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.

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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 process 🪡 pic.twitter.com/XqD59CnC59

— Chicago Hounds (@HoundsChicago) December 3, 2024

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.

The Utah Warriors are proud to unveil our 2025 jersey – A tribute to the values, grit, and natural beauty that define our club and community.

Pre-sale live now.#ForTheNation #ForgedInAlititude #ProRugby #MLR2025 pic.twitter.com/FlZwbnuIVu

— Utah Warriors Rugby (@utwarriorsrugby) December 5, 2024

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!

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%!

⬇️⬇️⬇️

— The Rugby Network (@therugbynetwork) December 3, 2024

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.