There is a version of this match that gets decided in the wide channels, by scrum halves and back threes, by the kind of tries that end up on highlight reels. And then there is the match within the match- the one happening at 12, in the midfield, where the collisions are harder and the space is smaller, and the outcome is usually less cinematic but almost always more decisive.
Billy Meakes and Ollie Devoto are both that kind of player. And on Saturday at Saint Mary's Stadium, they will spend 80 minutes trying to dismantle each other.
Meakes turns out for his 79th MLR appearance this weekend- his 75th start- and arrives carrying the full weight of California's identity crisis. The Legionnaires won three and lost three, sit second in the table, and nobody has quite figured them out yet. What they do know is that Meakes is the engine. A center who led the entire league in carries in 2025- 234 of them, more than any other player- he has picked up where he left off. Fifty-four carries in six games this season, six offloads, 136 meters made. His tackle count- 50- is extraordinary for a center, a number that tells you he's not just a ball-carrier, he's a defensive linchpin who cleans up what the forward pack misses. For a California side that leads the league in carries and carry meters, Meakes is the man who makes the numbers happen.
The red card last month against Old Glory- dangerous head contact in the 17th minute- is a footnote worth remembering. Meakes has been here before: a red in the 2015 Challenge Cup Final, a career built on the edge of the physical envelope. He's managed the discipline well since, but in a match with this much at stake, under this much pressure, the edge is part of what makes him dangerous.
Devoto arrives at Saint Mary's with the 2025 Chicago Hounds Back of the Year award to his name and a resume that reads like a document of English rugby's finest era. Bath academy product. Ninety-plus appearances for Exeter. A Premiership title, a Champions Cup winner's medal, two England caps. He came to MLR in 2025 and immediately looked like someone who had been here all along- three tries in his debut season, named in the MLR Team of the Week for Rounds 2 and 3 this year, and two tries already in 2026. More telling than the tries is the balance of his numbers: 43 carries, 12 defenders beaten, 25 tackles made, three offloads. Devoto doesn't dominate a stat category. He contributes across all of them. On a Chicago team that already has Brock Webster beating 13 defenders in a single game and Mason Flesch terrorizing lineouts, Devoto is the quiet architect. This center holds the shape when everything else is moving fast.
The head-to-head history between these clubs is short but pointed. Chicago won the only previous meeting 48-24 in Week 3 at SeatGeek- eight tries, six different scorers, a statement performance that set the tone for an unbeaten season. California was caught in the undertow of two yellow cards that day. They have spent the weeks since trying to prove it was an aberration. Saturday is where that argument gets tested.
The difference between Meakes and Devoto in these six weeks is subtle but real. Meakes is volume personified- more carries, more tackles, more time in contact, more of everything. Devoto is an economy- fewer carries, but two tries and a try assist rate that suggests he's finding the ball at the right moments rather than just chasing it. In a match this tight, with this much on the line, both things have value. The question is which kind of center performance California and Chicago need more when the game is in the balance.
Meakes has been here for 78 MLR appearances. He knows what a big game feels like. Devoto has a Champions Cup medal and knows what a big game costs. Saint Mary's on Saturday is not Twickenham, nor is it the Allianz Arena. But for two centers who have spent careers running into things that didn't want to move, it will feel exactly like home.
Related News
