Welcome to Midweek Milestones! The 2026 Major League Rugby season kicked off on March 28th and really shifted into gear last weekend, with all 6 teams in action leading to all sorts of stats achievements that went under the radar. This article will summarise some of those standout stats and key milestones from both teams and individual players in a tidy weekly summary!
Because there was only a single game on the opening weekend, weeks 1 and 2 of the 2026 campaign have been combined for this article but going forward the latest week of MLR action will be covered in this weekly series: Midweek Milestones! With that out of the way, let's start with the big one from the opening weekend.
Thirty-Third Time's the Charm!
After back-to-back winless seasons in both 2024 and 2025, the 0-32 Anthem RC entered the 2026 MLR season with a very different feel. The roster had been overhauled with some top talent from aweek the league such as Johan Momsen, Zion Going, and Jordan Trainor, as well as US talent like Luke Carty and Seth Smith to join top draft picks Will Sherman and Campbell Robb. All of this under new head coach Agustin 'Cuca' Cavalieri, who turned the Dallas Jackals from a winless side into Playoff contenders, and serves as an Assistant Coach for the USA Eagles National Team.
The mission for the Rising Stars was simple this season, get that first win. On the road against MLR's newest team, the hard charging California Legion, Anthem's defence held firm. With 215 tackles completed which remains a MLR season high though week 2 including a combined 40 tackles from Captain Johan Momsen and 1st overall pick Will Sherman alone, they frustrated the Legion and forced them into making errors, while taking their limited chances brilliantly. A birthday brace from Conner Mooneyham led them to an extraordinary 26-39 road victory to kick off the season in the best possible way. Proving that they are no longer an easy week, Anthem are here to compete this season!
Appearance Achievements
Moving away from the 2026 Season Opener and on to week 2, where a number of players reached significant appearance milestones, starting with Chicago Hounds debutant, Jake Turnbull. Although this may have only been the first game for Australian prop and USA Eagle #562 Turnbull, he is no stranger to Major League Rugby. The 32yo prop earned his MLR debut for the Houston SaberCats back in 2018, and has earned 98 MLR appearances to date, meaning he may well appear in Midweek Milestones again in a couple of weeks! Turnbull's debut for the Chicago Hounds marks the SIXTH team that he has represented, becoming just the 2nd player in MLR history to have played with 6 teams: Houston SaberCats (2018-19), Old Glory DC (2020), Austin Gilgronis (2021-22), Seattle Seawolves (2023), Anthem RC (2024-25), and now the Chicago Hounds (2026). Turnbull now sits level with hooker Sean McNulty (NY, NEFJ, LA, SEA, SDL, MIA) on 6 teams represented!
Staying on the subject of the Chicago Hounds and moving from a team debutant to a team veteran, Maclean Jones earned his 50th appearance with the Chicago Hounds in the team's victory over Anthem RC, becoming the first player in Hounds history to reach 50 games played for the team. Australian back row Jones has started 47 of his 50 games with Chicago (67 of his 72 career MLR games), a number which is all the more astounding when you consider that the Chicago Hounds have only ever played 53 games during their time in MLR. Mac Jones has started 89% of all Hounds games, and started 94% of them!
Moving from the Chicago Hounds to Old Glory DC, who took on the Seattle Seawolves at the formidable Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, WA. The DC Starting XV contained 9 team debutants including long time NOLA Gold centre Ross Depperschmidt. Like Turnbull above, Texas native Depperschmidt may have been earning his Old Glory DC debut, but he was also earning his 50th career MLR appearance, with his other 49 games coming with NOLA between 2020-2025. Congratulations, Ross!
Heading down the west coast from Seattle to San Diego, where the defending Champion New England Free Jacks took on the California Legion at a packed Torero Stadium. The Free Jacks, having undergone more player turnover than any other team in MLR during the offseason, welcomed back fan favourite Mitch Wilson for their 2026 campaign, along with his brother Bailey Wilson who joined from the Utah Warriors. When Bailey came off the bench in the 49th minute, the Wilsons became the 9th set of brothers to have played together in MLR, after the likes of the 3 Suniula brothers (Andrew, Roland, Shalom) with the Seattle Seawolves, the Kruse brothers (Isaia and Mika) for the Utah Warriors, and the Flesch brothers (Mason and Noah) for the Chicago Hounds to name only a few!
Team Milestones
Turning towards team milestones, the California Legion picked up their first win in franchise history with a rout of the defending champion New England Free Jacks. Their 43-5 victory hands a very different looking Free Jacks team their heaviest ever defeat, the 38pt deficit surpassing the previous record of 29pts in a 36-7 loss to the Chicago Hounds in week 3 of last season. the 43pts scored by the Legion is the most points conceded by the 3x Champs since their 4th ever MLR game back in 2020 when they conceded 44 in a 44-29 loss to Seattle. As if the Legion didn't have enough to cheer about already, they also claimed the newest piece of MLR silverware, The Old Mate! They will attempt to defend this going forward, with the first test coming against the Chicago Hounds next week.
Movement in the All-Time Top Scorers List!
To end this week's article, we're staying in Seattle where two of Major League Rugby's all-time top scorers were battling it out. Old Glory DC's Jason Robertson and new Seattle Seawolves signing Davy Coetzer entered this game as MLR's 5th and 7th highest points scorers of all time respectively. Despite the 33-16 scoreline, DC fly-half Jason Robertson still recorded a decent haul — contributing 11 of Old Glory's 16 points from the tee — to move past Toronto Arrows legend Sam Malcolm and become MLR's 4th highest scorer of all time, with 378 points scored across his 44-game career in the competition. On the other side of the pitch, Davy Coetzer made an impression on his Seawolves debut, racking up 18 points from the boot in a Man of the Match performance to move ahead of both Mack Mason and Sam Malcolm, slotting into 5th place all time with 374 points across his 52-game MLR career. Now the two highest-scoring active players in MLR history, Robertson and Coetzer, are separated by just 4 points — and with a full season ahead, this battle is absolutely one to watch.
James Deeley: MLR Legacy creator to see more of his work click here.