The New England Free Jacks host the Chicago Hounds in the 2024 Eastern Conference Final at Veteran’s Memorial stadium in Quincy, MA.

The Free Jacks defeated Old Glory DC 33-29 in a growing rivalry to advance to the ECF, while the Chicago Hounds defeated the NOLA Gold 21-45 on the road in Louisiana in both teams’ first ever playoff game.

The game started with both teams trying to gain field position and the upper hand and both sides gave away plenty of penalties early on, but neither chose to go for points. Free Jacks’ prop John-Roy Jenkinson lasted only 13 minutes before injury sidelined him so Cole Keith would have to play almost 70 minutes in the front row. The first score of the game came after 20 minutes as Paula Balekana received a floated pass over the top and managed to offload to Reece MacDonald before going into touch for an easy finish, and the hosts were on the board. Potroz could add the two but would get another chance soon enough as MacDonald scythed through the Hounds defence to bag his 2nd in 3 minutes, but Potroz failed to add the extras again, so the Free Jacks lead was 10-0 after 23 minutes. It looked as though the score would stay that way into the half as both sides settled back in to the back and forth that defined the early game, but Nate Augspurger was able to grab one for the visitors on the stroke of half time, and Luke Carty added the two to cut the deficit to only 3pts at the break.

Potroz must’ve found his kicking boots during half-time, because he added 3 early in the 2nd half to extend the Free Jacks’ lead, but they would go down to 14 men following a yellow card to Conor Keys and Luke Carty stepped up to cancel out Potroz’s kick. The Hounds were unable to capitalise on the man advantage however, and Potroz would slot another 3 just before the 60min break. With just under 15 minutes to go, Dylan Fawsitt grabbed the ball at the back of a Chicago maul, and his patented try-scoring method didn’t let them down. His 14th of the season brought the visitors within 1 before Carty added the two to give the Hounds their first lead of the game. This was short-lived however, as 5 minutes later the Free Jacks struck back through their own hooker, as Andrew Quattrin grabbed his 8th of the year to swing the lead back to the hosts before Potroz added the two.

The Chicago Hounds were unable to break the Free Jacks defence in the final 7 minutes and the 23-17 score was how things ended. The Chicago Hounds’ 2024 season comes to an end after a heroic performance against the reigning Champions, who head back to the MLR Final for the 2nd year in a row with a chance to win back-to-back shields.

Following the International break, the MLR Playoffs get underway with the reigning champion New England Free Jacks (#1) hosting Old Glory DC (#4) at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium for a spot in the Conference Final.

The hosts may have had their 2024 home record in the back of their heads as they entered this one, with 3 of their losses coming at the usually impenetrable Fort Quincy, including one to Old Glory DC early in the season. The Free Jacks however, opened the scoring through a Reece MacDonald score in open play to grab an early 7-0 lead, before Connor Buckley ran a great support line to level things up just minutes later. Jayson potroz would add a penalty to give New England back the lead before Buckley would strike again to shift the lead over to the Flags, before the two sides traded penalty for try once more, with DC captain Jama Fa’anana-Schultz diving over the ruck to tocuh down for Old Glory’s 3rd of the game and give the visitors a 13-21 lead after Jason Robertson added the two. The two sides settled into a back and forth without shifting the scoreboard, and it looked as though DC would take that lead into the sheds for the half time break, but the Free Jacks had other ideas. A 36th minute try from Jed Melvin cut the gap, before Potroz added another 3 followed by Oscar Lennon scoring his first MLR try with the clock inthe red for half-time, to give the hosts a 30-21 lead and shellshock Old Glory DC with 17pts scored in the final 5 or so minutes of the first half.

A high-scoring first half led to a low scoring second, with a real battle for the first 15minutes of the half was finally broken by Connor Buckley’s 3rd try of the game, to cut the gap to 4pts after a missed conversion. With this score, Buckley becomes the first player in MLR history to record a hat trick in a Playoff game! Minutes later, Potroz added another 3pts to extend the lead to 7pts, before a 66th minute penalty to DC where they opted for the posts rather than the corner, taking the score to 33-29 with just under 15minutes to play. These final 15 minutes proved a defensive masterclass from the Free Jacks, pinning DC deep in their own end and giving them no real opportunity to gain ground and get into scoring range. Another nail-biting game in this growing rivalry ends 33-29 in favour of the reigning champion New England Free Jacks.

The Free Jacks advance to the Eastern Conference Final where they will face the winner of NOLA Gold v Chicago Hounds, while DC’s season comes to an end in Quincy once again, and they head to the off-season.

The New England Free Jacks wrap up their 2024 regualr season by hosting Anthem RC at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium, who they also played in their first game of the season.

The hosts emerged as comfortable 40-7 victors to secure the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 11-5, and will now face Old Glory DC in the MLR quaterfinals.

Anthem RC finish their 2024 season without a win, recording the 3rd 0-16 season in league history but recording the most point of any of those winless seasons. The hastily put together partnership between MLR, USA Rugby, and World Rugbywill now have a full off-season to prepare for their 2025 campaign, where they will look to build on some admirable performances and secure their first victory.