trick on MLR opening weekend after Cam Dolan for the NOLA Gold in 2020, and Dewald Kotze for the Dallas Jackals in 2024. The Seattle Seawolves were awarded a hat trick of penalty tries in their first ever game back in 2018, but I’m not convinced that that counts.

Source: @OldGloryDC via Instagram

Seattle Seawolves pass 3,000!

The 2024 Major League Rugby Runners-Up got their campaign off to a shaky start on Sunday afternoon against the San Diego Legion, writing a new chapter in MLR’s oldest rivalry in front of an excellent crowd that welcomed the Legion back to Torero Stadium for the first time since 2021. The Seattle Seawolves hadn’t quite shaken off the cobwebs, and the Legion took full advantage, earning a try bonus point before the 30 minute mark, finishing the first half with a 28-0 lead against a Seawolves team that looked way off the mark. The Legion were able to add a 5th early in the 2nd half and it looked like more of the same, until the Seawolves finally started to wake up around 50 minutes in.

Coming into this game with the most points scored of any MLR team, the Seawolves finally got on the board after 57 minutes through Cam Orr. This took the Seattle’s all-time points total to 2,995 before South African Eddie Fouché added a second try for Seattle to reach the 3,000pt mark, the first team in MLR history to reach the 3k milestone, before Rodney Iona added the extras to take them beyond 3,000. The Legion would score a 6th try to take the game beyond reach, but a 84th minute score from Jesse Mackail (his 2nd of the game) ensured that the Seattle would salvage a try bonus point from a game that looked like it could’ve got ugly for Seawolves fans.

Pat O’Toole Reaches Personal & Team Milestone for NOLA!

Irish born Major League Rugby veteran Pat O’Toole started his 7th season in MLR with a brace of tries in a convincing 35-14 NOLA Gold victory over a much changed Anthem RC side on Saturday. With this, he became the 22nd player in MLR history to reach 20 tries scored in the competition, the 15th active player and just the 6th forward to reach the milestone.

For his performance, Pat O’Toole was selected for the MLR First XV for Round 1 of 2025, his 7th career Team of the Week selection and first since Round 5 of the 2023 season. This selection was more significant than perhaps he or even the NOLA Gold realised, however. Pat O’Toole’s selection to this week’s MLR First XV is the 150th Team of the Week selection in NOLA Gold history! The Gold become just the 3rd team in MLR history to reach 150 Team of the Week nods, behind the Seattle Seawolves (190) and the San Diego Legion (198). Congratulations to both the Gold and Pat O’Toole!

Source: @Nolagoldrugby via Instagram

The Free Jacks Reach a Regular Season Half-Century!

The back-to-back reigning Major League Rugby Champions got their 2nd title defence in a row off to a great start against a determined, star-studded Rugby FC LA side in one of Saturday’s cross-conference clashes. The Free Jacks had to complete almost twice as many tackles as any other team during Round 1 in order to hold on to a 17-24 lead on the road, despite being down to 13 men late in the game. Their Bonus Point victory over a Giltinis-tinted RFCLA marks their 50th regular season victory in MLR, becoming just the 3rd team in MLR history to reach 50 regular season wins, behind the Seattle Seawolves (54) and San Diego Legion (63).

To Conclude

A Major League Rugby first, a double-whammy, and a testament to a team’s long-term success, all in the first week of n exciting new season! Throughout the 2025 season, the aim of this series of articles will be to highlight player and team achievements from around MLR that may not make it into regular posts or coverage. In some cases, the player or team may not even be aware that they have reached a particular milestone, but Midweek Milestones will make sure these achievements are given recognition.

If you like this series, or have anything that may have 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 via social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky!

If you’re looking to get your hands on some of the new Macron merch for 2025, 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: January 13-19, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

We’re now two weeks into pre-season camps and eagle-eyed Major League Rugby fans are scouring the teams’ social media posts to catch a glimpse of unannounced players prepping for the 2025 MLR season, which kicks off in under 4 weeks! This series of articles will add detail to every player announcement from the previous week, and this particular article will cover the movement between January 13th and January 19th, 2025.

As with the last few weeks, Player Announcements have really slowed down now that the season is fast approaching and players have already reported to their teams. We will start, as usual, with the summary graphic but as you will see, there were only a handful of announcements. Thankfully, the Seattle Seawolves revealed their complete 2025 roster, which this article will also cover and point out some important inclusions or omissions. Let’s dive in with the graphic:

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 13-19, 2025 (1 of 1)

Re-Signings

Having announced the vast majority of their roster way back in November, the San Diego Legion added another returnee when they confirmed the return of capped USA Eagle Tevita Tameilau for his 6th season in California and 7th in MLR in 2025. Tameilau has proved himself a ferocious ball carrier, gaining over 500m for the last four seasons in a row, including a career high of 1,065m gained in 2022. Tameilau passed 3,000m gained in his career in 2024, and is within touching distance of 500 tackles. He scored his 10th MLR try in 2024 and brought his total appearances up to 70 (53 starts).

The rest of last week’s re-signings were from the Utah Warriors, also in the Western Conference. The Warriors announced a trio of returnees for their 2025 campaign. The Warriors will have Tuvere Vugakoto back for a 6th season at Zion’s Bank. The Fijian hooker has 8 tries in 50 MLR games for Utah since 2020, starting 29 times and amassing over 850m gained and 283 tackles completed. Also returning to the forward pack is 2024 Utah Warriors Pathway Player of the Year Kalisi Moli. Moli started 4 of his 12 appearances during his debut MLR season in 2024, completing 67 tackles and running for 169m gained. Moving to the back line, Canadian U20 scrumhalf Sam Reimer is back for a 3rd MLR season, and 2nd with the Warriors. Reimer played with the Toronto Arrows in 2022 before spending a year in New Zealand, and joining the Utah Warriors ahead of the 2024 season. He has 7 MLR appearances in his career to date and will be looking for his first start in 2025.

New Faces and Confirmed Rosters

Last week saw just the one new addition for 2025, and it was for the Utah Warriors, who were responsible for 4 of the 5 player announcements from last week. The Warriors announced the signing of New Zealand winger Blake Makiri for the 2025 season. The 22yo Auckland native joins from Counties Manukau in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC), where he’s been playing since 2022.

After a busy first few months of the off-season, the Seattle Seawolves had been relatively quiet for the last few months. However, last week they revealed their complete roster for their 2025 campaign, generating some interesting questions.

First off, there was some confusion among fans about what criteria they actually used to determine the flags beside each name. Having the nationality of players is an excellent addition, but there are some strange decisions from the Seawolves. For example, the Union Jack is used beside Huw Taylor’s name. Taylor is British, born in England with strong ties to Wales, but the Union Jack was not used for Dave Busby, who is Northern Irish…which is a part of the United Kingdom. Additionally, neither Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom are rugby nations. Northern Irish players play for Ireland alongside players from the Republic of Ireland, and the rest of the UK compete as England, Scotland, and Wales. It is possible that this was the preferrence of each player, but it is an odd choice for rugby. This graphic also mislead a lot of fans who claimed that the Seawolves squad only had a small amount of domestic players (from the US or Canada), but that is not the case. Riekert Hattingh and JP Smith both had just the South African flag beside their names, but are capped USA Eagles, for example. Ina Futi and Pago Haini are from American Samoa, which does have it’s own rugby team but they play sporadically. American Samoans are also US-eligible as the islands are a US territory. Toni Pulu has two flags beside his name, why couldn’t other players? Some fans thought the flag choice might be country of birth, but Canadian Dewald Kotze was born in South Africa, and Toni Pulu was actually born in the US, also making him a domestic player. As mentioned, the flags beside player names is a great addition, but in this case it’s confusing and misleading.

Now, let’s dig into the meat of the roster: The Players. It is excellent to see MLR Great Riekert Hattingh back in the lineup after injury curtailed his 2024 season. He can now resume the try-scoring competition with Chicago’s Dylan Fawsitt, and will likely become just the 2nd player in league history to reach 50 tries scored (currently on 42). The same applies to the likes of Devin Short and Charles Elton, who were also badly hit with injury last season, the return of these three to the Seawolves backline is a fearsome slight. Also on the roster is Calvin Liulamaga, who was selected 11th overall by the Seawolves in the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft out of Central Washington University. Liulamaga is the only one of Seattle’s four 2024 draftees to be included on their 2025 roster.

Moving to the omissions, mentioned just above weas the fact that three of the Seattle Seawolves’ draftees did not make their MLR roster. It’s possible they are playing in the area and we may see them if injuries happen, however. Some big omissions include 2022 Shield Winner Kara Pryor, who missed most of 2024 with injury, and fellow ex-Ironworker Monate Akuei, who made an impact in the back half of the 2024 season. Neither Pryor or Akuei qualify as domestic players yet. On the subject of international players, the Seawolves have a completely new flyhalf pairing in 2025 with the additions of ex-NOLA Gold 10 Rodney Iona, and South African Eddie Fouché. This means that Mack Mason, who finished with 2 tries and 172pts in 2024 will not be returning, neither will all-time MLR points leader Sam Windsor, who added 3 tries and 42pts to take his total to an enormous 595pts. This will be the first MLR season without the great Sam Windsor. Also not returning for Seattle are the likes of USA Eagles Tavita Lopeti (San Diego Legion) and Conner Mooneyham (Anthem RC), as well as MLR veterans Olive Kilifi and Kellen Gordon, and rugby veteran Tevita Kuridrani to name just a few. A full roster review of the Seattle Seawolves, and all MLR teams, will be posted to social media prior to the 2025 season kicking off in February.

In Conclusion

A quieter week around MLR in terms of player moves, because the vast majority of rosters are set and ready for kick off on February 15th. We finally heard a peep out of Anthem RC in regards to their roster, and are expecting that to be revealed on Tuesday, January 21st. This is the third week of pre-season camp and is far far too late for a roster reveal, but it is better than nothing. As for individual players, we may see the odd announcement here and there, but this will probably be only about half a dozen players from now until the season begins.

As always, you can follow NARDB and James across social media to stay up to date on signings as they happen. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky! Also, we’re happy to have Rugby Now back for the 2025 season! Visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new Macron gear for 2025, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 6-12, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The long, dark Major League Rugby off-season is coming to an end, and players are reporting to pre-season training camps all around the league. But which players? This series of articles jumps into all of the player movement around MLR from the previous week. This week’s article covers the week from January 6th to January 12th, 2025, the first full week in a new year.

As mentioned, Pre-season training camps have opened across the league, and teams are beginning to publish content of their players in action. This content can be telling, as every year there are players photographed that we have heard nothing about over the off-season. This season, we still haven’t heard a peep out of Anthem RC, but the team is posting photos. If they don’t publish a roster soon, these photos will be all we have to go on for their 2025 squad! As always, we begin the article with a summary graphic, before diving into what could be the final few re-signings of the off-season.

MLR Player Move Summary: January 6-12, 2025 (1 of 2)

Final Wave of Re-Signings

Following the eyebrow-raising announcement from the Utah Warriors of a huge chunk of departing players ahead of the 2025 season, the Warriors seem to have calmed the heart rates of their fans with some strong additions, and bringing back stand-outs from their 2024 campaign. One of these returning stand-outs is Frank Lochore. The Kiwi forward, who can play across the back row, or as a lock, was one of only two players to record over 200 tackles completed in 2024, finishing 2nd league-wide with 221 (behind Old Glory DC’s Cory Daniel in first). He started all 16 games for Utah in 2024, scoring 5 tries on offence to round out a fantastic debut season in North America. Alongside Lochore, Warriors stalwart and capped USA Eagle Joe Mano will be returning for his 5th season with the team. With 2,882m gained in his career so far, and 25 tries scored in his 38 MLR games (33 starts) for Utah since 2021, Mano provides the Warriors with a significant scoring threat. He currently sits tied for 9th all-time in tries scored and will look to climb higher in 2025.

As with the previous few weeks, the majority of re-signings last week belonged to the NOLA Gold, who concluded their 2025 roster announcements with the return of seven back rowers, including three former MLR draftees still working towards their MLR debuts, and three NOLA Gold veterans. Idaho native Abe Turpen returns for a second season in New Orleans after the Gold traded for him from the Utah Warriors in May 2024. The multi-sport athlete plays flanker on the rugby field and was selected in the 2nd round, 22nd Overall, by the Warriors in 2023. He will look to make his MLR debut in 2025. Another member of the 2023 MLR Collegiate Draft Class is returning for the Gold in Cian Darling. The Irishman was drafted 7th overall by the Gold out of Lindenwood University, and becomes US-eligible in 2025 on residency grounds. Along with a pair from the 2023 Draft Class, 6th Overall pick in 2022 Chase Jones returns for a 3rd MLR season. Jones played with the NOLA Gold academy side in 2023 where he suffered an achilles injury that ruled him out for the entire 2023 MLR season, with the long rehabilitation also sidelining him for the 2024 season. He, like Darling and Turpen, will look to finally earn his MLR debut in 2025.

As well as three MLR Draftees, the NOLA Gold confirm the return of regular MLR starters including 2024 stand-out Jonah Mau’u, who returns for a second MLR season in 2025. The kiwi back row completed 134 tackles in his debut season in North America, running for well over 800m gained and scoring 6 tries in 12 games (all starts) for NOLA. Alongside the impressive Mau’u will be Gold regular Malcolm May, back for his 7th season with NOLA. May has 57 appearances for the Gold since 2019, starting 40 times including a career high 15 in his 16 games in 2024, where he scored a career high 3 tries to take his total to 6. On the subject of NOLA Gold regulars, the Tonga’uiha brothers are also back in the Big Easy. Osi Tonga’uiha returns for a 6th season after a career high 9 appearances in 2024, taking his career appearances to 18 while his brother, capped USA Eagle Moni Tonga’uiha, is back for an 8th year. Moni Tonga’uiha captained the Gold through their best-ever 2024 season and is their most capped player, with 70 starts in his 88 appearances since 2018 putting him 5th all-time. The Oakland, CA native has 11 tries and a huge 4,157m gained in possession, with just shy of 800 tackles completed (789). He has recorded over 125 tackles in each of the last 4 seasons, including a career high of 176 in 2022.

MLR Player Move Summary: January 6-12, 2025 (2 of 2)

‘New’ Faces

Last week saw a number of former American Raptors either enter MLR for the first time, or return to the league after a season away. This is likely due to the news that the Raptors would not be playing pro rugby in 2025, and players are turning to the only other professional option in the US, Major League Rugby. The Chicago Hounds announced the signing of a pair of former Raptors, starting with prop Koby Baker, who played with the Raptors during their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season, before joining the Seattle Seawolves for their playoff stretch. Baker earned 5 MLR appearances for the Seawolves and came off the bench in all three playoff games, including the Championship Game where Seattle fell to the New England Free Jacks. Baker had been playing with the Hounds academy side during their 2024 Fall season alongside fellow former Raptor Tavius Sykora-Matthess, who also earns a MLR contract with Chicago for the 2025 season. The 6’7 former football player and wrestler represented both the USA U23s and USA Falcons in 2022 before spending two seasons in Super Rugby Americas with the Raptors. He, like Baker, joined the Hounds academy side in 2024.

Another pair of former Raptors are also headed to the Eastern Conference with Old Glory DC. Former DC man John LeFevre will rejoin the Flags following a season in Super Rugby Americas. The Virginia native earned 16 appearances for DC between 2022-2023, scoring his two tries in 11 games (1 start) in 2023. Following John LeFevre to the nation’s capital is Hawaiian flanker Isikeli Kava, who transitioned from the front row to the flank while with the Raptors, where he has played since 2021 and earned a spot on their Super Rugby Americas roster in 2024. the 295lb, 6’2 former football player spent the off-season in Australia with the Gungahlin Eagles in the ACTRU Premier Division. Old Glory DC announced the return of another not entirely new face for 2025, Owen Sheehy. The son of former USA Eagle and OGDC Co-Founder Paul Sheehy, Owen earned 10 starts in 20 games for DC between 2021-2023, recording a career high 533m gained in 11 games in 2022. Sheehy returns after a year working in South America, where he also played in Argentina’s URBA Top 14, an amateur league that has produced a number of MLR players in the past.

Along with confirming their final re-signings, the NOLA Gold unveiled their complete roster for the 2025 campaign. This roster included both of their 2025 MLR Collegiate Draft selections, Aidan King and Dalton Musselman. Australian back row Aidan King was selected 6th Overall by the Gold out of Penn State, and college teammate Dalton Musselman was selected 18th Overall. The Pennsylvanian fly-half will be able to learn from the likes of Dorian Jones and USA Eagle Luke Carty while with the Gold.

Intra-League Moves & Departures

The news of the week, and likely the reason why many of you are reading this article, was the announcement from Rugby FC LA that they had signed reigning MLR Back of the Year Reece MacDonald on a 2yr contract through the 2026 season. This announcement left MLR fans shocked, and New England Free Jacks fans stunned. MacDonald scored 12 tries and 86pts in 30 games (28 starts) for the Free Jacks during their back-to-back Shields from 2023-2024. He recorded 10 tries and a league-high 1,535m gained in 2024 alone, a true career year for the kiwi fullback who now makes the move to the Western Conference. Although MacDonald’s contract with the Free Jacks had expired, New England still held his rights. As a result, Rugby FC LA gave up 2025 Cap Space (unknown) in order to acquire MacDonald’s rights, meaning that this move was technically a trade, but only on paper.

Moving on to departures, Super Rugby Americas teams have been announcing their complete rosters over the last few weeks, and a number of 2024 MLR-ers are heading south. The Miami Sharks will be without Uruguayan playmaker Felipe Etcheverry in 2025, with the 2023 Rugby World Cup player returning to Peñarol. Etcheverry joined Miami from the Uruguayan club for 2024, and scored 3 tries and 73pts for the Sharks in 14 games (13 starts). He now returns to the 2x SRA Champions along with Chicago Hounds hooker Guillermo Pujadas. Another capped Uruguayan who entered MLR from Peñarol in 2024, Pujadas started 2 of his 8 games for the Hounds in 2024 and will also return to the Uruguayan franchise for their 2025 Super Rugby Americas season. Pujadas will join former Hounds teammate and Dallas Jackal Nico Revol Pitt in SRA, with the Argentinian prop signing with Dogos, and former Houston SaberCat and NOLA Gold hooker Diego Fortuny also heading to Super Rugby Americas, signing with the Tarucas for their inaugural SRA season in 2025.

Makene Staying in New Zealand

One final piece of news that NOLA Gold fans should be interested in, Caleb Makene. Following the announcement that Makene would not be returning to the Utah Warriors for 2025, the NOLA Gold announced the signing of the impressive kiwi fullback on November 17th, 2024. NARDB has learned that shortly after this announcement, Makene informed the Gold that he would be staying in New Zealand with his partner as they were expecting their first child. This means that Caleb Makene, who scored 12 tries and 98pts in 44 games for the Utah Warriors between 2022-2024, will not be playing in MLR during the 2025 season. As excuses go, he has a pretty good one and we wish him, his partner, and their child all the best!

In Conclusion…

With Pre-Season camps now underway and MLR rosters all but confirmed, the 2025 season is just around the corner! With that, player announcements are likely to dry up in the next few weeks. These summary articles will continue as long as there is player movement and as we have still heard nothing from Anthem RC, and suspiciously little regarding returning players for the Seattle Seawolves, it is likely there will still be some announcements, but these will likely be more sporadic. Keep an eye on this site and social media for further news.

As always, you can follow NARDB and James across social media to stay up to date on signings as they happen. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky! Also, we’re happy to have Rugby Now back for the 2025 season! Visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new Macron gear for 2025, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: Dec 30, 2024 – Jan 5, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Welcome to 2025! Every week these MLR Player Movement Summary articles outline each roster move around Major League Rugby, whether that is a returning player, a new signing, or a departure, so that MLR fans can easily stay up to date on all the off-season activity ahead of the 2025 season. This week’s article covers the week from December 30, 2024 to January 5, 2025 and so, as mentioned already, welcome to 2025!

With pre-season camps opening today (January 6th), it could be assumed that all MLR teams have pretty much finished announcing their 2025 rosters, but considering we still haven’t heard a peep out of Anthem RC, and the Seattle Seawolves haven’t announced a single returning player, it’s likely that player announcements will continue almost right up to opening kick-off on February 15th. Last week saw another relatively quiet week but as with the week before, there is still plenty to discuss. 10 re-signings across 4 teams made up the bulk of the announcements as usual, with an intra-league move and two big names returning to MLR from overseas. As always, we start with the summary graphic and then jump in to the re-signings:

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 30th, 2024 – January 5th, 2025 (Page 1 of 1)

Re-signings

Of the 10 re-signings last week, the NOLA Gold announced four returning back three players for their 2025 roster. Samoan try machine Ed Fidow is back for his second season with the Gold after scoring 5 tries in 7 games for the team in an injury-affected 2024. A 2022 MLR Champion with New York, Fidow has a very impressive 21 tries in his 35 career MLR games with over 3,000m gained with ball in hand. Alongside Fidow will be NOLA Gold veteran Harley Wheeler, who has 8 tries in his 38 games for the club since 2020 (29 starts) and over 150 tackles completed with a high of 84 in 2022. Academy graduate Jack Webster, who can also play centre, returns for a 4th season with the Gold having earned 16 appearances since 2022. Webster also played a game for the Dallas Jackals in 2022 while on short term loan to the Texas team. Last but by no means least for the Gold is impressive rookie Julian Roberts, returning for his sophomore season in New Orleans. Drafted 6th overall by the Gold in 2023 out of Life University, Roberts started 4 of his 11 appearances in 2024, scoring 2 tries and running for over 350m gained in possession.

Staying in the Eastern Conference and heading up to Illinois, the Chicago Hounds announced a returning trio of their own last week. Kansan scrum-half and capped USA Eagle Michael Baska is back for a 3rd year with the Hounds and 7th in MLR. Baska has 8 tries and 46pts in his 58 career games (30 starts), with 10 starts in 22 for Chicago since 2023. Also returning to the Hounds back line is South African fly-half/fullback Kian Meadon for a second year in Chicago after a pair of seasons with the Houston SaberCats. Meadon has 1 try and 37pts in his 11 MLR games since 2022 with a 61% success rate from the tee, but has struggled for game time over the last two seasons with only 2 games in 2023 and 1 in 2024. Although an international player, Meadon will be hoping for some consistent game time in 2025, but will be fighting with Tim Swiel, Adriaan Carelse, and Ben Pollack for games. In the pack, MLR veteran Paddy Ryan returns for his 8th season in the front row, and 3rd with Chicago. One of three players named ‘Paddy Ryan’ to have played in MLR, the Chicago-born Irishman has 8 tries in 71 games (53 starts) since 2018, with over 360 tackles completed and 1,107m gained as a prop.

Heading over to the Western Conference, a pair of depth pieces are returning to Zions Bank in 2025. Former Portland State defensive Lineman Tonga Kofe is back for a second season with the Utah Warriors in 2025. The 6’2, 310lb behemoth earned 6 appearances in 2024, and may be the heaviest player in MLR history. A monster in the front row. Returning to the Warriors’ backline for a third season is local product Sione Mahe, who earned 2 starts in 3 games in 2024 before suffering an ACL injury that sidelined him for much of the year. Heading to California but staying on the subject of injuries, Rugby FC LA announce the return of lock Jurie van Vuuren for a second season in LA, and 6th in MLR. Van Vuuren has scored 9 tries in 55 games (47 starts) since 2020, completing 584 tackles. He spent 4 seasons with the Utah Warriors before joining RFCLA in 2024 where he earned 4 appearances before suffering an injury that rule him out of the majority of the 2024 season.

‘New’ Faces

In this section we typically cover the new players entering MLR from leagues around the world. While that is still the case this week, it’s not strictly true to say that these faces are ‘new’. Both of last week’s signings from leagues outside MLR have already played in Major League Rugby at some point in their careers. Capped USA Eagle Mikey Sosene-Feagai signs with Rugby FC LA for the 2025 season, marking the first time the California-born hooker has played in MLR since 2021. Sosene-Feagai scored 2 tries in 15 games (all starts) for Old Glory DC between 2020-2021 before signing with Toulon in the French Top 14. He signed with Agen in the Pro D2 after a season with Toulon, where he played from 2022-2024.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the NOLA Gold have negotiated a season-loan for regular USA starting 9 Ruben de Haas for 2025. The South African moved with his family from the Western Cape to Arkansas when he was young, and has been a member of the Cheetahs system since 2017. He started 4 of his 6 appearances for the Austin Gilgronis in 2021 before heading to England and playing with Saracens in the Premiership between 2021-2023. De Haas returned to the Cheetahs following his time in the Premiership, playing in the Currie Cup and Challenge Cup. He will return to the Cheetahs once again following the 2025 MLR season.

Intra-League Moves

To wrap things up for this week’s summary article, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of Californian hooker Jackson Zabierek for his sophomore season in 2025. Zabierek was drafted 18th overall by Rugby FC LA in 2023 out of the University of Santa Cruz, but did not sign with RFCLA. Instead, he joined the American Raptors for their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season. Once the Raptors season was over, Zabierek joined the Seattle Seawolves for their 2024 playoff push where he earned 6 appearances. He came off the bench in every playoff game for the Seawolves including the Championship Game against the New England Free Jacks, finishing as MLR runners-up.

In Conclusion

That wraps up this week’s summary article for player announcements around Major League Rugby from last week! We’ve almost made it through the long, dark MLR off-season and with kick-off on MLR 2025 just around the corner, it’s likely that the majority of player announcements are behind us. Anticipate teams making final adjustments to their rosters and possibly some promotions from academy sides, but there may still be a surprise or two in store for us. Another week gone, and still silence from Anthem RC. Pre-Season camps open on January 6th, so I hope they’ve got some idea who will be turning up.

Stay up to date on all player announcements as they happen by following NARDB and James on Social Media! @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @NARugbyDB and @JamDelay on Twitter/X, or @NARDB and @JamDelay on Bluesky!

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 9-15, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Another week closer to kick-off on the 2025 Major League Rugby season, and teams are still busy finalising their rosters in the run up to the holidays. This weekly article will summarise all the roster changes around the league from December 9th to December 15th, 2024. NARDB is the best place to keep up to date on all the changes, informing fans and helping to build the hype for next season!

Last week we saw 18 re-signings across 4 teams, a relatively high 10 new additions, three intra-league moves and a retirement. With so much movement this article will be on the larger side, but let’s get stuck in. As always, we will be starting with the re-signings and here is the first of the two-page summary graphic for last week’s moves:

Rapid Re-signings

As mentioned in the introduction, last week saw 18 re-signings across 4 teams. Continuing their (almost) daily announcements, Old Glory DC confirmed 6 further players for their 2025 roster including Irish pathway product Declan O’Loughlin, who was signed as a development player last year and impressed with the academy, earning a full MLR contract this season. As well as O’Loughlin, DC are bringing back prospect Charlie Overton for a 2nd season. Overton was drafted 14th overall by the Miami Sharks out of Life University in 2022, and earned his MLR debut for OGDC last season having been traded there from the Sharks. The Flags also announced the return of a pair of back three players in John Rizzo and John Powers. Rizzo scored 3 of his 5 career tries in 2024, also earning 10 of his 14 career starts and 11 of his 24 appearances. It was a breakout year for the Indiana native, who will play in his 4th MLR season in 2025. Powers, like Rizzo, also enjoyed a breakout year last season. A MLR Champion with New York in 2022, Powers scored both of his MLR tries for DC in 2024, and earned his first 9 starts, completing 51 of his 58 career tackles in his 14 games for DC. Powers returns for his 5th MLR season, but only his 2nd with Old Glory DC. The 6th returnee for the Flags is the only player in MLR history to score a hat trick in the playoffs, Connor Buckley. The 2022 Champion (alongside Powers) has 9 tries in 46 games (27 starts) since 2021, and scored 6 of those tries in 2024, and 3 in Old Glory DC’s Eastern Conference Semifinal nailbiter.

Just behind Old Glory DC is Rugby FC LA, who announced five re-signings of their own. RFCLA’s All-MLR First XV selection Semi Kunatani returns for his 2nd season in MLR, having scored 10 tries in 15 games (11 starts) in 2024, recording over 1,100m gained and 161 tackles completed. Kunatani sat just behind Ben Strang in the tackle count. Strang appeared in all 16 games for RFCLA last season scoring 5 tries and recording 170 tackles. He also returns for the team’s sophomore season. Another forward who featured in every RFCLA game during their inaugural season is Australian prop Dane Zander, who started 12 of their 16 games in 2024, and appeared from the bench in the remaining four. Zander is the third returnee for Rugby FC LA announced last week. The team also announced the return of a pair of US-eligible depth pieces, Alessandro Heaney and Lincoln Sii. Heaney earned his first 4 MLR appearances off the bench last season, and Lincoln Sii added 5 appearances to take his MLR total to 20 appearances since 2021.

Staying in the Western Conference, the Houston SaberCats continue their announcements with an additional four returning players announced last week, including the 2nd overall pick in 2023, Max Schumacher. Schumacher didn’t earn a start in his rookie season but made 14 appearances and gained over 100m in possession. Houston also re-signed kiwi scrum-half Jay Renton, who was a late addition to the ‘Cats last season, and scored one 7pt try in his 2 appearances (both starts). Also returning to the SaberCats are a pair of Smiths, although they share no relation. Seimou and Seth Smith are both back for a second year with Houston. Seimou Smith played with New York in 2019 before joining the US military. He returned for the SaberCats in 2024, scoring 2 tries in 7 games (6 starts) and running for almost 250m gained. Seth Smith, a product of the SaberCats pathway, became the youngest player in MLR history in Rd 1 of last season, at the age of 18y, 8m, 7d. He earned 1 start in 6 games, scoring 2 tries and was named the MLR Player of the Week in Rd 10, before joining the USA U20 team for a clash with Canada.

Finally for re-signings, we jump back to the Eastern Conference and to the Miami Sharks, who also announced 4 re-signings during a busy week in Florida. Three of these resignings spent the Miami Sharks’ inaugural season on the sidelines due to injury. Alex Tucci returns for a 2nd season in Miami and 7th in MLR, and has 53 appearances to date in MLR. Connor Burns is a second returning Shark who spent Miami’s entire inaugural season injured, he, like Tucci, will be hoping to earn his Sharks debut in 2025. Thirdly, Isaac Bales will be back for a second season in Miami. Bales was drafted 12th overall by Rugby ATL in 2021, and has had even worse luck with injury than Tucci and Burns. Bales has been sidelined for two entire seasons so far, in 2022 and in 2024. He earned his MLR debut in 2023 with the RATLers and I’m sure will be hoping to stay healthy for Miami in 2025. The fourth returnee announced by the Miami Sharks last week is Damian Morley, a promising US talent who has experience playing in South Africa and in France. He earned 7 MLR appearances for the Sharks from the bench in 2024.

New Faces

On the subject of the Miami Sharks, they announced the addition of a pair of Argentinian locks from Europe, Federico Gutierrez & Mauro Rebussone. Gutierrez has played with the Argentina XV side many times, and joins from Colorno in the Italian Serie A Elite, having previously played with AC Albi in the French 3rd tier, the Nationale. Fellow Argentine Rebussone did this the other way around, playing with Colorno before heading to the Nationale to play with Narbonne in France.

Moving up the east coast to Massachusetts, the New England Free Jacks announced the signing of a pair of fly-halves from the Bunnings NPC in New Zealand, both of which have played with the Samoan U20 side. Faletoi Peni joins from the Southland Stags where he played over 400 minutes in 2024, and Simon-Peter Toleafoa joins from Counties Manukau, scoring 4 tries in 11 games and over 600 minutes of play time. In addition to this pair of signings, the Free Jacks also announced the signing of Canada-eligible wing/centre Jack Reeves from Gloucester in the Premiership. Reeves isn’t a ‘new’ face to MLR or the Free Jacks, as he spent the 2022 season in New England on loan from Gloucester, making 72 tackles and gaining over 265m in posession in 12 games (6 starts) before returning to England. Since 2022 Reeves has played in the Premiership, the Prem Rugby Cup, and both the Challange and Champions Cups in Europe.

Moving back over to the Western Conference and back to Los Angeles, Rugby FC LA announced the signing of a pair of Australian centres from Randwick in the Shute Shield. 21yo Nick Chan has been knocking on the door of Super Rugby for some time, he played with the Western Force in the 2022 pre-season, and recently featured for the NSW Waratahs in an exhibition game against the Kubota Spears in Japan. Also joining RFCLA is Matias Jensen, who played with the Brumbies U19s in 2022 and represented the Super Rugby side in the 2024 pre-season trials. Both Chan and Jensen have represented the Junior Wallabies, and join a strong Aussie contingent in LA which was made even stronger by their third new addition last week, US-eligible back Robert Mapa. Born in California but raised in Australia, Mapa has played both Rugby League and Rugby Union, playing with a Queensland Reds U19 side in 2022 after stand-out performances for his club, Brothers. He was spotted by the Melbourne Storm of the NRL in 2023, and played with their U21 side in 2024.

Finally for new additions, we head up the west coast to Washington State and to Seattle. The Seawolves announced the addition of experienced South African utility back Eddie Fouché for 2025. Fouché played with the Golden Lions in the Currie Cup from 2016-19 before joining the Pumas and winning a Currie Cup with them in 2022. He joined the Griquas for the 2022/23 season before joining Seattle for his first professional season outside South Africa.

Intra-league Moves and Retirements

As we move another week further away from the Dallas Jackals withdrawal from MLR, we learned the destination of a pair of 2024 Jackals. Both Lucas Bur and Vaughen Isaacs signed with Rugby FC LA (probably MLR’s busiest team last week!) having been selected by them in the dispersal draft. Bur earned 28 appearances for Dallas between 2023-24, gaining nearly 700m in possession and completing a huge 296 tackles in just two seasons. He was selected 13th by RFCLA. Vaughen Isaacs was also selected by LA in the dispersal draft, 5th overall. Although the South African playmaker missed a huge chunk of 2024 due to injury, Isaacs still scored 3 tries and 32pts in his 8 games (all starts) for Dallas, recording 643m gained for an average of over 80m per game. NARDB is working on a graphic for all Dallas Jackals players in 2024 to show their destinations for 2025, stay tuned!

On the subject of Rugby FC LA and to wrap up the intra-league moves from last week, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of fly-half Sam Walsh for the 2025 season. Walsh, a capped USA sevens player, earned 8 MLR appearances (2 starts) with RFCLA in his debut season in 2024, amassing 135m gained. One final signing that, frankly doesn’t fit in any other second is the Seattle Seawolves’ signing of Calvin Liulamaga, their 1st Rd draft pick in the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft. Liulamaga, a Rudy Scholz award nominee and a Washington native, was drafted 11th overall out of Central Washington University.

And finally, we have a retirement. USA Eagles veteran (and often, Captain) Greg Peterson announced his retirement last week. Peterson only spent one season in MLR, earning 13 appearanced as the San Diego Legion Captain in 2024, and finished his career with 51 test caps for the USA. Peterson has represented the Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership, the Glasgow Warriors in the URC, and the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby.

To Conclude…

There you have it, another player movement summary complete and another week closer to kicking off hte 2025 season. The North American Rugby Database works hard to ensure that rugby fans are able to keep up to date on all the happenings around Major League Rugby year-round, not just while the games are being played (although that’s much more fun!). Please considering supporting this site if you’re able and find it a helpful resource, even sharing an article or player page is a huge help.

To stay even more up to date on player moves and MLR news, follow James and NARDB on social media: @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay or @NARugbyDB on X/Twitter, and @JamDelay or @NARDB on Bluesky! If you’re looking for some last minute Christmas shopping, check out the shopmlr.com sales and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

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!

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 2-8, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Faint jingle bells can be heard in the distance, the elves are hard at work, and Mariah Carey is almost completely thawed out for the holidays. Major League Rugby teams are staying busy as we move into December, with a bumper week around the league that included the unveiling of all home and away kits for the 2025 season! NARDB’s ranking of the 2025 home kits can be found here, and the away kit ranking will be coming later this week. This article, however, will focus on the player announcements from last week, December 2nd to December 8th, 2024. It will add a bit more context and detail to each move, giving fans a better understanding of the roles these players may play in 2025, and keeping them up to date on all the roster changes. The summary graphic just about stretches onto two pages, and as always here is page one:

Player Moves Around MLR: December 2-8, 2024 (1 of 2)
Returnees and Re-Signings

As you can see from the first page of the summary graphic above, the majority of last week’s player announcements were players returning to their 2024 teams. There were TWENTY re-signings announced last week across four teams, including 7 for Old Glory DC and 6 for Rugby FC LA.

Old Glory DC began their roster announcements for 2025 on December 1st, following an advent calendar type of reveal. Last week, they announced seven returning forwards from their 2024 pack. Beginning in the front row, the Flags announced the return of KoiKoi Nelligan, Martin Vaca, and Cali Martinez. A Washington DC native, KoiKoi Nelligan was drafted 34th overall by the San Diego Legion in 2022 out of the Army West Point rugby program, and traded to Old Glory shortly after in exchange for DC’s 1st Rd pick in 2023 (used to select James Rivers 10th overall). Nelligan has earned 15 MLR appearances for DC since 2023, including 13 in 2024 where he scored his first two MLR tries and set career highs across the board. Also returning at hooker is former Argentinian U20 player Martin Vaca, who scored 5 tries in 11 games (9 starts) in his debut MLR season in 2024, completing 114 tackles and amassing over 300m gained. Finally for the front row, the Flags confirmed the return of newly capped Canadian international prop Cali Martinez. Earning his test debut for Canada in a win over Romania in July, Martinez has earned 27 appearances since 2023, and was the highest drafted Canadian in MLR history when he was selected 3rd overall out of the University of British Columbia.

Moving into the second row, DC will have Tevita Naqali and Bill Whiteside returning next year. A MLR and Old Glory DC veteran, Fijian lock Naqali has scored 7 tries in his 54 appearances (51 starts) for DC since 2020, and is US-eligible through residency. He has over 550 tackles completed and 2,359m gained in posession in his career. 2022 Draftee Billy Whiteside also returns. Whiteside was selected 29th overall out of Lindenwood by New York, but did not feature in an MLR game for the Ironworkers. Following their withdrawal he joined Old Glory DC, earning his MLR debut and 12 appearances in 2024, including 4 starts and over 50 tackles. In the back row, Collin Grosse and Brady Daniel are both back for the Flags in 2025. Brady Daniel, the brother of DC standout and USA Eagle Cory, has 10 MLR appearances for Old Glory since 2022 including 7 in 2024 where he earned his first two starts and scored his first MLR try. Grosse, like Nelligan, is an Army West Poitn Alum and was drafted 15th overall by Old Glory DC in 2022. He’s scored 3 tries in 31 games (18 starts) across two seasons so far, completing an impressive 279 tackles.

Player Moves Around MLR: December 2-8, 2024 (2 of 2)

Moving away from Old Glory DC to Rugby FC LA, who began announcing their 2025 roster back in November. RFCLA announced 6 returnees of their own, all in the back line with 5 of them deemed domestic players. Rory van Vugt will return for a second year with LA and 4th year in MLR after playing with Rugby ATL between 2020-2021 before joining the Highlanders. Kiwi wing/fullback van Vugt has 5 tries and 33pts in 25 MLR games (24 starts) in his career, and scored a career high 16pts for RFCLA in 2024. Also returning on the wing is English born Canadian raised draftee Jack Shaw. Shaw was selected 22nd overall out of Bishop’s University by Rugby ATL in 2022, and followed the franchise to LA after representing the RATLers in 2023. Shaw has scored 8 tries in 24 games (22 starts) in his career, recording over 1,000m gained already.
Moving to the centre, another Canadian draftee returns in the form of Seth Purdey. A schoolmate of Shaw’s at Shawnigan Lake School in British Columbia, Purdey attended UC-Berkeley where he was drafted 4th Overall in 2022, also by Rugby ATL. Purdey scored his first MLR try for LA in 2024, earning 10 of his 17 MLR appearances and 6 of his 8 starts. RFCLA will also have newly US-eligible Irish centre Will Leonard returning for 2025. A MLR veteran, Leonard has 70 MLR appearances since 2019 between New York (2019-2021), Atlanta (2022-2023), and LA (2024), starting 65 times and scoring 13 tries. Leonard qualified for domestic status on residency, and has amassed just shy of 4,000m gained in his MLR career to date.
From the centres to the half-backs, RFCLA announced the return of US-born Australian scrum-half Tasman Smith for his 3rd season in MLR. Born in New York, Smith played with the LA Giltinis in 2022 before spending 2023 in the Shute Shield while finishing his studies at the University of Sydney. he returned to LA in 2024 and has earned 30 MLR appearances in his career to date, scoring 2 tries and completing over 120 tackles including a high of 77 in 2024. At fly-half, RFCLA have MLR Draftee Matt Anticev returning for his sophomore season. the USA national team are in desperate need of the next fly-half, so the pressure is on the Dartmouth alum and 6th overall pick from 2023. Another ATL pick, Anticev earned 6 appearances and 2 starts for RFCLA in his rookie season in 2024.

Staying in the Western Conference but moving to Texas, the Houston SaberCats continue their steady announcements for their 2025 roster. MLR veteran LaRome White will return for his 2nd season with the ‘Cats in 2025, his EIGHTH in the league. A 2018 MLR Champion with the Seattle Seawolves, White has 65 appearances under his belt between Seattle (2018), the Austin Gilgronis (2019-2022), the Chicago Hounds (2023), and the SaberCats (2024). He’s completed over 250 tackles in his career and has over 900m gained as a prop. Also returning to the Houston front row is SaberCats veteran Valdemar Lee-Lo. With the exception of 2022 that he missed due to injury, Lee-Lo has represented Houston in every season since 2020, earning 17 appearances to date and 7 starts. On the subject of injury, South African wing/fullback Gerrie Labuschagne will return for the ‘Cats after missing out on the entire 2024 season. Labuschagne scored 5 tries and 30pts in his 24 games (21 starts) between 2022-2024 and recorded over 600m gained in both seasons he featured for the SaberCats. Joining Labuschagne on the wing is Jeremy Misailegalu. A teammate of LaRome White with the Seattle Seawolves for their 2018 Shield winning season, ‘Missile‘ has 9 tries in 50 MLR appearances between Seattle (2018), the Utah Warriors (2019), Rugby ATL (2020-2021), and Houston (2024). He has over 250 tackles completed on the wing, and over 1,800m gained in his career.

Staying in the south but moving to the Eastern Conference, the Miami Sharks, like Houston, continue their steady announcements for 2025 with a further 3 returnees. USA Sevens man Chase Schor-Haskin returns for a second season in Miami after earning 10 appearances for them in their inaugural season. Schor-Haskin was drafted 6th overall in 2021 by New York before being traded to the NOLA Gold, representing them in 2022. He spent 2022-2023 in the USA Sevens program, returning to the league in 2024. The Sharks also announced a pair of depth pieces for their sophomore season in American Samoan prop Setu Vole and South African centre Josh McAdam. Raised in Hawaii, Vole was drafted 27th overall by the Sharks in 2023 out of Lindenwood, earning his MLR debut in 2024. US-eligible Saffa Josh McAdam attended Davenport University and trained with the Chicago Hounds in 2023 before playing with the USA Hawks later that year. He earned 4 appearances for the Sharks off the bench during their inaugural season.

Intra-League Moves

If you couldn’t already tell, the 20 re-signings and returnees took up a lot of the oxygen last week, but they weren’t the only moves. A handful of players are returning to MLR in 2025, but they’ll be wearing a different kit. This includes probably the biggest move of the week, with which we’ll start. Rugby FC LA announced the signing of 2021 MLR Champion, and 2021-2022 back to back MLR Back of the Year Billy Meakes from the Chicago Hounds for 2025. This move might have been jaw-dropping to the average fan, but to the hardcore MLR fanbase (such as those reading this article!), it was predictable. Meakes, who has 7 tries in 57 MLR games since 2021, represented the LA Giltinis between 2021-2022 under head coach Stephen Hoiles and Captain Dave Dennis. Fast forward to 2025, and Hoiles is the RFCLA Director of Rugby/HC, and Dave Dennis is Assistant Coach. More than that, Meakes (a new father) is an LA resident and even has a business there, Boulevard. Although an obvious move, this is a huge signing for RFCLA and Meakes, who will look to add to his 4,704m gained and 546 tackles back on the west coast.

In addition to the huge signing of Billy Meakes by Rugby FC LA, last week we learned who three more Dallas Jackals would be representing in 2025. The Houston SaberCats announced the signing of Woodlands, TX native Evan Conlon after selecting him 19th in the Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft. Somewhat ironically, Conlon’s only appearance for the Jackals was off the bench in the Western Conference Semifinal, where Dallas stunned the 14-2 Houston SaberCats. With Conlon’s signing, the SaberCats have now signed all their picks from the dispersal draft. On that point, the Miami Sharks also complete the signings of their Dispersal Draft picks after confirming the signing of Marques Fuala’au having picked him 3rd. Fuala’au was drafted 3rd overall by the Dallas Jackals in 2023 and earned 16 appearances (3 starts) with the team in 2024, scoring 1 try and completing over 80 tackles. The Seattle Seawolves also confirmed the signing of one of their Dispersal Draft selections, newly capped Canadian international scrum-half Brock Gallagher. Selected 21st, Gallagher earned 15 appearances for the Jackals in 2024 including in the Western Conference Final against his new side, the Seattle Seawolves. Just before the 2024 playoffs, Alberta native Gallagher earned his test debut for Canada off the bench against Scotland. He earned his first test start last month against Romania.

New Additions and Retirements

Wrapping up this week’s MLR Roster Moves Summary, arguably the busiest team of last week, Rugby FC LA, announced the addition of Californian lock Mikaea Wynyard for 2025. A San Jose native, Wynyard has spent the last two years in the La Rochelle system in France, playing with their Espoirs team and being mentored by the likes of Australian Rugby World Cup Captain Will Skelton. Wynyard is no stranger to Major League Rugby as he was signed to a development contract by the New England Free Jacks for the 2022 season, but he didn’t feature for the MLR side.

At the other end of their career is another 2024 Dallas Jackal, Mitch Richardson. A fan favourite in Toronto with the Arrows, Richardson represented Canada as recently as last month, but called time on his professional career last week at the age of 28. Richardson scored 11 tries in 52 MLR games (43 starts), representing the Toronto Arrows (2019-2023) and Dallas Jackals (2024), he gained 2,122m in posession and completed 338 tackles. Richardson experienced two teams withdraw in as any seasons, but it is unclear if this had any bearing on his decision to retire.

That concludes this week’s summary of roster moves from last week. We’ve heard from all but one team so far, but maybe this week Anthem RC will begin their announcements. Which was the biggest move of the week for you? And are you happy with your team’s moves so far? Stay tuned for NARDB’s ranking of the 2025 Away kits coming later next week, and these summary articles released every Monday.

Be sure to follow NARDB and James on social media to stay up to date on player announcements as they happen. Follow @MLRStats on Instagram and/or Threads, either @JamDelay or @NARugbyDB on twitter/x, and @JamDelay or @NARDB on Bluesky.

Now that we know what the 2025 kits look like, visit shopmlr.com and use the 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.

MLR Player Movement Summary: November 18-24, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Although it may seem like the player signings are beginning to slow down, that doesn’t mean that teams aren’t busy! This is a summary of all the player moves around Major League Rugby from last week, November 18-24, 2024. This article dives into a little more detail around each move, and is the best place to stay up to date on the off-season movement from MLR. As always, here is a graphic summarising the first page of moves:

Player Moves Summary: November 18-24, 2024 (1 of 2)
Re-signings and Retirements

Starting (as usual) with the re-signings, of which there were 11 across 4 teams last week. The reigning Champion New England Free Jacks announced another quartet of returnees for next season, ensuring that the 2025 Free Jacks will look very similar to the 2024 squad. Fijian try-machine Paula Balekana returns for a 4th season with the Free Jacks, and 5th in MLR. Balekana currently sits T-4th all-time for tries scored, level with Chicago Hounds’ Julian Dominguez on 31. He hs almost guaranteed to move ahead of 3rd placed Mikey Te’o next season following Te’o’s retirement, but how close will he get to Seattle’s Riekert Hattingh in 2nd place, currently on 42. Also returning for New England are Canadian MLR veterans Conor Keys and Cole Keith. 6’6 Ontario lock Keys has earned 65 MLR appearances (41 starts) between Rugby ATL (2020-2022) and the Free Jacks (2023-2024), appearing in 3 MLR Championship games (2021, 2023, 2024). New Brunswick native Cole Keith has made 74 MLR appearances (46 starts) since 2019, playing with the Toronto Arrows (2019-2022) before joining the Free Jacks. Finally, a third Canadian international Ethan Fryer is returning. Fryer has 13 appearances for New England since 2022, including 10 in 2024 where he set career highs in starts (4), Meters Gained (235m), and Tackles Made (46).

The Houston SaberCats announced four returnees of their own last week, all of whom are MLR veterans. Forward-turned-centre Dom Akina is back for a 3rd season with Houston. He has 10 tries in 52 games (37 starts) since 2020, scoring 7 of these and gaining 1,422 of his 2,391m gained in two seasons with the SaberCats. A pair of South African forwards are also back, in Marno Redelinghuys and Justin Basson. Both Redelinghuys & Basson are former Rugby ATL players, although not at the same time. Basson played with the RATLers between 2022-2023 before moving to Houston. He’s averaged 2 tries a season for 6 tries in 42 games (38 starts), and passed 150 tackles for the first time in 2024 (151). Marno Redelinghuys played with ATL between 2020-2021 and returns for a 4th season with Houston in 2025. He has over 500 tackles in 53 games (48 starts). Redelinghuys will be deemed a domestic player for 2025, freeing up a valuable international player slot for the SaberCats. Finally for Houston, newly capped USA Eagle #576 Pono Davis returns for Houston. Davis has 40 appearances across 3 seasons with the SaberCats, and earned a career high 4 starts in 2024, completing 127 tackles (also a career high, by 52!).

The Miami Sharks continue to sprinkle a few re-signings into the mix, confirming the return of former Welsh international Kirby Myhill, and newly capped USA Eagle Tomas Casares. Hooker Myhill scored a try in his 7 games (6 starts) during the Sharks’ inaugural season, gaining over 220m. Casares scored 2 tries in 8 games (6 starts) in 2024, including a game-winner against the team that drafted him 17th overall in 2022, the New England Free Jacks. Casares earned his test debut as USA Eagle #583 just a few weeks ago when he came off the bench in a hard-fought 21-17 victory over Portugal. Finally for re-signings, the San Diego Legion announced the return of US-eligible Fijian forward Cyrille Cama for 2025. a MLR Champion with the LA Giltinis in 2021, Cama set career highs across the board for San Diego in 2024, with 3 tries in 16 games (2 starts), racking up 289m gained and completing 60 tackles. As one Legion player returns, another hangs up their boots. MLR Veteran and USA Eagle #564 Chris Mattina announced his retirement on instagram after 6 seasons in MLR. Mattina scored 6 tries and 120pts in 56 games (43 starts) between Rugby New York (2019-2021), the Austin Gilgronis (2022), Chicago Hounds (2023), finishing his career with the San Diego Legion (2024).

Intra-League Moves

Last week saw five players move to new teams within Major League Rugby, including a trio of Dallas Jackals following the withdrawal of the team from MLR in September. 2024 All-MLR Second XV scrum-half Juan-Dee Oliver signs with the Houston SaberCats after the team selected him 30th, the final player selected. Oliver scored 5 tries and 55pts in 13 games (all starts) for the Jackals in 2024, and was a standout when Dallas stunned the SaberCats in the Western Conference Semifinals. Also selected in the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft was Argentinian fly-half Martin Elias. Selected 25th and signed by the Miami Sharks, Elias was the Jackals’ all-time top scorer with 1 try and 116pts in 23 games (all starts) since 2023, and will fit in nicely with the Sharks’ strong South American influence. The Miami Sharks didn’t stop with Elias, however. The Florida team also announced the signing of Argentinian centre Tomás Cubilla, who was not selected in the dispersal draft, instead signing as a Free Agent. Cubilla has earned 11 MLR appearances for the Dallas Jackals since 2023, including 8 in 2024 where he scored all 5 of his MLR tries to date and amassed over 600m gained.

The NOLA Gold had a case of revolving doors last week. The Louisiana team announced the signing of Irish born USA Eagle #537 Luke Carty from the Chicago Hounds. A 2021 MLR Champion with the LA Giltinis, Carty has scored 1 try and 177pts in 45 games (31 starts) since 2021, representing the Giltinis until 2022, before being selected in the dispersal draft by the Chicago Hounds. Following the departure of Rodney Iona, Carty will fill that gap nicely. On the subject of Rodney Iona, just as the Gold were welcoming Luke Carty to the team, the Seattle Seawolves announced the signing of Iona’s NOLA & Samoa teammate OJ Noa for their 2025 squad. Noa scored 1 try in 9 games (all starts) for the Gold in 2024, running for over 520m gained.

New Faces

To wrap things up, two teams announced new signings from further afield than Major League Rugby. Also signed by the NOLA Gold for 2025 is 29yo Kiwi centre Isaac Te Tamaki who joins from the Southland Stags in New Zealand’s National Provinicial Championship. A capped former All Blacks Sevens player, Te Tamaki has played with Southland since 2018 with a season in France with Valence Romans Drôme in 2023. He earned his 50th Southland appearance in 2024, where he played alongside a number of familiar MLR names including Nic Souchon, Michael Manson, and Shneil Singh. Staying in the Southern Hemisphere, the final move of the week saw the Seattle Seawolves announce the signing of South African prop Njabulo Gumede. Gumede came up in the Blue Bulls system, also playing for Valke and the Pumas in the Currie Cup before joining the Griquas for 2024. A former Junior Springbok, Gumede will link up with former Pumas teammate Malembe Mpofu in Seattle.

Thus concludes a far more digestable summary when compared to the last few weeks. It seems that the ‘first wave’ of teams (Free Jacks, Legion, SaberCats, etc.) are coming to the end of their announcements, but with Rugby FC LA starting their announcements on November 25th, and both Old Glory DC & Anthem RC staying quiet, the ‘second wave’ could start any moment. This doesn’t even include the teams going steady with announcements like the NOLA Gold, Utah Warriors, and Miami Sharks!

A reminder that NARugbydb.com is the only place to find weekly movement summaries this off-season, providing a easy way to stay up to date with all the movement of the Major League Rugby off-season. Be sure to follow James and NARDB on Social Media, @MLRStats on Instagram & Threads, @JamDelay and/or @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky. Also make sure to check out the Youtube Channel, NARStats!

Jump into the sales at shopmlr.com before the #MLR2025 gear comes out! Use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off 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.