The 2026 Major League Rugby season was the ninth season of Major League Rugby (MLR), the professional rugby union competition sanctioned by USA Rugby. The regular season began on March 28, with the season being concluded on June 21 in the MLR Championship Final. The 2026 season featured six teams, a downsizing from the previous season, the lowest in the league's history.
For the second time, the MLR Championship Final was played at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.
Records, milestones, and notable statistics Preseason Major League Rugby and the United States Rugby Players Association (USRPA) signed the first-ever collective bargaining agreement in American rugby history. The Seattle Seawolves played the Stormers XXIII at Cape Town Stadium on March 22, the first international friendly match in the club's history. The Seawolves lost 45–14. Week 1 Anthem RC earns the first victory in franchise history, defeating the California Legion 39–26 and ending a 32-game losing streak. Week 2 Chicago flanker Maclean Jones becomes the first player with 50 appearances in franchise history. The California Legion pick up their first win in franchise history, defeating the reigning MLR Champion New England Free Jacks 43–5. The 38-point deficit is also the largest margin of defeat in Free Jacks' history. Jason Robertson (DC) scores 11 points to move to the fourth highest all-time scorer in MLR history, surpassing Sam Malcom. Davy Coetzer (SEA) scores 18 points to move to the fifth highest all-time scorer in MLR history, surpassing Sam Malcolm and Mack Mason. Week 3
Anthem RC defeats the Seattle Seawolves, 34–25, at American Legion Memorial Stadium, the first home victory in franchise history. Johan Momsen (ARC) becomes the third player in MLR history with 1,000 tackles completed in league play. In the first-ever broadcast of Sunday Night Rugby, the Chicago Hounds defeat the California Legion, 48–24. The Hounds move to 2–0–0 to start the season for the first time in franchise history. Joe Mano (CAL) becomes the fourth player in MLR history with 40 career tries scored. Week 4
Luke White (CHI) becomes the fifth player in MLR history to appear in 100 games. The game between Old Glory DC and Anthem RC featured an MLR-record five 1st Overall MLR Draft Picks: Conner Mooneyham (2020), Sam Golla (2022), Erich Storti (2024), and Will Sherman (2025) for Anthem, and Rick Rose (2023) for DC. The previous record of four was set in 2025 between Anthem RC and the Miami Sharks, and featured Mooneyham, Golla, Storti, and Rose. Davy Goetzer (SEA) scores 19 points, becoming the fourth player in MLR history to surpass 400 points scored. Week 5
The Chicago Hounds defeated the Seattle Seawolves 59–22, the first win over Seattle in franchise history. The Hounds also tied franchise records for points and tries (9) in a game, and set a new franchise record for largest margin of victory (37 points), while Seattle broke a franchise record for most points conceded in a game. Mark O'Keeffe (CHI) becomes the sixth player in MLR history to surpass 5,000 meters gained in a career. Christopher Hilsenbeck (CHI) becomes the highest-scoring player in franchise history with 137 career points for the Hounds. Emmanuel Albert (CHI) becomes the second MLR draftee to surpass 500 career tackles. Bailey Wilson (NE) becomes the fourth player in MLR history to surpass 800 career tackles. Week 6
The Seattle Seawolves win their 73rd game all-time, surpassing the San Diego Legion as the winningest club in MLR history. Riekert Hattingh (SEA) becomes the first forward to score a conversion kick in MLR history. Christopher Hilsenbeck (CHI) scores 17 points, tying the club's single-game scoring record. Jason Robertson (DC) scores 14 points to move to 412 career points, the fifth player to surpass 400 points scored. Week 7
The New England Free Jacks defeat the California Legion in the 100th match in Free Jacks' history. The Free Jacks are the first non-founding team in MLR history, and just the sixth overall, to reach the 100-game milestone. Riekert Hattingh (SEA) becomes the sixth player in MLR history to appear in 100 games, and the fourth to surpass 1,000 career tackles. The Chicago Hounds set a franchise record for points scored in a game in a 61–36 victory over Anthem RC. The combined 97 points also makes it the highest scoring game in both teams' histories, and the fourth highest scoring game in MLR history. Week 8
The Chicago Hounds win a franchise-record seventh straight game, clinching their third straight playoff berth. Week 9
Jake Turnbull (CHI) becomes the seventh player in MLR history to appear in 100 games. Tevita Naqali (DC) makes his 77th appearance for the Flags, surpassing Jack Iscaro for most appearances in franchise history. Jake Turnbull and Nathan Den Hoedt (CHI) both surpass 700 career tackles. Cory Daniel (DC) becomes the fifth player in MLR history to surpass 1,000 career tackles. Week 11
The Chicago Hounds become the first team in MLR history to finish the regular season with a perfect record, going 10-0-0 and finishing with 50 points, the maximum amount possible. The team also sets league records for points-per-game (46.1) and tries-per-game (6.9). Semi-Finals
The Chicago Hounds and California Legion advance to the MLR Championship Final for the first time in their franchises' histories. The California Legion and Seattle Seawolves score a combined 77 points, while the Chicago Hounds and Old Glory DC score a combined 81 points, the two highest scoring playoff games in MLR history. The Chicago Hounds set MLR records for points scored (59) and winning margin (37) in a playoff game. Duncan Matthews (SEA) becomes the seventh player in MLR history with 5,000 career meters gained. Coby Miln (CAL) sets a new MLR record for points scored in a playoff game (23). Championship Final
The Chicago Hounds win their first championship, defeating the California Legion, 35-17. The Hounds are the first team in MLR season to complete a perfect season. Lucas Rumball earned Man-of-the-Match honors. The 52-combined points scored makes the 2026 MRL Championship Final the highest-scoring championship game in league history.The Hounds set records for points scored in an MLR Championship Final (35), and total points scored in single postseason (94). Postseason
Jason Robertson (DC) wins the inaugural Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Format and competition In December 2025, Major League Rugby (MLR) announced the schedule for the upcoming 2026 season, which included major changes to the competition's format. At the time of the scheduled release, five MLR teams had folded (Houston SaberCats, Miami Sharks, New Orleans Gold, and Utah Warriors), while two other clubs (San Diego Legion, RFC Los Angeles) merged to create a new team known as California Legion. Subsequently six teams were still active in the MLR.
The new season format, as announced by the MLR, is a six-team competition, without any conference divisions: Each team plays ten regular-season games, facing every other team twice (home and away). The top four teams qualify for the playoffs; #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3 in the semi-finals.
Officiating Ahead of the 2026 season, MLR announced the introduction of the Referee Review System (RRS), replacing the television match official (TMO) with an In Stadium Replay Operator (ISRO) with the goal of enhancing real-time decision-making and ensuring consistency across matches. Under this system, the on-field referee can request assistance or a team may challenge a referee's decision, similar to replay review in other North American sports leagues. Teams will be allowed two challenges per game, and will retain a challenge if the call is successfully overturned.
In addition, unsuccessful challenges within the final five minutes of either half will result in the forfeiture of all remaining team challenges. A review may only be initiated within two phases of play of the incident, with the exception of violations of Law 9, which may be reviewed at any stage of the game. The game clock will be stopped during each review, and teams are unable to substitute during the review. After each match, the league will complete a post-match review to ensure compliance and track statistics from the RRS.
Teams and personnel Overview Team Stadia information Coach Captain Stadia Capacity Anthem RC American Legion Memorial Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina 10,500 Agustín Cavalieri Sam Golla California Legion The Great Park, Irvine, California 5,500 Stephen Hoiles Jason Damm Torero Stadium, San Diego, California 6,000 Wallis Annenberg Stadium, Los Angeles, California 3,000 St Mary's Stadium, Moraga, California 5,500 Heart Health Park, Sacramento, California 11,569 Chicago Hounds SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview, Illinois 20,000 Chris Latham Lucas Rumball New England Free Jacks Veterans Memorial Stadium, Quincy, Massachusetts 5,000 Ryan Martin Joe Johnston Old Glory DC George Mason Stadium, Fairfax, Virginia 5,000 Simon Cross Rob Harley Seattle Seawolves Starfire Stadium, Tukwila, Washington 4,500 Allen Clarke Riekert Hattingh
Locations
Regular season Standings
Notes
z – Clinched home field advantage for the entire playoffs c – Clinched home field advantage for the conference semi-finals x – Clinched playoff spot e – Eliminated from playoff contention
Round-by-round The table below shows each team's progression throughout the season. For each round, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets: Team progression Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 SF Final Anthem RC 5 5 10 10 11 12 12 12 13 13 California Legion 1 6 7 12 17 18 19 24 29 29 Chicago Hounds 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 New England Free Jacks 0 1 2 7 7 11 12 16 17 17 Old Glory DC 0 4 8 8 9 10 14 14 16 21 Seattle Seawolves 5 5 6 6 11 16 21 21 26 31 Key: Win Draw Loss Bye DNQ = Did not qualify
Matches
Fixtures Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Playoffs Bracket
Semi-finals
Championship Final
Player scoring
The top five try and point scorers during the 2026 Major League Rugby season are:
Last updated: June 24, 2026
Most tries No Player Team Tries 1 Theo FourieChicago Hounds11 2 Mason FleschChicago Hounds10 3 Paddy RyanSeattle Seawolves7 4 John RizzoOld Glory DC6 Sione TupouNew England Free Jacks
Most points No Player Team Pts1 Coby MilnCalifornia Legion1152 Christopher HilsenbeckChicago Hounds1043 Jason RobertsonOld Glory DC88 4 Davy CoetzerSeattle Seawolves83 5 Joel HodgsonNew England Free Jacks75
References:
Awards AwardPlayerTeamPositionRef.Coach of the YearChris LathamChicago HoundsN/APlayer of the Year Brock WebsterChicago HoundsFullbackRookie of the Year Campbell RobAnthem RCHookerBack of the Year Gonzalo BertranouCalifornia LegionScrum-HalfForward of the Year Mason FleschChicago HoundsFlanker/LockComeback Player of the Year Jason RobertsonOld Glory DCFly-half
All-League Teams Major League Rugby announced its First and Second All-MLR Teams in July 2026. The Chicago Hounds were the most represented team, with seven players in the First Team and four in the Second Team.