The Inaugural Women’s Elite Rugby season concludes with the first ever Legacy Cup Match between the Denver Onyx and the New York Exiles at TCO Stadium in Minnesota!
The #1 seeded Denver Onyx enter this game on the back of a phenomenal 9-1 regular season, earning 46 of a maximum 50pts in the standings with a huge points differential of +367. Their only loss of the season came against the New York Exiles, their opponents in this game. The Exiles scraped into the Legacy Cup by a single point, recording 33pts and a 6-4 record with a points difference of -3. These teams have met twice in the past, splitting the 2025 regular season series 1-1. Now meeting for a 3rd time on neutral ground, who will be crowned as Women’s Elite Rugby Legacy Cup Champions?
The New York Exiles came out firing, and opened the scoring through a Misha Green-Yotts try 12 minutes in, converted by Jetta Owens. Aly Cunningham added a penalty 5 minutes later and the Exiles took a 0-10 lead early on. The Onyx shook this off and hit back through a Kapoina Bailey try just before the first hydration break, and Carly Waters added a second just after, to erase the deficit and take a 14-10 lead. Both sides settled into the game, and Cunningham added another 3pts for New York to reduce the Onyx lead to just 1pt. A few minutes later however, Onyx Winger Nana Fa’avesi decided that the fun was over. She scored in the 37th minute and again right before half time to give Denver a commanding 24-13 lead at the break.
Unfortunately for the Exiles, the Denver Onyx started the second half just as they finished the first. Tries in the 45th and 48th minutes took the score to 38-13 and seemed to shatter the morale of the Exiles side. Just as they had done almost all season, the Onyx showed little mercy, adding another score in the 58th minute and despite already being up by 32pts they showed no mercy, adding an 8th try in the 83rd minute to cement a dominant 53-13 victory and claiming the first Legacy Cup title!