Major League Rugby: Five takeaways as ‘perfect curtain raiser’ kicks off season while Christian Leali’ifano suffers losing start to three-peat chasing Free Jacks
Ethan Grayson in action for San Diego Legion - Image credit John Matthew Harrison
After its long offseason, Major League Rugby (MLR) is back for 2025.
The league’s eighth season will see 11 teams battle it out across two conferences for 18 weeks for a place in the postseason and a shot at lifting the MLR Shield in the Championship Final.
This weekend back-to-back champions the New England Free Jacks were in action against Rugby FCLA, who boast the talents of Christian Leali’ifano (Australia and Samoa) and Gonzalo Bertranou (Argentina), and elsewhere there were fireworks too.
So without further ado, here are five things we learned in Week 1 of the 2025 MLR season.
Robertson and Muller stun Sharks in Miami
Old Glory DC’s visit to Miami Sharks was the perfect curtain raiser for 2025.
As the sun set in Florida it took until the very last kick for the result to be decided as momentum swung each way almost at will.
USA-qualified wing Axel Muller opened the scoring in the second minute shortly before Sharks prop Alec McDonnell was shown a straight red for a high tackle.
After a slow start Miami wrestled back the lead with tries for Ake Muti, Tomas Cubilla and a Mauro Rebussone brace to lead the game 29-10 with less than 15 minutes on the clock.
First KoiKoi Nelligan crossed the try line for Old Glory, then Jason Robertson scored and converted his own try to put the game in hot contention shortly after Miami’s Cubilla and Manuel Ardao went to the sin bin.
Robertson was the architect of Muller’s hat-trick score.
The New Zealander identified the space left by two opposition players being in the sin bin and let off a Hail Mary for his wing to gather, score and allow the fly-half to convert to win the game.
It was a statement performance from DC who have quietly gone about their business in the offseason.
Their major addition in the offseason was the recruitment of Steff Hughes from the Dragons and the retention of ex-Scotland lock Rob Harley as captain was also key to Simon Cross’ plans.
Perhaps, after a lack of attention, the place everyone should have been looking is Old Glory.
Free Jacks three-peat hopes off to a perfect start
The New England Free Jacks started their quest for a three-peat with a 24-17 win over a star-studded Rugby FCLA in Los Angeles.
Jed Melvin’s early try got the visiting team off to the perfect start, only for LA to rally and score a try through Argentina’s Bertranou and the boot of Leali’ifano provided five more points for the hosts.
A penalty try on the stroke of half-time gave the Free Jacks a half-time lead and early second half scores for Paula Balekana and Wayne van der Bank put the two-time champions out of sight.
Not even a Leali’ifano try and Melvin red card was enough to surmount an LA comeback.
The perfect start for Ryan Martin’s return as Free Jacks head coach, for Stephen Hoiles’ Californians there is work to do if they want to contend in the postseason in their second year.
Legion have statement outing against Seawolves
In the lead up to kick-off the San Diego Legion and Seattle Seawolves’ rivalry was heralded as the league’s best.
Two historically top-performing Western Conference sides, the two played one another on Sunday afternoon at Torero Stadium in Southern California, where the Legion were returning after five years away.
To make up for lost time San Diego, now under the management of ex-Australia Men’s 7s head coach John Manenti, raced into a 28-nil lead at half-time thanks to tries from Christian Poidevin, Jed Holloway and a Ryan James brace.
Ill-discipline in the second half allowed Allen Clarke’s Seattle back into the contest, but scores from Tomas Aoake and Connor Tupai put Legion out of sight.
In the offseason San Diego released a documentary on Amazon Prime called Quest For The Shield cataloguing their 2023 title tilt.
That season their efforts were undone by the New England Free Jacks in the Championship Final and marked a second loss in the showpiece finale.
After so many years yearning for the competition’s biggest prize, you have to say that this comprehensive performance suggests that Legion mean business yet again.
20 minute red cards don’t ruin games
Ahead of their new season getting underway MLR confirmed a series of law trials for 2025.
Rules impacting the number of scrums drew widespread criticism, with the influence of that amendment yet to be seen, but there was another law that could be seen in full effect.
Red carded players are now able to be substituted after 20 minutes, bringing a new dynamic to games when a team is restored to its full complement.
It is a law that is in use at the 2025 Men’s Six Nations and was popular in Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship last year.
The positive effect of this change could be seen in the Old Glory-Miami clash, where the Sharks battled back to lead following McDonnell’s fourth minute red card for a high tackle.
In Texas the Chicago Hounds recovered from Noah Brown being sent off in the 33rd minute after he received two first-half yellow cards.
Second-half scores from Maclean Jones and two Adriaan Carelse penalties were enough to withstand a late fightback from their hosts.
It has always been said that red cards kill games, but maybe now they do not have to.
French flair helps NOLA to Anthem win
Over the offseason NOLA Gold made waves with the signings of former France internationals Kelian Galletier and Xavier Mignot.
A true sign of intent from the team in a summer that they also appointed Danny Lee as head coach and welcomed a raft of USA internationals to Louisiana, their first outing after this shake-up can only be described as a success.
In the first half NOLA raced to a 28-0 half-time lead against Anthem RC thanks to tries from Mignot, Moni Tonga’uiha, Jonah Mau’u and Pat O’Toole.
Second-half scores for Makeen Alikhan and Karl Keane did get last year’s 0-16 side on the board as ill-discipline let the Gold down, early on signs are positive for NOLA.