Anthem Rugby Carolina vs Chicago Hounds
Week 2 | Game 2 | Charlotte, NC
Anthem arrive in Week 2 carrying something they have not held in two years.
Proof.
A 39–26 win over California did more than open their season. It ended a 33-game losing streak and reset the emotional weight around the club. That kind of result does not just change the standings. It changes how a team walks into the next week.
But momentum in rugby is fragile.
And Chicago are not the type of opponent that allows it to settle.
The Hounds enter their fourth season with a different kind of pressure. Not survival. Not development. Expectation. Back-to-back Eastern Conference Final appearances have moved them out of the conversation of potential and into something more uncomfortable.
They are now judged on what they fail to win.
Last season told that story clearly. A team capable of beating anyone, including New England, and yet one that let a 17–0 lead slip in a Conference Final. Again. The pattern is not about ability. It is about control in the moments that define outcomes.
And that is where this matchup tightens.
Because Anthem are no longer the same team Chicago faced last year.
The numbers tell you part of it. Six tries in Week 1. A backline already producing, led by Connor Mooneyham with two tries and ten points. A team that, for the first time, looks like it can finish what it creates.
But the deeper shift sits in the roster.
Twenty players in. Twenty-six out.
This is not evolution. It is a reconstruction.
Will Sherman steps into the second row as the first overall draft pick, a signal of Anthem’s commitment to building domestically. Luke Carty arrives to control territory. Zion Going adds tempo at nine. Baden Godfrey and Marques Fuala’au bring balance to the back row. Around them, a mix of returning players and new profiles attempting to form something cohesive, quickly.
That is the opportunity.
That is also the risk.
Because cohesion does not come from one result.
Chicago, by contrast, are far closer to a finished shape. Their recruitment has been targeted, not wholesale. Nathan Den Hoedt and Brandon Harvey add depth to the engine room. Ruben de Haas sharpens the tempo. Santiago Videla and Reece Botha offer control and variation in the backfield.
More importantly, they understand how to navigate games that tighten.
They have lived in that space.
So the tension in this match is not about who can play.
It is about who can sustain it.
Anthem will come with energy, with belief, and with a crowd that now has something to hold onto. The memory of last week will sit in the stadium. It will push them forward early. It will make the game feel faster than it is.
Chicago will try to slow that down.
They do not need to dominate possession. They do not need to chase the game. They need to stay close, manage territory, and wait for the moments that inevitably appear when a new system is still learning itself.
Because what Anthem proved last week is that they can win.
What they have not yet proven is that they can do it twice.
And that is where this game becomes more than a follow-up.
It becomes a test of whether that first result was a release…
or the beginning of something repeatable.
Chicago have been here before. Close enough to the top to understand what it requires, but not yet able to take it.
Anthem are arriving from the opposite direction. Starting again, but with something they did not have before.
Belief.
And in games like this, belief is dangerous.
Right up until it meets experience.
California Legion vs New England Free Jacks
Week 2 | Game 3 | Torero Stadium, San Diego
California’s introduction to Major League Rugby was supposed to be the beginning of something.
Instead, it was a warning.
A team built on pedigree, experience and expectation opened their account with a loss to a side that had not won in two years. It was not just the result that raised attention, but the contradiction inside it. California controlled 64 percent of possession, dominated territory, made nearly 750 metres and beat 47 defenders.
They created everything.
They finished very little.
There is something more concerning about that than a lack of opportunity. The structure worked. The system held. The intent was clear. But in the moments that define outcomes, they fell away. Twenty-two turnovers conceded. Four tries from thirteen visits inside the 22.
This is not a team searching for an identity.
It is a team learning how to complete one.
And now comes the worst possible follow-up.
New England arrive not just as defending champions, but as something closer to a standard. Three consecutive titles. Eight straight playoff wins. Not built on moments, but on habits that hold under pressure.
Dynasties rarely feel dramatic from the inside. They feel controlled. Repetitive. Inevitable.
Last season, New England conceded just 53 tries across 19 games, the best defensive record in the league. Around that sat a team that disrupts at the breakdown, pressures at the set piece, and manages territory with a kicking game that rarely gives anything away.
They do not need to dominate to control a match.
They only need you to make a mistake.
But this version of New England carries something unfamiliar.
Uncertainty.
If they are to win a fourth straight title, it may be their most impressive yet, because they will attempt it without many of the players who defined the last three. The core has shifted. Proven names have moved on to France, Super Rugby, the URC, Japan and the English system. What remains is not a weakened team, but a different one.
There is still quality. Joel Hodgson arrives to steer the game at fly half. Nate Sylvia and Maliu Niuafe bring power to the front row. Ollie Aylmer adds youth to the second row. Jacob Norris, Joe Johnston, Sione Tupou and Filipe Vakasiuola reinforce a forward pack that still looks physically imposing. Mitch Wilson returns. Nathan Salmon arrives with experience beyond his years. New draft picks step into a system that expects immediate contribution.
But cohesion is not automatic.
Continuity has been New England’s greatest advantage. Now, for the first time in years, it is a question.
And that is where the jeopardy lives.
California will have the ball again. They will find space. Ryan James has already shown he can generate momentum with the ball in hand. Gonzalo Bertranou brings tempo and direction. The set piece held. The opportunities will come again.
But New England do not measure you by how much you create.
They measure you by what you leave behind.
If California can tighten the details, reduce the errors, and convert pressure into points, they are facing a version of the champions that is still settling, still learning its own edges. That window does not stay open for long.
Because even in transition, New England understands something others are still figuring out.
How to win when things are not perfect.
California Legion, by contrast, are still being built in real time. This is only their second game. The identity is visible, but not yet fixed. The potential is obvious. The cohesion is still catching up.
Which leaves the match balanced on a simple tension.
Can California learn quickly enough to take advantage of a dynasty in transition?
Or will New England, even in a new form, remind everyone that standards travel faster than players?
Because what California wasted last week, New England will not.
One team is learning how to win.
The other has made a habit of it.
And in games like this, that difference tends to surface when it matters most.