Tag: Utah Warriors

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 6 of MLR2025!

NARDatabase

James Deeley

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

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

Utah join the 100 Club!

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

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

Heartbreak for Anthem RC

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

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

Kicking Credits

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

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

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

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

NOLA Gold’s Luke Carty

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

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

Appearance Achievements

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

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

MLR Debutant Isikeli Kava (center)


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

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

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

Source: @usmlr via Instagram

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

Wrapping Up

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

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

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

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 5 of MLR2025!

NARDatabase

James Deeley

After 5 weeks of Major league Rugby action, we’re beginning to enter the mid-season stretch where teams and fans are getting a decent idea of how their team performs, and who are the teams to look out for. Welcome back to Midweek Milestones, highlighting the Standout Stats from Round 5 of MLR2025!

For those of you who may be new to this series, these weekly articles highlight milestones achieved by players and teams that might have gone under the radar in order to bring attention to them, as well as inform fans of some of the big milestones and the less publicized (but no less deserving) achievements around the League.

Hodgson passes Quarter-Century!

The Utah Warriors are enjoying a very strong start to their 2025 season, sitting 2nd in the Western Conference with a 3-1 record. Although the majority of the kicking duties have fallen to test capped Samoan D’Angelo Leuila, Warriors stalwart Joel Hodgson is proving a very capable back-up from the tee this year. The Newcastle Falcons centurion has 1 try and 6 successful place kicks this season for 18pts on the year including 2pts in the Warriors’ most recent victory over the Miami Sharks, in which they recorded the 50th Try Bonus Point in team history, the third team to do so behind (you guessed it) the San Diego Legion and Seattle Seawolves.

These two points took Hodgson’s career MLR points total to 251pts since making the move to Utah in 2023. This makes Joel Hodgson the first player in Utah Warriors history to pass 250pts scored for the team, and just the 12th player in league history to pass 250pts scored in the competition! He sits 12th all-time in terms of Points Scored in MLR, and may just enter the Top 10 this season. Congratulations, Joel!

Appearance Achievements

The 5th Round of the 2025 Major League Rugby season continued to see players reaching their 50th cap in the competition. Three players reached the half-century, while one other player began their MLR journey, earning their debut over the weekend.

The first of this week’s trio of 50-cappers is test capped Argentinian prop Juan Pablo ‘JP’ Zeiss, who earned his 50th MLR appearance for the Seattle Seawolves, although this was only his 4th game representing the PNW team. Zeiss entered Major League Rugby with the Houston SaberCats in 2022, earning 14 appearances including 13 starts, scoring 2 tries and running for over 500m gained as a front row! Following his debut season, Zeiss headed to Dallas where he earned 32 appearances for the Jackals over two seasons, starting 31 times and scoring a career-high 3 tries in 2023. Now playing in Seattle following the downfall of the Jackals, Zeiss has started a very impressive 48 of his 50 MLR appearances, completing 379 tackles and has 1,359m to his name, putting him in the Top 5 all-time for props! Congratulations, JP!

In what has felt like a weekly occurrence this season, another New England Free Jacks player celebrated their 50th MLR appearance over the weekend, Wian Conradie! The 2023 MLR Forward of the Year and 2x MLR Champion has represented New England since 2021 and became the 6th Free Jack to reach 50 games for the team. Despite missing much of 2024 due to injury, ‘The Bus’ has started 47 of his 50 games and has over 3,250m made and 728 tackles in his MLR career so far, as well as 16 tries including a high of 7 in 2023 when he also finished 3rd in league tackling for the 2nd time (also finished 2nd in 2021)! Congratulations, Wian!

Source: @NEFreeJacks via Instagram

NOLA Gold stalwart and New Orleans native Will Waguespack became the 10th Gold player to reach 50 MLR appearances for the team! Having spent his whole MLR career there after joining ahead of the inaugural season in 2018, Waguespack worked his way into the MLR side through the Gold academy, becoming a regular substitute in 2022 before breaking into the Starting XV in 2024. He started 11 of his 15 games during the Gold‘s best season to date and scored his only MLR try for the team that season. the 6’6 lock has started 22 of his 50 MLR games, and sits just 1 tackle shy of 250 in his MLR career. Congratulations, Will!

Also representing the Gold and in fact replacing Will Waguespack in the second half over the weekend was Kaden Duguid. The test capped Canadian lock earned his MLR debut off the bench for the NOLA Gold and although he may just be starting his MLR career, earning his league debut is a brilliant achievement for the 25yo lock from Edmonton, AB. Congratulations, Kaden!

Meters Made Anomalies

There were some more oddities in Round 5 when it comes to team meters made totals. The NOLA Gold recorded only 228m made as a team in their closely contested match against the New England Free Jacks, which is the 3rd lowest total for an MLR team ever! The Free Jacks weren’t far off of doubling the Gold’s total, racking up 410m made of their own. This figure could reflect the tight nature of the game, or show that the NOLA Gold were less inclined to run kicks back, instead kicking them away. This is supported by the Gold’s 668 kicking meters, but makes for an eyebrow raising stat in isolation!

Similarly, the Chicago Hounds recorded the 3rd lowest winning meters made total in MLR history during their first ever victory over Old Glory DC, making just 20m more than the Gold for a total of 248m compared the their opponents 436m. The top meter eater for the Hounds was Adriaan Carelse with 43m, which would put him 4th on DC for that game. Luckily for the Hounds, they bagged the win thanks to 13pts from the boot of Chris Hilsenbeck, and two tries from Maclean Jones to take his MLR total to 10, becoming the 3rd player to reach double figure tries scored with the Hounds.

Although these anomalies may be a bit ‘in the weeds’, they could make a superb pub quiz answer one day, you never know!

Team of the Week Milestones

By sheer coincidence, the Team of the Week for Round 5 (or as MLR calls it, the First XV) saw not just one, not just two, but three different teams reach three different milestones when it comes to team of the week selections!

With 4 selections in this week’s First XV, the Chicago Hounds move up to 13 selections on the season, more than any other team in 2025 so far! All-time, this moved the Hounds past the 50 selection point, now sitting on 51 thanks to nods for Paddy Ryan (1st of 2025, 3rd career), Mason Flesch (1st of 2025, 5th career), Mac Jones (2nd of 2025, 5th career), and Chris Hilsenbeck (1st career!)!

Moving to a (slightly) more established club, and the Hounds opponents in Round 5, Old Glory DC picked up three selections of their own despite not securing the win, and moved past 100 Team of the Week selections all time! Now on 102 First XV selections thanks to nods for Jack Iscaro (1st of 2025, 9th career), KoiKoi Nelligan (2nd career, back-to-back selections!), and Perry Humphreys (1st of 2025, 2nd career), Old Glory DC sit with the 7th most First XV selections among active teams!

Source: @usmlr via Instagram

From a newer MLR team, to a more established team, to a founding member. The Utah Warriors emerged victorious over the Miami Sharks and picked up just a single First XV selection in Round 5, as Zion Going received the first MLR Team of the Week selection of his career thanks to a 2-try performance. This was the Utah Warriors’ 150th First XV selection, becoming just the 4th team in league history to reach 150 selections! They now sit just one First XV nod behind the NOLA Gold, on 151.

Seattle Scrum Supremacy!

Following the introduction of new law trials for the 2025 Major league Rugby season, there has been much talk about the ‘de-emphasis’ of the scrum. This message has not made it to Washington state, however. The Seattle Seawolves have had 33 scrums of their own so far this season, second only to the Miami Sharks with 40. Unlike the Sharks, however, the Seawolves are yet to lose a scrum on their own put in. They are the only team in MLR that have won 100% of their scrums in 2025!

Although Seattle is having an up and down season to begin 2025, and suffered their first ever defeat to Rugby FC LA over the weekend, at least fans can be sure that the Seawolves scrum will be solid!

Wrapping Up

A points milestone, a trio of half-centuries, a MLR debut, and more! That wraps up the 5th edition of NARDB’s Midweek Milestones! Thanks as always for taking the time to read this article, I hope you enjoyed it at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you really liked it, please give it a share as it helps to support the site and grow Major league Rugby at the same time, win/win! Be sure to check back next week for Midweek Milestones from Round 6 of the 2025 Major League Rugby season, we’re rapidly approaching the half-way mark!

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

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 4 of MLR2025!

NARDatabase

James Deeley

It’s hard to believe, but we’re already rough a quarter of the way through Major League Rugby’s 2025 season! Thankfully, there’s plenty of rugby left to be played in what has been a thrilling season so far. This article will highlight some of the standout stats and achievements from both players and teams from Round 4 of the 2025 season.

Welcome back to Midweek Milestones, the weekly series that aims to highlight milestones achieved by players and/or teams that may go under the radar otherwise, but are no less worthy of recognition and praise. This series of articles will be released midweek (clue is in the name!) and will cover some the high profile, and less publicized milestones achieved during the latest round of Major League Rugby action!

Houston Hit 100!

On Saturday, the Houston SaberCats became the 3rd team in Major League Rugby History to play their 100th game in the competition, following other MLR Founding Members the Seattle Seawolves (108 games played) and San Diego Legion (103 games played). The ‘Cats played their 97th regular season game against the Utah Warriors, adding to the 3 post-season games that have featured the Houston team, and hold an overall record of 46-54!

As you can read in the above graphic (posted to the NARDB Socials, see at the bottom of this article for details and be sure to follow!), with a convincing 17-37 road victory over a Utah Warriors side that was flying high after their impressive first two games, the Houston SaberCats became the first team in league history to actually WIN their 100th MLR game, passing 2,500pts scored as they did it. The Seattle Seawolves were the first MLR team to play in their 100th game, but their party was spoiled by the SaberCats (appropriately) by a score of 28-25. The San Diego Legion were the 2nd team to play their 100th game, but were defeated by the Seattle Seawolves by a score of 30-28 in the 2024 Western Conference Semifinal!

Interestingly, the three teams that have reached 100 MLR games played have all played their 100th game on the road and have all played another founding member for their 100th game. The next team to reach triple-figures games played in MLR will be the SaberCats’ most recent opponents, the Utah Warriors, who are currently on 98 games played. They will follow the peculiar pattern, playing their 100th game on the road against a MLR Founding Member, the Seattle Seawolves in Round 6 of the 2025 season!

A Pair of Half-Centuries!

For the 2nd week in a row a New England Free Jacks player has reached their 50th Major league Rugby Appearance! Last week, Captain Joe Johnston became the 5th player to reach 50 games played for New England and incidentally, Johnston scored his 10th try for New England over the weekend to become the 13th player to reach 10 tries scored for the Free Jacks. This week, prop Kaleb Geiger earned his 50th MLR cap over the weekend but unlike Johnston, these were not all for the Free Jacks.

A native of Colorado, Geiger is arguably the most successful product of the Colorado/American Raptors crossover program, having played football before turning to rugby. He began his MLR journey as a hooker with Rugby New York in 2021, earning his debut in 2022 when he scored 5 tries and started 7 of his 17 appearances as New York claimed their first and only MLR Shield. He continued to represent New York until the Ironworkers withdrew from the competition in late 2023, at which point he joined the New England Free Jacks, appearing in 14 games as they claimed their 2nd of back-to-back Shields, making Geiger one of the few MLR players to have won Shields with multiple teams! Geiger has started 21 of his 50 MLR appearances to date, scoring 7 tries , completing 405 tackles and making over 1,250m!

Also earning their 50th Major league Rugby appearance over the weekend was test capped Canadian centre, Spencer Jones! Born in Canada but raised in New Zealand, Jones began his MLR career with the Toronto Arrows, signing with the Canadian team ahead of their inaugural MLR season in 2019 and playing there for 4 seasons. He earned 32 appearances for the Arrows, starting 27 times and scoring 3 tries and 26pts before moving to the New England Free Jacks for the 2023 season, where he started 6 of his 13 games to help the Free Jacks to their first MLR Shield title. Following a season in Quincy, Jones was traded to the Utah Warriors, where he earned 2 starts in the 2024 season before suffering a season-ending injury. He returned for the Warriors in 2025, starting all 3 of their games so far this season. In his career, Spencer Jones as started 38 of his 50 MLR appearances, scoring 6 tries and 41pts in total! He passed 2,000m made in his MLR career over the weekend, now sitting at 2,015m made and 387 tackles completed!

Source: @utahwarriorsrugby via Instagram. While it is definitely Jones’ 50th MLR appearance, the numbers listed in the above post are largely incorrect.

Wrapping up

The Houston SaberCats reach a Century of games played, and two MLR Champions play in their 50th games! A shorter than usual article for this 4th edition of Midweek Milestones, but when you’re dealing with numbers, sometimes that’s bound to happen! Thanks very much for taking the time to read this article, and be sure to check back next week for Midweek Milestones from Round 5 of the 2025 Major League Rugby season!

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

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

Midweek Milestones: Standout Stats from Round 3 of MLR2025!

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The 2025 Major League Rugby Season is flying, and we’re already three rounds into the new season with plenty to discuss! This article will highlight milestones and achievements from Round 3 that may have otherwise gone unnoticed, while also covering some of the larger milestones from the latest round of MLR action.

Midweek Milestones is a weekly series of articles that aims to highlight milestones achieved by players and/or teams that may go under the radar otherwise, but are no less worthy of recognition and praise. This series of articles will be released midweek (clue is in the name…) each week, and will take milestones from the latest round of MLR matches during the 2025 season.

7th Time’s the Charm!

The Utah Warriors continued their early season form with a convincing 55-21 victory over the NOLA Gold in a cross-conference clash to celebrate their 2025 home opener at Zion’s Bank Stadium on Saturday, marking the Warriors’ first ever victory over the Gold on the 7th attempt!

Entering this game with a 0-6 record against NOLA and a -49 Points Difference, the game remained close until around the 50 minute mark when the Warriors stepped on the gas, scoring 5 second half tries and 8 in total to blow the visitors away. Their 55pts from this game, added to the 45pts scored by Utah in their first game in Round 2, put them on 100pts scored in 2025 in just two games. This equals a MLR record for the fastest team to reach 100pts scored in a season, first achieved by the Austin Gilgronis in 2022 (43-7 & 57-12, also 100pts in their first two games)!

To put the icing on the cake, three of the Utah Warriors’ tries were scored by Joe Mano, earning his 2nd career MLR hat trick to become just the 4th player in League history to score multiple hat tricks in the competition, and the first Utah Warrior! This takes Mano’s career try total to 30, becoming just the 7th player in history to reach 30 tries scored in Major League Rugby! Congratulations, Joe!

Miami Reach 50 Meat Pies!

The Miami Sharks secured back to back wins (just!) to put them atop the Eastern Conference following a bruising game against Anthem RC on Friday night, with the USA’s Rising Stars coming closer than ever to their first win. Despite efforts to make it interesting at the end in classic Sharks fashion, Miami edged a 31-32 victory on the road, picking up 4 tries and a bonus point for their considerable efforts.

Of these four Miami tries, the third was scored by Ben Bonasso which on it’s own is simply a try in a close game. However, this try marked the 50th in Franchise history for the Sharks! They proceeded to add a 51st try from Tomas Bekerman to secure the Try Bonus Point late in the game, but the milestone try belongs to Ben Bonasso and the Sharks franchise, congratulations!

‘The Mechanic’ Hits a Half-Century

A strong runner and a formidable tackler, Joe ‘The Mechanic’ Johnston is playing in his 4th Major League Rugby Campaign in 2025 and, on Sunday reached 50 games played in the competition! Johnston has represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career, joining ahead of the 2021 season and playing with New England through their first Championship victory in 2023. He returned to his native New Zealand for 2024 in order to finish his studies but returned to Quincy this season, much to the delight of fans.

In each of his MLR seasons so far (not including 2025), Johnston has made over 500m in possession and completed well over 150 tackles, finishing in the Top 10 MLR tacklers twice (2021 & 2022), and achieving personal bests in both categories in 2022 (592m and 220 tackles). As of this article he has 1,739m made and 622 tackles completed (#24 all time). Johnston has started 39 of his 50 appearances in MLR (78%) and scored 8 MLR tries to date, and has been serving as the New England Captain for their 2025 season, where he was named as the Free Jacks’ Player of the Match on his 50th appearance. Congratulations, Joe!

Source: @NEFreeJacks via Instagram

The Legion pass 3,000!

The San Diego Legion continued their impressive start to the season with a bonus point victory on the road against Old Glory DC, with the 10-26 storyline perhaps flattering the visitors, as a frigid Maryland Saturday made for a low scoring, stop-start game. The San Diego Legion only managed 243m gained in total (compared to Old Glory’s 396m), setting a new MLR record for the lowest meters gained total in a winning effort, surpassing the previous record of 274m set by the Houston SaberCats in Round 4 of 2021!

Christian Poidevin’s 2nd try of the 2025 season secured the try bonus point for the Legion in the final few minutes, marking his 12th career MLR try. This try also pushed the San Diego Legion over the 3,000pts scored milestone as a franchise, becoming just the 2nd MLR team to pass the 3k mark after the Seattle Seawolves back in Round 1 (read more on that here)! The Legion now sit on 3,004 points scored, just behind their rivals the Seawolves, on 3,037.

Struggles in Seattle

On the topic of the Seattle Seawolves, their uncharacteristic start to the 2025 season looks to have gone from bad to worse following a narrow 21-24 defeat to the Houston SaberCats, falling to 0-2 on the season. As mentioned in a previous NARDB Article analyzing the increase in cards in recent MLR seasons, the Seattle Seawolves had never received a red card coming into the 2025 season. Unfortunately, that changed in dramatic fashion on Saturday evening.

In the 71st minute, while still holding a 17-21 lead, Pago Haini was showed a straight red card, becoming the first Seawolves player to ever receive a red card. An unenviable record that I’m sure Haini would rather forget. Houston would score to take the lead shortly after, before Juice Gumede was also shown a second straight red card in the 76th minute to reduce Seattle to 13 men for the final few minutes! The Seawolves had gone over 100 MLR games without seeing a red card, and suddenly two come along at once! Seattle will likely be without Haini or Gumede for the next few weeks, depending on their suspensions.

Sadly for Seawolves fans, that wasn’t quite all the bad news. They only managed 213m made in this game compared to Houston’s 387m made. This is the 2nd lowest carrying meters total in MLR history, only just ahead of the 202m made (also by the Seattle Seawolves) in Round 13 of the 2022 season against the Austin Gilgronis.

Source: @SeawolvesRugby via Twitter/X

It wasn’t quite entirely doom and gloom for the Seattle Seawolves, however. If any fans are looking for something to celebrate from this game, they did take a losing bonus point from this game and prevent the Houston SaberCats (their Western Conference rivals) from taking a try bonus point from this game.
On top of this, Seawolves’ South African hooker Kerron van Vuuren made his MLR debut for Seattle, becoming the 150th player to represent the team in an MLR game. van Vuuren scored a try on debut to cap off a milestone game for both him and the team, even if the result didn’t go the way they hoped.

In Conclusion

A first for the Utah Warriors, the San Diego Legion reach 3k, the Miami Sharks pass 50 tries scored, and more! That’s all for the 3rd edition of Midweek Milestones from Round 3 of Major League Rugby’s 2025 season.

If you like this series, please let me know on social media and share this article to help highlight these achievements! If there’s 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!

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

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 20-26, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Welcome back to NARDB’s weekly Major League Rugby Off-Season Player Movement Summary Series. On a weekly basis, this series dives deeper into every single roster move announced by teams during the MLR Off-Season. This particular article covers the moves from January 20th to 26th, 2025.

Pre-Season camps are in full swing for all 11 MLR teams, with under 3 weeks to go until the 2025 season kicks off on February 15th. This didn’t stop one team from dominating last week’s summary. It seems hard to believe that the team hadn’t finalised these deals months ago, but maybe they forgot the announcements, and only remembered when these players reported. As always, this article will start with the summary graphic, before diving into the re-signings:

Summary of Player Movement Around MLR: January 20-26, 2025 (1 of 1)

Re-Signings

Last week’s busiest team was easily the Utah Warriors. Warriors fans seem to have largely recovered from the early off-season announcement of 17 departing players, and are looking forward to see the team take a step forward in 2025. The return of the team’s all-time top scorer and former captain, Joel Hodgson, will make taking that step forward significantly easier. The English ex-Newcastle Falcons Fly-half has appeared in all 32 games the Warriors have played since 2023, starting all but 1 of them. He finished 3rd in MLR scoring last season with 111pts in 16 games (15 starts) and a 65% success rate from the tee. After only 2 seasons in MLR, Hodgson already sits 12th all-time in terms of scoring with 233pts, and will no doubt be looking to break into the Top 10 in 2025.

Trade Targets

Along with announcing the return of their franchise points scorer, the Utah Warriors started the week with a Western Conference Trade with the San Diego Legion. The Legion acquired wing/center Alesana Pohla from the Utah Warriors in exchange for 2025 Cap Space. Unfortunately, as with all MLR trades the exact amount of Cap Space that the Utah Warriors received in this deal isn’t publically known, nor is the Salary Cap itself. Maybe one day. Alesana Pohla made his MLR debut for the Warriors in 2024, and started two of his 6 MLR games that season, amassing just shy of 200m gained in possession. He does not qualify as a domestic player just yet, so this may limit his game time with the Legion, but he certainly proved an effective runner with the Warriors last season.

Source: MLR Trade Wire

New Faces

The Utah Warriors were going for the full set last week. In addition to a re-signing and a trade, they also announced the addition of a pair of new players, one of which is a familiar name to MLR fans, and one will be enjoying his debut MLR season in 2025. The familiar name, especially for Dallas Jackals fans, is Ronnie McElligott. The Californian back row was drafted 32nd overall out of St. Mary’s College in 2023 by the Dallas Jackals, and earned 7 MLR appearances off the bench during his debut MLR season. McElligott was not selected in the Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft shortly after their withdrawal from MLR, but the Warriors sign the former SMC Gael for his sophomore season in the league. The new face who will enjoy his debut MLR season in 2025 is Amulone ‘Lone’ Ika. Born in Utah so will count as a domestic player, Ika was raised in Tonga where he represented the Tonga U20s in 2014. He has had two stints in the Australian Shute Shield with the Western Sydney Two Blues, and in between, was coaching and playing in Utah. Ika is currently serving as assistant coach for the Utah Valley University rugby side.

There was another new face confirmed to be joining MLR for 2025, but this one is not without it’s share of controversy. The Houston SaberCats announced the signing of capped Scotland winger Rufus McLean for their 2025 campaign. The 24yo winger has earned 3 caps for Scotland, and scored a pair of tries on his test debut against Tonga in October 2021 after coming up through the Glasgow Warriors system. McLean’s contract with the Glasgow Warriors was terminated in 2023 however, and here is where the controversy comes in. That same year, McLean admitted, and was convicted of, domestic abuse against his girlfriend, for which he was issued a 10-year non-harassment order and sentenced to 120 hours of community service. Since then, Scotland, the Glasgow Warriors, and all other European clubs have steered clear of the once-promising winger. Usually this would (and should) kill a career, but McLean has the benefit of having been born in Boston, keeping the door open to play in the United States. The American Raptors announced the signing of McLean for their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season, in a move that was met with a poor reception. Since the Raptors are not playing professional rugby in 2025, McLean turned his attention to MLR, where the Houston SaberCats have picked him up. Concerningly for ‘Cats fans, they have a history of signing controversial figures. Former LSU football player Drake Davis represented them in 2024, and Jeremy Misailegalu has played for them for the past two seasons (although Missile’s controversy is a different situation that merits a second chance). It is the view of NARDB that a player with a recent history like Rufus McLean should not be given the opportunity to play professional sports considering what we know, but everyone deserves a second chance. The question that MLR fans should be asking the SaberCats (and for that matter, the Raptors before them), is: What has McLean done to prove that he is worthy of a second chance, other than being born in the USA?

Departures

Among the Utah Warriors’ busy week was a departure that likely went under the radar for many MLR fans, perhaps even among a large chunk of Old Glory DC fans, who may not even know the player in question, despite playing with the team in 2024. Kevin Brou is a US-eligble front row from the Ivory Coast who was signed by the Flags for their 2024 Campaign, but suffered a broken leg in the pre-season and was sidelined for the entire year. FCY, in the French 6th tier the Fédérale 2, announced the signing of Brou for their 2024/25 season way back in September, but thanks to Bryan Ray on Twitter, MLR audiences are learning about this move now. Marking an end to Brou’s unfortunate stint in MLR, at least for now.

Anthem RC Finally Break the Silence

After what feels like months of MLR’s newest team, Anthem RC, being the only team not announcing players for their 2025 season, the MLR, USA Rugby and World Rugby partnership team finally unveiled their full 37 man roster on January 21st. This is two whole weeks into pre-season camp. The team has been publishing numerous images from training sessions, but as they had made no effort to market any of their players, fans had little to no clue who was in said pictures. As mentioned, Anthem RC is a partnership between MLR, USA Rugby, and World Rugby to usher in the next era of USA Eagles ahead of their home (mens) Rugby World Cup in 2031, and as such their primary goal may not be to make a profit as it might be for other teams around the league (NARDB is aware that as of the date this article was published, no team is making a profit), but if these players are on the shortlist to represent the National Team, then market them. A few days before the team announced the roster, they announced that Patrick Stack has been appointed the first team president, with the mission of ‘focusing on revenue generation’ among other things, so hopefully this changes. To not announce a single player before the third week of pre-season camp is ridiculous. Rosters should be finalised and made public prior to January 1st.

To finally get to the Anthem RC roster itself, it was largely as expected. Despite the paragraph above, it’s still the MLR and as we know, MLR has more leaks than a sieve. There are a few notable departures from their 2024 roster, such as top try scorer and MLR veteran Te Rangatira Waitokia, 2023 San Diego Legion draftee Tyren Al-Jiboori, and USA Sevens star David Still, but the team added lots of young talent as well as a number of USA Eagles with significant MLR experience in the likes of Mitch Wilson, Conner Mooneyham, and Sam Golla, as well as five of their six 2024 draftees. They picked up a number of players from the Dallas Jackals when they withdrew from MLR, as well as the Jackals Head Coach Agustin Cavalieri, who is serving as Anthem RC Assistant Coach in 2025. While it’s unlikely that Anthem will challenge for the Shield in 2024, they’re primed to take a big step in the right direction, and the key question is: How long before their first MLR victory?

In Conclusion

Judging from the previous few weeks, it is likely that we can expect a few more announcements out of the Utah Warriors, but as we move into February the moves will get fewer and further between, apart from perhaps the odd last minute trade. These weekly articles will continue as long as there are moves to discuss, but NARDB will be shifting it’s focus to pre-season preparation which will include fact files on each MLR team in the coming days.

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 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 23-29, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The last full week of 2024 is behind us and the holidays created quite the lull around Major League Rugby. Every Monday, this series of articles from NARDB will summarise all the moves around MLR from the previous week and add a bit of detail to each move. This particular article covers the moves over the week of Christmas 2024, from December 23rd to December 29th. During that period, six teams made roster announcements and 21 players were involved in total.

Following the 3-pager just before Christmas, all of last week’s moves can be summarised on just one page. Although much quieter than the weeks before it, the trend stayed the same with 18 re-signings across four teams, with 13 of those shared between just two teams, the NOLA Gold and Old Glory DC. As always, the first (and in this case, only) page of the summary graphic is just below, and we’ll start with the re-signings. These made up the vast majority of last week’s moves:

MLR Player Moves Summary: December 23-29, 2024 (1 of 1)

Re-Signings

As with the week before, we begin with the NOLA Gold. The Gold continue to announce their returnees in batches based on position, and last week announced seven returnees. This includes their returning centres, hookers, and locks. Beginning in the back line, MLR veterans Ross Depperschmidt and JP du Plessis return for their 7th & 8th seasons in MLR, respectively. Depperschmidt has played all 7 seasons with the Gold, scoring 5 tries in his 46 games (26 starts) to date. He earned 9 starts in 15 games in 2024, completing 68 tackles. The Texan has set career highs in appearances, starts, and tackles made in every season since 2020. 2019 MLR runner-up JP du Plessis returns for his 5th season with NOLA after playing with the San Diego Legion from 2018-20. His 84 MLR appearances put him tied for 6th all-time with Holden Yungert and he currently leads the entire league in all-time meters gained, on 5,849m. Du Plessis signed a 3yr contract with the Gold in October 2023, and returns for the 2nd season of that deal in 2025.

Moving to the heavies, Ale Lopeti returns at hooker along with another veteran, Pat O’Toole. Lopeti earned 14 of his 24 appearances in 2024, completing 88 tackles and scoring 2 tries as the Gold’s go-to back-up. Entering his 7th MLR season in 2025, O’Toole has played for the Gold since 2021, making 49 of his 69 career appearances and scoring 15 of his 18 MLR tries including a high of 7 in 2021. O’Toole has over 500 tackles completed in his career and is closing in on 2000m gained. More veterans return to the Gold in the second row, in Will Waguespack and Cam Dolan. Waguespack is back for an 8th season with the Gold, earning 20 starts in his 46 appearances for NOLA, 11 of which were in 2024 where he scored his first career MLR try and completed a career high 68 tackles. Cam Dolan should be a name familiar to fans outside of the NOLA Gold. The capped USA Eagle has over 600 tackles in his 75 games (71 starts) since 2018, and has scored 15 tries and ran for almost 2,500m gained in possession. He returns for a 7th season with the Gold having represented the San Diego Legion in 2018 alongside JP du Plessis. Like du Plessis, Dolan signed a 3yr deal with NOLA in October 2023 and returns for the 2nd year of that contract in 2025.

Moving away from the Big Easy but staying in the Eastern Conference in the nation’s capital, Old Glory DC wrapped up their ’24 days of re-signings’ with the return of a bunch of household names for DC fans. Back rows and tackle machines Lautaro Bavaro and Cory Daniel return for their 3rd and 4th seasons with the Flags respectively. Argentinian Bavaro has over 350 tackles completed in just 33 games (all starts) since 2023, averaging 178 a season and 11 a game. Bavaro’s tackle total is very impressive, but is dwarfed when put next to Cory Daniel’s. The former wrestler is a 2x MLR Top Tackler with 255 in 2022 and an MLR record 276 in 2024. His total sits on 651 tackles in 42 games (37 starts). More than just a tackle juggernaut, Daniel has 12 career tries and over 1,150m gained in his career. A worry for DC fans, however, is that Daniel has historically alternated between an excellent season and an injury plagued season throughout his career (59 tackles in 8 games, then 255 in 15, then 61 in 4, then 276 in 15). Both he and the Flags will be hoping for consistency in 2025. Also returning in the Old Glory back row is Captain Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, for a 6th season with the team and 7th in MLR. ‘JFS’ passed 3,000m gained in his career in 2024, adding 91 tackles and two tries to take his totals to 588 tackles and 12 tries. With the exception of the shortened 2020 season, JFS is a lock for around 500m gained and 2-3 tries, and his career high of 187 tackles in 2023 proves he can perform on the defensive side as well. Moving from the back row to the front, Old Glory DC’s most capped player is back for a 6th season in the district. Jack Iscaro has 60 MLR appearances since 2020 (43 starts), all with the Flags. He’s averaging 153 tackles a season over the past 3 years, relatively high for a prop.

The DC backline saw some reinforcements confirmed last week, as well. Former San Diego Legion and American Raptors scrumhalf Ethan McVeigh is back for a second season with DC after earning 9 starts and 15 appearances in 2024, part of a solid tandem with Connor Buckley, who’s return has already been confirmed. Finally for the Flags, dual test capped centre Tommaso Boni returns for his 2nd season in DC after the dual Italy and (most recently) USA capped man gained 780m in 13 games in 2024, completing 99 tackles.

Heading over to the Western Conference, the Utah Warriors continue announcing their familiar faces with 4 returnees of their own including a trio for their pack. Canadian hooker Tyler Wong is back after adding 3 appearances from the bench in 2024 to his 5 games (3 starts) for the Toronto Arrows in 2023. Wong will be competing for game time with Australian Phil Bradford. The Warriors’ go-to back up hooker is also back for a second season at Zion’s Bank after scoring 3 tries in 12 games (3 starts) in 2024. Back row Miah Noaese returns for a 3rd season in Utah following a 2024 where he spent much of the time on the sidelines. The Washington-state native has 9 appearances to date and will be hoping to stay healthy in 2025. Speaking of injury, Canadian international Spencer Jones returns for his 6th MLR season and second with the Warriors after spending much of 2024 injured. Jones still scored a try in his 2 games, starting both, and the 2023 MLR Champion will be hoping for a return to form in 2025.

Wrapping up the re-signings portion of this summary, Rugby FC LA announced the return of another Canadian 2023 MLR Champion, Reegan O’Gorman. The 6’6 lock has 22 starts in 38 MLR games since 2021, earning half of those starts for RFCLA in 2024 when he set a career high 108 tackles completed, hitting triple figures for the first time.

Intra-League Signings

Hidden among last weeks’ flurry of re-signings were a pair of intra-league moves that saw players stay within Major League Rugby, but head to a different team. The New England Free Jacks will be without Zach Bastres in 2025, as their 34th overall pick from 2021 signed with the Miami Sharks for 2025. The University of Northern Colorado alum earned 5 starts in 13 appearances across 3 seasons with the Free Jacks, helping them to back-to-back Shields. Chances of more consistent game time was likely a contributing factor in Bastres‘ decision to leave New England.

Last week’s other intra-league move saw former Old Glory DC and Houston SaberCats front row Will Vakalahi sign with the Chicago Hounds, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. The Indiana native began playing in MLR with Old Glory DC in 2020, before missing the entire 2021 season due to an injury sustained in pre-season. He fought his way back and earned 6 appearances for Old Glory DC in 2022 before heading to play with the Houston SaberCats academy in the 2022 American Rugby Premiership season. His performances with Rugby HTX earning him a shot with the SaberCats, where he earned 3 further MLR appearances in 2023 before moving closer to home and joining the Chicago Hounds academy, where he played in 2024. Although classed as an intra-league move, this is a promotion for Vakalahi from the Hounds academy side to their MLR squad.

Retirements

Wrapping up a relatively quiet week with a single retirement, as 4-season MLR-er Danny Christensen hangs up his boots. Christensen finishes with 34 appearances between the Utah Warriors (2021-22), Dallas Jackals (2023), and San Diego Legion (2024), scoring 6 tries including a hat trick for the Warriors in 2022. A fan favourite throughout his time in the league, Christensen’s stat line can be found below, and NARDB congratulates him on a fantastic career. Best of luck in your next chapter, Danny!

Major League Rugby

SeasonTeamGPGSTCPACDGMGTacklesKS/KAPts
MLR 2021Warriors41200007811010
MLR 2022Warriors1253002021447019
MLR 2023Jackals122100102533807
MLR 2024Legion62000001161300
Total-341060030661109036

Stay in Touch

That does it for a calmer holiday week around Major League Rugby. With training camps opening in just a few short weeks, we are yet to hear anything from Anthem RC in terms of players or a roster. Expect the World Rugby/USA Rugby/Major League Rugby partnership team to announce their roster all at once in the coming days. This takes the shine out of it and makes it harder for fans to get to know individual players. There is no downside to advertising your 2025 team through the off-season, but this is the way that Anthem have decided to do it. Their social media has barely been active this off-season, so here’s hoping it jumps into life soon.

To stay up to date on all the news and announcements as they happen, be sure to follow NARDB and James on social media. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @NARugbyDB or @JamDelay on Twitter/X, and @NARDB or @JamDelay on Bluesky. Check back next Monday for the summary of this week’s roster announcements!

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 16-22, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

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

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

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

Re-Signings

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

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

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

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

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

New to MLR

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

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

New Draftees Confirmed

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

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

Intra-League Moves and Retirements

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

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

In Conclusion

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

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