background & History

Anthem Rugby Carolina were founded in early 2024 and announced on January 19th, 2024, six weeks before the start of the 2024 MLR season, their first. The team came to be thanks to a partnership between Major League Rugby, USA Rugby, and World Rugby, the goal of which was to expand upon the USA Hawks Development Pathway and have a professional team made up of US talent to compete year in, year out at the highest level of rugby in North America. The long term goal of this team is to provide a clear pathway to the USA Eagles national team ahead of the Rugby World Cups in 2027 and, more importantly, 2031 on home soil.

The introduction of Anthem RC brought the number of teams competing in the 2024 season back to 12 (following the withdrawal of the Toronto Arrows and Rugby New York Ironworkers) and allowed the league to move back to a 2 conference system. MLR had released the 2024 schedule in mid December 2023, and had to re-launch a schedule on January 19th to accommodate Anthem’s introduction. Their inaugural season in MLR was tough. Due to having only a few weeks prep time before the 2024 season kicked-off, Anthem’s roster was made up of depth players from other teams. They recorded the 3rd winless season in MLR history that year, picking up 7pts total with a points difference of -353. Their sophomore year looked promising in the build up to the season. Acquisitions like Mitch Wilson and Toby Fricker from the Free Jacks, as well as Sam Golla and Makeen Alikhan from the folding Dallas Jackals excited fans and Anthem RC looked like they would pick up a win or two in the 2025 season. They started strong and picked up 5pts relatively quickly, culminating in a 45-46 defeat to the Houston SaberCats in Round 6. Unfortunately, this loss seemed to shatter their confidence, and they would not record any more points in the standings for the rest of the season. Anthem recorded their 2nd winless season in a row and set a new record for the longest losing streak in MLR history. Not an encouraging sign for a team that is meant to be developing the next generation of USA Eagles. Head Coach Alama Ieremia stepped back for the final few weeks of the season to focus on his work with the national team and was replaced by ex-Jackals boss Agustin Cavalieri. It is not clear if this change is permanent.

There was some questions raised regarding the International Player Spots for Anthem RC during the 2025 season. The other 10 teams in the league were permitted to trade down to a minimum of 8 international slots per matchday 23 on the season, while Anthem was initially permitted to trade down to 7. With fans having received no clarification from MLR, Anthem ended up trading away seven of their 10 international slots, leaving them with 3 per matchday 23 for the 2025 season. No clarification from the League has been released.

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records & Record Holders

All Time:

Top Scorer: Cliven Loubser (57pts)
Top Try Scorer: Te Rangatira Waitokia (7)
Most Appearances: Dan Hanson (31)
Most Starts: Junior Gafa (25)
Top Tackler: Jake Turnbull (260)
Top Meter Eater: Junior Gafa (1,501m)

Single Season:

Top Scorer: Cliven Loubser (51pts) – 2024
Top Try Scorer: Te Rangatira Waitokia (7) – 2024
Top Tackler: Sam Golla (187) – 2025
Top Meter Eater: Te Rangatira Waitokia (1,246m) – 2024

Historical Performance

2024: 0-16 (-353) – 7pts: 6th in Eastern Conference
2025: 0-16 (-288) – 5pts: 6th in Eastern Conference

Overall Regular Season Record: 0-0-32
Overall Championship Series Record: N/A
Championship Series Appearances: 0

Head coach & captain

Head Coach:

• Alama Ieremia (2024-2025)
• Agustín Cavalieri (2025)

Captain:

• Jake Turnbull (2024)

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logo

The style of Anthem RC’s ‘A’ logo is intended as a nod to the military history of the city, and the star is an homage to that. The cross of the A is also intended to symbolise a ‘rising star’, as the team is made up of many of the USA’s ‘rising stars’ in the game of Rugby.

Venue

Anthem RC play out of the American Legion Memorial Stadium, in Charlotte, NC. A 10,500 seater turf field owned by the City of Charlotte.

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