# 2024 Major League Rugby season

The 2024 Major League Rugby season was the seventh season of Major League Rugby, the professional rugby union competition sanctioned by USA Rugby. The regular season began on March 2, 2024, and lasted through June 29, 2024, followed by the Championship Series.
The Miami Sharks and Anthem Rugby Carolina made their league debut this season, as well as Rugby Football Club Los Angeles following their move from Atlanta. The Toronto Arrows and Rugby New York withdrew from the league following the 2023 season. This left a total of 12 teams competing for the 2024 season.

## Teams and format

Following the departure of Toronto and New York, the arrival of Miami and Charlotte, and the relocation of Atlanta to Los Angeles, the League had 12 teams for the 2024 season. As a result, Chicago was moved to the Eastern conference, ensuring both conferences had 6 teams each.
| # | Club | Metro area | Stadium | Capacity | Coach | Captain |
| WESTERN | Dallas Jackals | Dallas, Texas | Choctaw Stadium | 48,114 | Agustín Cavalieri | Jerónimo Gómez Vara |
| WESTERN | Houston SaberCats | Houston, Texas | SaberCats Stadium | 4,000 | Pote Human | Johan Momsen |
| WESTERN | Rugby Football Club Los Angeles | Carson, California | Dignity Health Sports Park | 27,000 | Stephen Brett | Niall Saunders |
| WESTERN | San Diego Legion | San Diego, California | Snapdragon Stadium | 35,000 | Danny Lee | Blair Cowan |
| WESTERN | Seattle Seawolves | Seattle, Washington | Starfire Stadium | 4,500 | Allen Clarke | Riekert Hattingh |
| WESTERN | Utah Warriors | Salt Lake City, Utah | Zions Bank Stadium | 5,000 | Greg Cooper | Bailey Wilson |
| EASTERN | Anthem Rugby Carolina | Charlotte, North Carolina | American Legion Memorial Stadium | 10,500 | Alama Ieremia | Jake Turnbull |
| EASTERN | Chicago Hounds | Chicago, Illinois | SeatGeek Stadium | 20,000 | Sam Harris | Bill Meakes |
| EASTERN | Miami Sharks | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | AutoNation Sports Field | 1,500 | José Pellicena | Tomás Cubelli |
| EASTERN | New England Free Jacks | Boston, Massachusetts | Veterans Memorial Stadium | 5,000 | Scott Mathie | Josh Larsen |
| EASTERN | New Orleans Gold | New Orleans, Louisiana | Gold Mine | 10,000 | Cory Brown | Moni Tongaʻuiha |
| EASTERN | Old Glory DC | Washington, D.C. | Maryland SoccerPlex | 5,000 | Simon Cross | Jamason Faʻanana-Schultz |

## Regular season

The regular season consisted of 18 weeks, with each team playing 16 matches, beginning on March 2, 2024, and ending on June 29.

### Standings

2024 MLR Eastern Conference (viewtalkedit) :
| | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | New England Free Jacks | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 463 | 344 | 119 | 65 | 45 | 8 | 3 | 55 |
| 2 | New Orleans Gold | 16 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 410 | 349 | 61 | 58 | 47 | 8 | 2 | 50 |
| 3 | Chicago Hounds | 16 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 454 | 387 | 67 | 65 | 51 | 7 | 4 | 45 |
| 4 | Old Glory DC | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 394 | 416 | -22 | 50 | 57 | 6 | 4 | 42 |
| 5 | Miami Sharks | 16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 335 | 389 | -54 | 40 | 51 | 4 | 4 | 32 |
| 6 | Anthem Rugby Carolina | 16 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 323 | 676 | -353 | 47 | 102 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Tiebreakers If teams are level at any stage, tiebreaker criteria are as follows (coin tosses or draw of lots will be used if those below fail): number of matches won the difference between points for and points against the number of tries scored the most points scored the difference between tries for and tries against the fewest red cards received the fewest yellow cards received ||||||||||||||
2024 MLR Western Conference (viewtalkedit) :
| | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Houston SaberCats | 16 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 478 | 347 | 131 | 66 | 47 | 11 | 0 | 67 |
| 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 498 | 373 | 125 | 63 | 49 | 9 | 4 | 57 |
| 3 | San Diego Legion | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 421 | 374 | 47 | 51 | 45 | 7 | 4 | 55 |
| 4 | Dallas Jackals | 16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 482 | 450 | 32 | 71 | 62 | 10 | 9 | 43 |
| 5 | Utah Warriors | 16 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 424 | 471 | -47 | 60 | 67 | 7 | 8 | 35 |
| 6 | RFC Los Angeles | 16 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 367 | 473 | -106 | 54 | 67 | 8 | 2 | 32 |
| Tiebreakers If teams are level at any stage, tiebreaker criteria are as follows (coin tosses or draw of lots will be used if those below fail): number of matches won the difference between points for and points against the number of tries scored the most points scored the difference between tries for and tries against the fewest red cards received the fewest yellow cards received ||||||||||||||

### Matches

The following are the match results for the 2024 Major League Rugby regular season:
| Home \ Away | CAR | CHI | DAL | HOU | LA | MIA | NE | NO | DC | SD | SEA | UTA |
| Anthem Rugby Carolina | | 29–38 | 28–68 | 15–38 | 29–33 | 14–30 | 13–46 | 5–40 | 32–46 | | | |
| Chicago Hounds | 59–26 | | | | 54–31 | 38–26 | 17-22 | 13–25 | 21–22 | 22–16 | 26–34 | |
| Dallas Jackals | | 22–20 | | 27–30 | 26–29 | | | 22-35 | 34–36 | 23–30 | 14–7 | 22–20 |
| Houston SaberCats | | 23–22 | 29–28 | | 29–12 | 30–19 | 35–47 | | | 33–0 | 28–25 | 22–15 |
| Rugby Football Club Los Angeles | | | 29–32 | 12–27 | | 45–15 | 12–34 | 21–38 | | 19–27 | 5–36 | 36-32 |
| Miami Sharks | 50-21 | 19–23 | 17–38 | | | | 15–13 | 13–20 | 17–12 | 21–22 | | 20–19 |
| New England Free Jacks | 40–7 | 20–26 | 26–24 | | | 25–3 | | 27–21 | 34–35 | | 21–29 | 36–27 |
| New Orleans Gold | 34–19 | 21–38 | | 7–21 | | 27–42 | 27–17 | | 18–6 | | 32–31 | 21–14 |
| Old Glory DC | 47–29 | 22–22 | | 17–38 | 22–22 | 13–10 | 30–31 | 27–24 | | 11-27 | | |
| San Diego Legion | 34–24 | | 30–24 | 37–24 | 19–18 | | 23–24 | 33–20 | | | 45–33 | 32–33 |
| Seattle Seawolves | 29–13 | | 34–32 | 40-42 | 29–12 | 29–18 | | | 26–24 | 25–19 | | 68–29 |
| Utah Warriors | 44–19 | 29–15 | 50–46 | 24–29 | 24–31 | | | | 31–24 | 20–27 | 13–23 | |
Updated to match(es) played on May 2, 2024 Colors: Blue: home team win; Yellow: draw; Red: away team win.

### Scheduled matches
## Championship Series
### Bracket

| Conference Semi-Finals | Conference Semi-Finals | Conference Semi-Finals | Conference Finals | Conference Finals | Conference Finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Houston Sabercats | 22 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Dallas Jackals | 34 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Dallas Jackals | 34 | 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 28 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Dallas Jackals | 25 | | | |
| 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 30 | 4 | Dallas Jackals | 25 | | | |
| 3 | San Diego Legion | 28 | | | | | | |
| 3 | San Diego Legion | 28 | | | | 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 11 |
| | | | | | | 1 | New England Free Jacks | 20 |
| 1 | New England Free Jacks | 33 | | | | | | | 1 | New England Free Jacks | 20 |
| 4 | Old Glory DC | 29 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Old Glory DC | 29 | 1 | New England Free Jacks | 23 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Chicago Hounds | 17 | | | |
| 2 | New Orleans Gold | 21 | 3 | Chicago Hounds | 17 | | | |
| 3 | Chicago Hounds | 45 | | | | | | |
The play-off draw is seeded based on final positions in the regular season conference tables.
The higher-ranked teams in the Conference Semi-finals and Conference Finals have home field advantage.

### Conference Semi-Finals (July 20–21)

* July 20, 2024 17:00 EDT (UTC−04:00)
| New England Free Jacks | 33−29 | Old Glory DC |
| Try: MacDonald 3' Melvin 35' Lennon 40' Con: Potroz 4' 36' 40+1' Pen: Potroz 10' 15' 38' 59' | Report | |
* Veterans Memorial Stadium Referee: Lex Weiner (USA)
* July 20, 2024 19:30 EDT (UTC−04:00)
| Houston SaberCats | 22−34 | Dallas Jackals |
| | Report | |
* SaberCats Stadium Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
* July 21, 2024 18:30 EDT (UTC−04:00)
| New Orleans Gold | 21−45 | Chicago Hounds |
| | Report | |
* Gold Mine Referee: Scott Green (USA)
* July 21, 2024 21:00 EDT (UTC−04:00)
| Seattle Seawolves | 30−28 | San Diego Legion |
| | Report | |
* Starfire Sports Referee: Luke Rogan (USA)

### Conference Finals (July 27–28)

* July 27, 2024 13:00 EDT (UTC−04:00)
| New England Free Jacks | 23–17 | Chicago Hounds |
| Try: R. MacDonald (2) 20' m, 23' m A. Quattrin 71' c Con: J. Potroz (1/3) 72' Pen: J. Potroz (2/2) 45', 58' Cards: C. Keys 54' to 64' | Report | Try: N. Augspurger 40' c D. Fawsitt 65' c Con: L. Carty (2/2) 40’+1', 66′ Pen: L. Carty (1/2) 54' |
* Veterans Memorial Stadium Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
* July 28, 2024 16:00 EDT (UTC−04:00)
| Seattle Seawolves | 28–25 | Dallas Jackals |
| Try: Penalty try 22' J. Taufete’e 36' c J. Smith 50' c R. Rees 78' c Con: M. Mason (1/1) 51' S. Windsor (1/1) 79' Pen: M. Mason (0/1) Cards: M. Ngakuru 30' to 40' | Report | Try: N. Benn (2) 12' c, 31' c T. Bekerman 73' m Con: J. Oliver (2/2) 13', 32' Pen: J. Oliver (2/3) 3', 29' Cards: J. Zeiss 21' to 31' M. Alikhan 22' to 32' |
* Starfire Sports Referee: Scott Green (USA)

### Championship final (August 4)

* August 4, 2024 1:00 pm PDT
| Seattle Seawolves | 11–20 | New England Free Jacks |
| Try: J. Taufete’e 31' m Con: M. Mason (0/1) Pen: M. Mason (2/3) 25', 48' Cards: T. Lopeti 52' to 62' | Report | Try: L. Malan 14' Con: J. Potroz (0/1) Pen: J. Potroz (5/5) 9', 28', 40’+1', 45', 52' |
* Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 12,085 Referee: Luke Rogan (USA)

## Player statistics
### Top scorers

The top five try and point scorers during the 2024 Major League Rugby season are:
Last updated: September 13, 2024
| Most tries |
| No | Player | Team | Tries |
| 1 | Michael Manson | Utah Warriors | 14 |
| 1 | Dylan Fawsitt | Chicago Hounds | 14 |
| 3 | Taniela Filimone | New Orleans Gold | 11 |
| 3 | Dewald Kotze | Dallas Jackals | 11 |
| 5 | Semi Kunatani | RFCLA | 10 |
| Most points |
| No | Player | Team | Pts |
| 1 | Jayson Potroz | New England Free Jacks | 181 |
| 2 | Mack Mason | Seattle Seawolves | 172 |
| 3 | Jason Robertson | Old Glory DC | 138 |
| 4 | Joel Hodgson | Utah Warriors | 111 |
| 5 | AJ Alatimu | Houston Sabercats | 85 |
MLR awards the try scorer 7 points when there is an Automatic Conversion (The ball is touched down between the post in the in-goal area).
References:

## End of Season Awards

| Award | Player | Team | Position |
| Coach of the Year | Scott Mathie | New England Free Jacks | Head Coach |
| Player of the Year | Wayne van der Bank | New England Free Jacks | Center |
| Rookie of the Year | Junior Gafa | Anthem Rugby Carolina | Center |
| Back of the Year | Reece MacDonald | New England Free Jacks | Fly-half |
| Forward of the Year | Jero Gomez Vara | Dallas Jackals | Flanker |
| S. Marcus Calloway Community Impact | Ben LeSage | New England Free Jacks | Center |

## Attendances

| # | Club | Average attendance |
| 1 | Seattle Seawolves | 4,213 |
| 2 | New England Free Jacks | 3,756 |
| 3 | San Diego Legion | 3,482 |
| 4 | Houston SaberCats | 3,167 |
| 5 | Old Glory DC | 2,874 |
| 6 | Utah Warriors | 2,521 |
| 7 | NOLA Gold | 2,342 |
| 8 | RFCLA | 2,104 |
| 9 | Chicago Hounds | 1,967 |
| 10 | Dallas Jackals | 1,842 |
| 11 | Miami Sharks | 1,453 |
| 12 | Anthem Rugby Carolina | 1,350 |