NEWS

Major League Rugby Week 9 Recap

Written by Joe Harvey | Photo by Ed Moran

Like that, we are at the halfway point of the 2025 Major League Rugby season.

Week 9 has added even more twists and turns to the campaign, with the New England Free Jacks enjoying a resurgence in the Eastern Conference. The Western Conference is too close to call after the San Diego Legion and the Houston SaberCats experienced losses.

Here are how the five games played out over the weekend.

NEW ENGLAND FREE JACKS 39-12 SAN DIEGO LEGION

The New England Free Jacks have now won three games in a row thanks to this 39-12 victory against the San Diego Legion.

In stark contrast, John Manenti’s Legion lost three games on the spin after an unbeaten first five weeks of the season.

After going behind to an early Hugh Roach score, the Free Jacks responded with a duo of Harrison Boyle tries and one for Andrew Quattrin. Ahead of the break, Legion’s Vili Helu was sent to the sin bin, and Faletoi Peni slotted a penalty before leaving the field injured.

Quattrin and Jack Reeves dotted down for the two-time champions early in the second half to extend the Free Jacks’ lead further.

Richard Judd went across the whitewash for Legion with 20 minutes left to play, and Reeves put some extra gloss on the scoreline, with his second score being three minutes from full-time.

NOLA GOLD 51-29 OLD GLORY DC

A second-half hat-trick for Xavier Mignot helped power the NOLA Gold to register a 51-29 win over Old Glory DC.

It was a frantic first half in Louisiana as Jona Mau’u and Julian Roberts scored early on for the Gold, either side of a yellow card for DC’s Joe Rees.

Old Glory did strike back through Collin Grosse and Facundo Gattas before a Dorian Jones penalty and converted Julian Roberts try put NOLA 12 points ahead.

Mignot scored his first of the game in the 44th minute before Old Glory found a foothold again to register efforts through Gattas and John Rizzo.

A Luke Carty penalty got the Gold back onto the front foot. Mignot scored his second shortly before Isaac Te Tamaki also dotted down for the Gold.

In a last flurry of excitement, Grosse dotted down again for DC, and Mignot bagged his third of the game to send the home support out with a spring in their step.

MIAMI SHARKS 31-22 HOUSTON SABERCATS

With a 31-22 victory against the Houston SaberCats, the Miami Sharks have picked up their third win of the season.

Now five points adrift of the NOLA Gold in the Eastern Conference, Jose Pellicena’s side impressed from start to finish at Baptist Health Community Field.

With 14 minutes on the clock, Giuseppe du Toit opened the scoring for the hosts. His effort was backed up 12 minutes later when Marcos Young went over the whitewash.

Drew Wild brought one back for Houston prior to a penalty for Miami’s Shane O’Leary, and a try for Josiah Morra kept the Sharks well on top at halftime.

After a slow start to the second half, the Sharks scored through Tomas Inciarte, concluding the teams’ scoring for the game.

The SaberCats did enjoy a dominant finish to the fixture with Wilton Rebolo, Rufus McLean, and Nathan Den Hoedt tries but had already been well beaten by their hosts.

RUGBY FCLA 28-45 UTAH WARRIORS

The Utah Warriors have moved to second in the Western Conference with this 45-28 win against Rugby FCLA.

A fast start for Greg Cooper’s Warriors saw Joey Mano cross the whitewash twice in the opening 15 minutes, and the team was also awarded a penalty try when Ale Heaney illegally sacked a Utah maul. The prop was subsequently shown a yellow card for his actions.

With the visitors’ Dylan Nel in the sin bin ahead of the break, LA scored tries through Andrew Coe and Billy Meakes, and once through Reece MacDonald when the teams were even again.

When the game resumed after halftime, the Warriors were steely and determined in their approach.

D’Angelo Leuila slotted another penalty, before quickfire efforts from Liam Coltman and Nel.

Ed Timpson dotted down for the hosts as the game wound down and was finished off when Phil Bradford crashed over with 15 minutes left to play.

CHICAGO HOUNDS 28-20 ANTHEM RC

The Chicago Hounds’ 28-20 win over Anthem RC has kept them in first place in the Eastern Conference.

Now with a 7-1 record Chris Latham’s side scored four tries at SeatGeek Stadium and extended their unbeaten run to six games.

It took Mason Flesch just two minutes to open the scoring for Chicago. Dylan Fawsitt drove across the whitewash less than 10 minutes later, following a Cameron Gerlach penalty for Anthem.

The visitors did bag a try shortly afterward through Ishma-eel Safodien, but their hopes were tempered when Fawsitt got his second on the stroke of halftime.

Much like the first half, Flesch battled over the try line and subsequently put the Hounds in an unreachable position.

In the final 10 minutes, Anthem scored through Jason Tidwell and Ethan Howard.