background & History

The Utah Warriors are a founding member of Major League Rugby, founded in 2017 by Rugby Utah Ventures with Kimball Kjar as CEO. Rugby Utah Ventures resurrected the name ‘Utah Warriors’ from an early 2010s entity that competed in Rugby Super League and folded in 2012. The Utah Warriors have competed in every season of Major League Rugby to date, 7 seasons in total.

The Utah Warriors struggled during their first seasons in MLR, only winning 7 games and drawing 3 (losing 17) through their first 3 seasons from 2018-2020 despite qualifying for the post-season in their first season in 2018, albeit with a 3-5 record. Since 2020 the Warriors have been an on/off team, recording two 10-6 seasons sandwiching a 5-11 season in 2022. The Warriors have reached the postseason on two occasions (2018, 2021), but have yet to win a Championship Series game in 2 attempts. In 2023, the Warriors recorded their second 10-0-6 season as mentioned above, and ended the regular season with 50pts which was only good enough for 4^th in the brutal 2023 Western Conference. Had the Warriors been in the Eastern Conference, a 50pt season would’ve put them in 2^nd place and easily through to the playoffs.

The Warriors put an emphasis on player development and home-grown talent and will often draft native Utah players or players from Utah universities. They have a robust pathway system and hosted a number of pathway/combine events every year including the Collegiate Rugby Shield and the Crossroads Cup that served as a talent ID camp prior to the MLR Collegiate Draft each year. this was replaced by MLR Rising ahead of the 2024 draft.

In January 2023, the Utah Warriors announced a partnership with French Top 14 club Stade Toulousain dubbed ‘The Rugby Alliance’. The first big manifestation of this partnership took place in September 2023 when Stade Toulousain faced a non-cap USA Eagles side at America First Field in Sandy, UT. The USA Eagles emerged 24-21 victors. The Warriors would host a game at America First Field themselves in 2024, their final game of that season saw over 10,000 fans attend their game against Rugby FC LA, a 24-31 loss that rounded out a difficult season for the Utah Warriors, struggling to start games on time and regularly finding themselves down by large margins early. The Warriors finished outside a playoffs spot, 5th in the Western Conference with a 5-11 record, just 3pts ahead of LA at the bottom of the West despite some incredible standout players in 2024 such as Frank Lochore, Dylan Nel, and most notably, joint-MLR leading try scorer in 2024, Michael Manson.

---

Records & Record Holders

All Time

Top Scorer: Joel Hodgson (233pts)
Top Try Scorer: Joe Mano (25)
Top Playoff Scorer: Sama Malolo (7)
Top Tackler: Lance Williams (790)
Top Meter Eater: Caleb Makene (3,329m)
Most Capped Player: Angus MacLellan (92)
Most Starts: Lance Williams (67)

Single Season

Top Scorer: Tim O’Malley (134pts) – 2019
Top Try Scorer: Joe Mano (14) – 2023
Top Tackler: Frank Lochore (221) – 2024
Top Meter Eater: Mikey Te’o (1,518m) – 2021

Historical performance

2018: 3-0-5 (-5) – 22pts: 4^th (Semi-Finalist)
2019: 2-2-12 (-136) – 21pts: 8th
2020: 2-1-2 (-9) – 12pts: 2^nd in Western Conference
2021: 10-0-6 (+42) – 57pts: 2^nd in Western Conference (Conference Runner-Up)
2022: 5-0-11 (+29) – 33pts: 6^th in Western Conference
2023: 10-0-6 (+24) – 50pts: 4^th in Western Conference
2024: 5-0-11 (-47) – 35pts: 5th in Western Conference

Overall Regular Season Record: 37-3-53
Overall Championship Series Record: 0-2
Championship Series Appearances: 2 (2018, 2021)

head coach & Captain

head coach

• Alf Daniels (2018-2019)
• Chris Latham (2020)
• Shawn Pittman (2021-2022)
• Greg Cooper (2022 – Present)

captain

• Paul Lasike (2018)
• Tim O’Malley (2019)
• Dwayne Polataivao (2020)
• Bailey Wilson (2021-2023)
• Joel Hodgson (2024)

---

logo & Jersey

The Warriors unveiled a unique logo & emblem for the 2022 season, marking the 5th anniversary of the club (see left)

The Warriors logo has barely changed through the team’s time in Major League Rugby. It depicts the painted face of a warrior in front of a horizontal rugby ball. The Warriors have traditionally played in a black home kit with red accents, and the reverse for their away, occasionally incorporating a white or grey away kit. Every Utah Warriors jersey has featured 4 stripes, representing community, family, tradition, and respect. The Warriors have also honoured the State’s Pacific Islander population, as the Warriors play in white and light blue for the first time.

venue

Unusually for an MLR team, the Utah Warriors have played their home games out of Zions Bank Stadium for their entire history through the 2024 season. Zions Bank Stadium is a 5,000 seater artificial turf Stadium in Herriman, south of Salt Lake City, and also hosts the Collegiate Rugby Shield and Crossroads Cup competitions as mentioned above. They have played a game at America First Field in Sandy, UT, but this was a one-off to accommodate ‘WarriorsFest’, an end-of-season send off in 2024 that saw over 10,000 attend.

---