Major League Rugby: Five takeaways as ex-All Black scores in Warriors win while NFL legends become new owners of Seattle Seawolves
Zion Going in action for Utah Warriors while JP Smith hits MLR milestone. (Image credit Griff Lacey and Punkus Arnett)
All of a sudden things are starting to take shape in the 2025 Major League Rugby (MLR) season.
In Week 10 of the 2025 campaign, we got to see a little more history being made, winning streaks brought to a close and some NFL legends even joined the fray.
Here are five takeaways from Week 10 of the 2025 MLR season.
Seawolves end Chicago’s winning run
In ending the Chicago Hounds’ six-match unbeaten run the Seattle Seawolves got back to winning ways on Friday night.
Allen Clarke’s team registered a 28-22 win over the Eastern Conference leaders and looked far more confident than they have in recent weeks.
Rod Iona’s early penalty for Seattle was quickly followed by a Divan Rossouw try. Mark O’Keeffe did cross the try line for the visitors, while a Michael Baska penalty – as Tim Swiel was in the sin bin – drew the score level.
Ahead of half-time Riekert Hattingh helped to hand the Seawolves a second half lead.
At the start of the second half Swiel was shown a second yellow card, which Iona quickly took advantage of with a penalty kick.
Lucas Rumball’s try kept the Hounds in the contest, however a yellow card for Bryce Campbell and subsequent Iona three-pointer was enough to condemn the visitors’ hope of victory.
Lauina Futi crossed for Seattle to secure the win outright, while Jason Higgins’ late score meant that the Hounds got a losing bonus point.
Plenty of reason to celebrate in Seattle
It is not every week that a team will celebrate a league’s second-ever centurion and new owners.
But that is exactly what happened for the Seattle Seawolves.
On Friday night USA Men’s Eagles scrum-half JP Smith became the second MLR player to hit 100 appearances in the competition.
An achievement met with the fanfare which it deserves, there was even more reason for fireworks at Starfire Stadium.
Midweek the year eight side announced that NFL legends Marshawn Lynch and Marcus Peters as new owners of the team.
Miami Sharks hitting form at the right time
Jose Pellicina’s Miami Sharks are one point from being in the Eastern Conference’s top four.
After picking up an impressive win over the Houston SaberCats a week prior, the Floridians backed up that victory with a 37-35 success against Old Glory DC.
Nine tries were scored over the course of 80 minutes and Miami even finished the game with 13 players on the pitch.
The Sharks were reduced a player with just a minute on the clock as Tomas Cubelli was shown yellow, before Perry Humphreys broke the deadlock for DC.
Sean McNulty, Martin Elias, Matias Orlando and Tomas Cubilla soon responded for Miami, while a Tex Naqali effort kept DC in the contest.
In the second half Nick Grigg and Facundo Gattas breathed new life into Old Glory’s contest but were undone by Shane O’Leary’s second and third penalties of the match.
In the closing stages the Sharks’ Alec McDonnell and Josiah Morra received yellow cards, before Daniel’s score bagged Old Glory a losing bonus point.
Warriors heap misery onto Legion
With their 31-18 loss to the Utah Warriors the San Diego Legion have now lost their last four games in a row.
For a team that won their opening five matches of the season, the Californians have come crashing back to earth with an almighty thud and will be hopeful that a Week 11 clash with Rugby Football Club Los Angeles may offer some form of respite.
On Saturday Joey Mano, Jordan Trainor and Kalisi Moli all went over the whitewash for the Warriors in the first half, while tries from Legion’s Jimmy Hokafonu and Lincoln McClutchie offered a response for the hosts.
In the second half tries for Liam Coltman and Zion Going provided an impenetrable barrier that their hosts could not breach.
New England and SaberCats strengthen play-off push
Both the New England Free Jacks and Houston SaberCats have made their push for knockout rugby with Week 10 victories.
New England are now up to second in the Eastern Conference thanks to their 26-6 win over Anthem RC.
It was a routine victory for the back-to-back champions, with a brace of tries for Paula Balekana and scores from Jed Melvin and Isaac Olson sending the Free Jacks back to Boston with five points. All six of Anthem’s points were provided by the boot of Mitch Wilson.
Houston got back to winning ways against the NOLA Gold. Having lost on their past two outings, the SaberCats’ 17-15 victory was almost understated.
Ruben de Haas’ try at the end of the first half meant that NOLA led 12-5 at half-time, but a quickfire brace of scores from Tautalatasi Tasi and Sam Tuifa swung the game in favour of the hosts.