# 2018 Major League Rugby season

The 2018 Major League Rugby season was the inaugural season of Major League Rugby, an annual rugby union competition sanctioned by USA Rugby. The seven inaugural teams were based in the United States. The competition began the weekend of April 21–22 with three matches, with New Orleans defeating Houston 35–26 to open the season.
Glendale and Seattle were the best two teams at the end of the regular season and won their respective semi-final matches to advance to the championship game at Torero Stadium in San Diego. Seattle became Major League Rugby's first champion team with a surprise come-from-behind 23–19 win in the final over Glendale, who had only lost once previously during the season.

## Teams

| Team | Head coach | Captain | Stadium | Capacity |
| Austin Elite | Alain Hyardet | Andrew Suniula | Multipurpose Complex | 3,500 |
| Glendale Raptors | David Williams | Shaun Davies | Infinity Park | 5,000 |
| Houston SaberCats | Justin Fitzpatrick | Kyle Sumsion | Dyer Stadium | 6,000 |
| New Orleans Gold | Nate Osborne | Taylor Howden | Eagle Athletic Facility | 3,000 |
| San Diego Legion | Rob Hoadley | Nate Augspurger | Torero Stadium | 6,000 |
| Seattle Seawolves | Phil Mack | Shalom Suniula | Starfire Stadium | 3,800 |
| Utah Warriors | Alf Daniels | Paul Lasike | Zions Bank Stadium | 5,000 |

## Regular season

All seven participating teams played eight matches and received two rounds of byes during the regular season held over ten weeks from April through to June. The schedule was short of a full home and away draw by four match rounds, so each side played two of the other teams twice and four of them only once. The top four teams at the end of the regular season advanced to the MLR playoffs.

### Standings

The final standings for the 2018 Major League Rugby regular season were:
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Glendale Raptors (P) | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 249 | 165 | +84 | 6 | 0 | 34 | Semifinals |
| 2 | Seattle Seawolves (C) | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 232 | 188 | +44 | 4 | 1 | 29 | Semifinals |
| 3 | San Diego Legion | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 214 | 201 | +13 | 3 | 1 | 24 | Semifinals |
| 4 | Utah Warriors | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 269 | 274 | −5 | 7 | 3 | 22 | Semifinals |
| 5 | Austin Elite | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 224 | 238 | −14 | 5 | 1 | 18 | |
| 6 | New Orleans Gold | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 209 | 291 | −82 | 4 | 1 | 17 | |
| 7 | Houston SaberCats | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 216 | 256 | −40 | 3 | 4 | 11 | |

### Matches

The following matches were played for the 2018 Major League Rugby regular season:
| Home \ Away | AUS | GLE | HOU | NOLA | SAN | SEA | UTA |
| Austin Elite | | | | 30–17 | 31–5 | 19–20 | 41–33 |
| Glendale Raptors | 41–26 | | 37–24 | | 31–27 | 33–11 | |
| Houston SaberCats | 50–38 | | | 26–35 | | 7–20 | 30–36 |
| New Orleans Gold | | 10–47 | 24–20 | | 22–39 | 29–31 | |
| San Diego Legion | 31–17 | 23–5 | 35–32 | | | | 31–24 |
| Seattle Seawolves | | 15–19 | | 55–26 | 39–23 | | 41–32 |
| Utah Warriors | 41–22 | 29–36 | 31–27 | 43–46 | | | |

#### Week 1

* Bye/s: Utah Warriors

#### Week 2

* Bye/s: New Orleans Gold

#### Week 3

* Bye/s: Seattle Seawolves

#### Week 4

* Bye/s: Houston SaberCats

#### Week 5

* Bye/s: Austin Elite, Glendale Raptors. San Diego Legion

#### Week 6

* Bye/s: Glendale Raptors

#### Week 7

* Bye/s: San Diego Legion

#### Week 8

* Bye/s: Utah Warriors

#### Week 9

* Bye/s: Houston SaberCats

#### Week 10

* Bye/s: Austin Elite, New Orleans Gold, Seattle Seawolves

## Playoffs

The top four teams from the regular season qualified for the playoffs. The format was two semifinal matches – first versus fourth, and second versus third – followed by a Championship game between the semifinal winners to determine the MLR champion team.
The semifinals were played as a double header at Infinity Park in Glendale on June 30, followed a week later by the final at Torero Stadium in San Diego on July 7.

### Bracket

| Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | Glendale Raptors | 34 | | | |
| 4 | Utah Warriors | 21 | | | |
| 4 | Utah Warriors | 21 | 1 | Glendale Raptors | 19 |
| | | | 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 23 |
| 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 38 | 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 23 |
| 3 | San Diego Legion | 24 | | | |

### Final
## Team statistics
### Points by week

| WeekTeam | 001.0 | 001.0 | 002.0 | 002.0 | 003.0 | 003.0 | 004.0 | 004.0 | 005.0 | 005.0 | 006.0 | 006.0 | 007.0 | 007.0 | 008.0 | 008.0 | 009.0 | 009.0 | 0010.0 | 0010.0 | 00Total.0 | 00Total.0 | 00Average.0 | 00Average.0 |
| Austin | 26 | 41 | 38 | 50 | 30 | 17 | 22 | 41 | – | – | 31 | 5 | 41 | 33 | 19 | 20 | 17 | 31 | – | – | 224 | 238 | 28.0 | 29.8 |
| Glendale | 41 | 26 | 19 | 15 | 36 | 29 | 31 | 27 | – | – | – | – | 47 | 10 | 37 | 24 | 33 | 11 | 5 | 23 | 249 | 165 | 31.1 | 20.6 |
| Houston | 26 | 35 | 50 | 38 | 32 | 35 | – | – | 20 | 24 | 30 | 36 | 7 | 20 | 24 | 37 | – | – | 27 | 31 | 216 | 256 | 27.0 | 32.0 |
| New Orleans | 35 | 26 | – | – | 17 | 30 | 29 | 31 | 24 | 20 | 26 | 55 | 10 | 47 | 22 | 39 | 46 | 43 | – | – | 209 | 291 | 26.1 | 36.4 |
| San Diego | 23 | 39 | 31 | 24 | 35 | 32 | 27 | 31 | – | – | 5 | 31 | – | – | 39 | 22 | 31 | 17 | 23 | 5 | 214 | 201 | 26.8 | 25.1 |
| Seattle | 39 | 23 | 15 | 19 | – | – | 31 | 29 | 41 | 32 | 55 | 26 | 20 | 7 | 20 | 19 | 11 | 33 | – | – | 232 | 188 | 29.0 | 23.5 |
| Utah | – | – | 24 | 31 | 29 | 36 | 41 | 22 | 32 | 41 | 36 | 30 | 33 | 41 | – | – | 43 | 46 | 31 | 27 | 269 | 274 | 33.6 | 34.3 |

### Tries by week

| WeekTeam | 001.00 | 001.00 | 002.00 | 002.00 | 003.00 | 003.00 | 004.00 | 004.00 | 005.00 | 005.00 | 006.00 | 006.00 | 007.00 | 007.00 | 008.00 | 008.00 | 009.00 | 009.00 | 0010.0 | 0010.0 | 00Total.0 | 00Total.0 | 00Average.0 | 00Average.0 |
| Austin | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | – | – | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | – | – | 29 | 32 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| Glendale | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – | – | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 34 | 22 | 4.3 | 2.8 |
| Houston | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 5 | – | – | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | – | – | 3 | 5 | 26 | 35 | 3.3 | 4.4 |
| New Orleans | 4 | 4 | – | – | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | – | – | 28 | 41 | 3.5 | 5.1 |
| San Diego | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | – | – | 1 | 4 | – | – | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 24 | 3.4 | 3.0 |
| Seattle | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | – | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | – | – | 29 | 25 | 3.6 | 3.1 |
| Utah | – | – | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | – | – | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 40 | 34 | 5.0 | 4.3 |
| Attack | Defense |

## Player statistics

The leading scorers in 2018 over the regular season and playoffs combined were:

### Leading try scorers

| No. | Player | Team | Tries excl. playoffs | Total tries |
| 1 | Tonata Lauti | Utah Warriors | 8 | 9 |
| 2 | Harley Davidson | Glendale Raptors | 6 | 7 |
| 2 | Zach Fenoglio | Glendale Raptors | 4 | 7 |
| 4 | Hanco Germishuys | Austin Elite | 6 | 6 |
| 5 | Osea Kolinisau | Houston SaberCats | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | William Rasileka | Seattle Seawolves | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | Anthony Salaber | San Diego Legion | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Josua Vici | Houston SaberCats | 5 | 5 |
| 9 | Lote Tuipulotu | Utah Warriors | 4 | 4 |
| 9 | Mathew Turner | Seattle Seawolves | 4 | 4 |
| 9 | Sam Windsor | Houston SaberCats | 4 | 4 |
| 9 | Marcus Walsh | Austin Elite | 4 | 4 |
Sources:Americas Rugby News and MLR (archived).

### Leading point scorers

| No. | Player | Team | Points excl. playoffs | Total points |
| 1 | Sam Windsor | Houston SaberCats | 103 | 103 |
| 2 | Timothée Guillimin | Austin Elite | 84 | 84 |
| 3 | Will Magie | Glendale Raptors | 64 | 77 |
| 4 | JP Eloff | New Orleans Gold | 65 | 65 |
| 5 | Brock Staller | Seattle Seawolves | 60 | 60 |
| 6 | Kurt Morath | Utah Warriors | 47 | 49 |
| 7 | Tonata Lauti | Utah Warriors | 40 | 45 |
| 8 | Tadhg Leader | San Diego Legion | 42 | 42 |
| 9 | Peter Smith | Seattle Seawolves | 20 | 41 |
| 10 | Maximo de Achaval | Glendale Raptors | 35 | 35 |
Sources: Americas Rugby News and MLR (archived).

### Sanctions

| Player | Team | Red | Yellow | Suspended match(es): |
| Zachary Pangelinan | Houston SaberCats | 1 | 2 | vs. New Orleans Gold (W5) |
| Connor Cook | Glendale Raptors | 1 | 0 | vs. Austin Elite (W1) |
| Ben Landry | Glendale Raptors | 1 | 0 | vs. Austin Elite (W1) |
| Jake Turnbull | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 1 | vs. New Orleans Gold (W1) |
| Eric Howard | New Orleans Gold | 0 | 1 | vs. Houston SaberCats (W1) |
| Ben Mitchell | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 | vs. Glendale Raptors (W1) |
| Sani Taylor | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 | vs. Glendale Raptors (W1) |
| Kelepi Fifita | Glendale Raptors | 0 | 1 | vs. Austin Elite (W1) |
| Sione Tuihalamaka | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 | vs. Seattle Seawolves (W1) |
| Matt Trouville | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 1 | vs. Austin Elite (W2) |
| Maximo de Achaval | Glendale Raptors | 0 | 1 | vs. Seattle Seawolves (W2) |
| Siaosi Finau | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 | vs. New Orleans Gold (W3) |
| Pago Haini | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 1 | vs. San Diego Legion (W3) |
| Taylor Howden | New Orleans Gold | 0 | 1 | vs. Seattle Seawolves (W4) |
| Hubert Buydens | New Orleans Gold | 0 | 1 | vs. Houston SaberCats (W5) |
| Chris Slater | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 1 | vs. Glendale Raptors (W8) |
| Anthony Parry | New Orleans Gold | 0 | 1 | vs. San Diego Legion (W8) |
| Cam Poison | Seattle Seawolves | 0 | 1 | vs. Glendale Raptors (W9) |
| Alec Barton | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 | vs. Austin Elite (W9) |
| Ben Mitchell | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 | vs. San Diego Legion (W9) |
| Alec Barton | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 | vs. Seattle Seawolves (SF) |
| Siaosi Mahoni | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 | vs. Seattle Seawolves (SF) |

## Awards

MVP of the Championship Match
| Player | Team |
| Vili Toluta'u | Seattle Seawolves |
All-MLR First Team
| Player | Position | Team |
| Paul Mullen | Loosehead Prop | Houston SaberCats |
| Zach Fenoglio | Hooker | Glendale Raptors |
| Tim Metcher | Tighthead Prop | Seattle Seawolves |
| Ben Mitchell | Left Lock | Austin Elite |
| Ben Landry | Right Lock | Glendale Raptors |
| Vili Toluta'u | Blindside Flanker | Seattle Seawolves |
| Hanco Germishuys | Openside Flanker | Austin Elite |
| Cam Dolan | No8 | San Diego Legion |
| Phil Mack | Scrum-half | Seattle Seawolves |
| Sam Windsor | Fly-half | Houston SaberCats |
| Tonata Lauti | Blindside Wing | Utah Warriors |
| Paul Lasike | Inside Centre | Utah Warriors |
| Ryan Matyas | Outside Centre | San Diego Legion |
| Harley Davidson | Openside Wing | Glendale Raptors |
| Mathew Turner | Fullback | Seattle Seawolves |
All-MLR Second Team
| Player | Position | Team |
| Olive Kilifi | Loosehead Prop | Seattle Seawolves |
| Pat Blair | Hooker | San Diego Legion |
| Alex Tucci | Tighthead Prop | Utah Warriors |
| Matt Jensen | Left Lock | Utah Warriors |
| Matt Trouville | Right Lock | Houston SaberCats |
| Peter Dahl | Blindside Flanker | Glendale Raptors |
| Matt Hughston | Openside Flanker | NOLA Gold |
| Sam Figg | No8 | Glendale Raptors |
| Shaun Davies | Scrum-half | Glendale Raptors |
| Will Magie | Fly-half | Glendale Raptors |
| Josua Vici | Blindside Wing | Houston SaberCats |
| Andrew Suniula | Inside Centre | Austin Elite |
| Osea Kolinisau | Outside Centre | Houston SaberCats |
| Brock Staller | Openside Wing | Seattle Seawolves |
| Zinzan Elan-Puttick | Fullback | Austin Elite |