# 2019 Major League Rugby season

The 2019 Major League Rugby season was the second season of Major League Rugby, the professional rugby union competition sanctioned by USA Rugby. The regular season began on January 26 and concluded on June 2.
Two teams made their debut in 2019, the Toronto Arrows  and Rugby United New York. The Seattle Seawolves won the championship for the second consecutive season, defeating the San Diego Legion 26-23 on June 16.

## Teams

| Team | Head coach | Captain | Stadium | Capacity |
| Austin Elite | Alain Hyardet | Ben Mitchell | Dell Diamond | 11,500 |
| Glendale Raptors | David Williams | Shaun Davies | Infinity Park | 5,000 |
| Houston SaberCats | Justin Fitzpatrick (to May 2, 2019) Paul Emerick (interim from May 3, 2019) | Matt Trouville | Aveva Stadium Constellation Field Dyer Stadium | 4,000 7,500 6,000 |
| New Orleans Gold | Nate Osborne | Eric Howard | Gold Stadium | 3,000 |
| Rugby United New York | Mike Tolkin | Mike Petri | MCU Park | 7,000 |
| San Diego Legion | Rob Hoadley | Joe Pietersen | Torero Stadium | 6,000 |
| Seattle Seawolves | Richie Walker Phil Mack | Shalom Suniula | Starfire Stadium | 3,800 |
| Toronto Arrows | Chris Silverthorn | Dan Moor | Alumni Field Lamport Stadium | 3,500 9,600 |
| Utah Warriors | Alf Daniels | Tim O'Malley | Zions Bank Stadium | 5,000 |
Notes:
* ↑ The Houston SaberCats played their first four games of the 2019 season at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas, home of the Sugar Land Skeeters in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. All remaining home games were planned to be played at Aveva Stadium, however due to the state of the turf after the first match there, the next home match was moved to Dyer Stadium. All home matches after that were played at AVEVA Stadium.

## Regular season

The regular season was expanded from ten weeks in 2018 to nineteen weeks for 2019, with each team playing 16 matches.

### Standings

The standings for the 2019 Major League Rugby regular season are:
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | San Diego Legion | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 457 | 296 | +161 | 8 | 3 | 61 |
| 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 16 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 498 | 405 | +93 | 10 | 2 | 58 |
| 3 | Toronto Arrows | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 472 | 362 | +110 | 9 | 4 | 57 |
| 4 | Rugby United New York | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 411 | 320 | +91 | 7 | 3 | 54 |
| 5 | New Orleans Gold | 16 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 463 | 403 | +60 | 11 | 6 | 53 |
| 6 | Glendale Raptors | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 456 | 463 | −7 | 10 | 1 | 43 |
| 7 | Houston SaberCats | 16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 343 | 498 | −155 | 5 | 1 | 30 |
| 8 | Utah Warriors | 16 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 381 | 517 | −136 | 4 | 5 | 21 |
| 9 | Austin Elite | 16 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 265 | 482 | −217 | 2 | 3 | 5 |

### Matches

The following are the matches for the 2019 Major League Rugby regular season:
| Home \ Away | AUS | GLE | HOU | NOLA | RUNY | SAN | SEA | TOR | UTA |
| Austin Elite | | 13–24 | 20–21 | 14–26 | 11–19 | 17–45 | 17–29 | 19–23 | 9–17 |
| Glendale Raptors | 38–19 | | 52–44 | 34–33 | 20–16 | 28–28 | 36–53 | 22–0 | 62–22 |
| Houston SaberCats | 36–15 | 32–17 | | 11–49 | 8–35 | 19–40 | 10–52 | 27–44 | 29–27 |
| New Orleans Gold | 35–31 | 40–31 | 20–27 | | 24–27 | 19–26 | 41–31 | 36–31 | 28–19 |
| Rugby United NY | 27–7 | 31–19 | 21–0 | 24–22 | | 31–38 | 19–29 | 24–21 | 24–22 |
| San Diego Legion | 45–15 | 46–15 | 17–13 | 22–10 | 23–25 | | 17–13 | 20–27 | 21–10 |
| Seattle Seawolves | 38–26 | 20–18 | 27–14 | 25–24 | 33–21 | 22–28 | | 35–30 | 27–27 |
| Toronto Arrows | 24–13 | 40–12 | 35–21 | 31–35 | 22–20 | 23–19 | 29–7 | | 28–21 |
| Utah Warriors | 35–19 | 26–26 | 27–31 | 19–21 | 21–47 | 21–31 | 36–48 | 31–64 | |

#### Week 1

* Bye/s: Utah Warriors

#### Week 2

* Bye/s: Houston Sabercats, RUNY, Toronto Arrows

#### Week 3

* Bye/s: Glendale Raptors, RUNY, Utah Warriors

#### Week 4

* Bye/s: Houston Sabercats

#### Week 5

* Bye/s: NOLA Gold

#### Week 6

* Bye/s: Austin Elite, San Diego Legion, Seattle Seawolves

#### Week 7

* Bye/s: NOLA Gold

#### Week 8

* Bye/s: Utah Warriors

#### Week 9

* Bye/s: San Diego Legion, Seattle Seawolves, Toronto Arrows

#### Week 10

* Bye/s: Houston Sabercats

#### Week 11

* Bye/s: RUNY

#### Week 12

* Bye/s: Glendale Raptors

#### Week 13

* Bye/s: Austin Elite

#### Week 14

* Bye/s: NOLA Gold

#### Week 15

* Bye/s: Seattle Seawolves

#### Week 16

* Bye/s: Austin Elite

#### Week 17

* Bye/s: Toronto Arrows

#### Week 18

* Bye/s: San Diego Legion

#### Week 19

* Bye/s: Glendale Raptors

## Playoffs
### Bracket

| Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| 1 | San Diego Legion | 24 | | | |
| 4 | Rugby United New York | 22 | | | |
| 4 | Rugby United New York | 22 | 1 | San Diego Legion | 23 |
| | | | 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 26 |
| 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 30 | 2 | Seattle Seawolves | 26 |
| 3 | Toronto Arrows | 17 | | | |

### Final
## Players Statistics
### Top scorers

The top ten try and point scorers during the 2019 Major League Rugby season are:
Last updated June 5, 2019
| Most tries |
| No | Player | Team | Tries |
| 1 | John Ryberg | Glendale Raptors | 13 |
| 1 | Dylan Fawsitt | Rugby United New York | 13 |
| 3 | Tristan Blewett | NOLA Gold | 12 |
| 4 | Eric Howard | NOLA Gold | 9 |
| 4 | Mike Te'o | San Diego Legion | 9 |
| 6 | Mathew Turner | Seattle Seawolves | 8 |
| 6 | Stephan Coetzee | Seattle Seawolves | 8 |
| 6 | Riekert Hattingh | Seattle Seawolves | 8 |
| 9 | Connor Wallace-Sims | RUNY | 7 |
| 9 | Brad Tucker | Seattle Seawolves | 7 |
| 9 | Dan Moor | Toronto Arrows | 7 |
| Most points |
| No | Player | Team | Pts |
| 1 | Brock Staller | Seattle Seawolves | 223 |
| 2 | Joe Pietersen | San Diego Legion | 163 |
| 3 | Sam Windsor | Houston SaberCats | 160 |
| 4 | Sam Malcolm | Toronto Arrows | 152 |
| 5 | JP Eloff | NOLA Gold | 141 |
| 6 | Tim O'Malley | Utah Warriors | 134 |
| 7 | Robbie Petzer | Glendale Raptors | 85 |
| 8 | Cathal Marsh | RUNY | 69 |
| 9 | John Ryberg | Glendale Raptors | 65 |
| 9 | Dylan Fawsitt | RUNY | 65 |

### Sanctions

| Player | Team | Red | Yellow |
| Josua Vici | Houston SaberCats | 1 | 2 |
| Keni Nasoqeqe | San Diego Legion | 1 | 1 |
| Osea Kolinisau | Houston SaberCats | 1 | 0 |
| Lance Williams | Utah Warriors | 0 | 3 |
| Connor Cook | Glendale Raptors | 0 | 2 |
| Con Foley | NOLA Gold | 0 | 2 |
| Pat O'Toole | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 2 |
| Jamie Dever | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 1 |
| Jack Evans | Toronto Arrows | 0 | 1 |
| Matt Hughston | Rugby United NY | 0 | 1 |
| Tim Maupin | NOLA Gold | 0 | 1 |
| Peni Tagive | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 |
| Sione Tuihalamaka | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Turori | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 |
| Rob Brouwer | Toronto Arrows | 0 | 1 |
| Phil Mack | Seattle Seawolves | 0 | 1 |
| Sam Malcolm | Toronto Arrows | 0 | 1 |
| Dylan Fawsitt | Rugby United NY | 0 | 1 |
| Soheyl Jaoudat | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 |
| Maikeli Naromaitoga | Utah Warriors | 0 | 1 |
| Josh Whippy | Utah Warriors | 0 | 1 |
| Luke Beauchamp | Houston Sabercats | 0 | 1 |
| Jeremy Misailegalu | Utah Warriors | 0 | 1 |
| Kane Thompson | NOLA Gold | 0 | 1 |
| Franco van den Berg | Utah Warriors | 0 | 1 |
| Tiaan Erasmus | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 |
| Moe Abdelmonem | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Sullivan | NOLA Gold | 0 | 1 |
| James Denise | Rugby United NY | 0 | 1 |
| Zach Fenoglio | Glendale Raptors | 0 | 1 |
| Ignacio Dotti | NOLA Gold | 0 | 1 |
| Andrew Ferguson | Toronto Arrows | 0 | 1 |
| Cam Polson | Seattle Seawolves | 0 | 1 |
| Jasa Veremalua | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 |
| Jordan Manihera | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 |
| Will Magie | Glendale Raptors | 0 | 1 |
| Diego Magno | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 1 |
| Avery Oitomen | Toronto Arrows | 0 | 1 |
| Kyle Baillie | NOLA Gold | 0 | 1 |
| Hubert Buydens | NOLA Gold | 0 | 1 |
| Daniel Trierweiler | Seattle Seawolves | 0 | 1 |
| Leandro Leivas | Toronto Arrows | 0 | 1 |
| Mateo Sanguinetti | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 1 |
| Mason Pedersen | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 |
| Murphy Taramai | Glendale Raptors | 0 | 1 |
| Fetuʻu Vainikolo | Utah Warriors | 0 | 1 |
| JP du Plessis | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 |
| Nate Augspurger | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 |
| Dino Waldren | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 |
| Alejandro Nieto | Houston SaberCats | 0 | 1 |
| Juan Echeverría | Austin Elite | 0 | 1 |
| Cam Dolan | NOLA Gold | 0 | 1 |
| Shalom Suniula | Seattle Seawolves | 0 | 1 |
| James Semple | Utah Warriors | 0 | 1 |
| Pat Blair | San Diego Legion | 0 | 1 |
| Tristan Blewett | NOLA Gold | 0 | 1 |
| Awara Elkington | Utah Warriors | 0 | 1 |
| Peter Milazzo | Toronto Arrows | 0 | 1 |

## Awards

MVP of the Championship Match
| Player | Team |
| JP Smith | Seattle Seawolves |
All-MLR Awards
| Player of the Year | Forward of the Year | Back of the Year | Coach of the Year |
| Brad TuckerSeattle Seawolves | Paddy RyanSan Diego Legion | JP Du PlessisSan Diego Legion | Rob HoadleyUtah Warriors |
All-MLR First Team
| Player | Position | Team |
| Rob Brouwer | Loosehead Prop | Toronto Arrows |
| Dylan Fawsitt | Hooker | Rugby United New York |
| Paddy Ryan | Tighthead Prop | San Diego Legion |
| Mike Sheppard | Left Lock | Toronto Arrows |
| Nate Brakeley | Right Lock | Rugby United New York |
| Brad Tucker | Blindside Flanker | Seattle Seawolves |
| Nakai Penny | Openside Flanker | Seattle Seawolves |
| Riekert Hattingh | No8 | Seattle Seawolves |
| Nate Augspurger | Scrum-half | San Diego Legion |
| Joe Pietersen | Fly-half | San Diego Legion |
| Connor Wallace-Sims | Blindside Wing | Rugby United New York |
| JP du Plessis | Inside Center | San Diego Legion |
| Tristan Blewett | Outside Center | New Orleans Gold |
| John Ryberg | Openside Wing | Glendale Raptors |
| JP Eloff | Fullback | New Orleans Gold |
All-MLR Second Team
| Player | Position | Team |
| Franco van den Berg | Loosehead Prop | Utah Warriors |
| Eric Howard | Hooker | New Orleans Gold |
| Morgan Mitchell | Tighthead Prop | Toronto Arrows |
| Ben Mitchell | Left Lock | Austin Elite |
| Louis Stanfill | Right Lock | San Diego Legion |
| Lance Williams | Blindside Flanker | Utah Warriors |
| Matt Hughston | Openside Flanker | Rugby United New York |
| Cam Dolan | No8 | New Orleans Gold |
| Mike Petri | Scrum-half | Rugby United New York |
| Sam Malcolm | Fly-half | Toronto Arrows |
| Dan Moor | Blindside Wing | Toronto Arrows |
| Shalom Suniula | Inside Center | Seattle Seawolves |
| Ryan Matyas | Outside Center | San Diego Legion |
| Brock Staller | Openside Wing | Seattle Seawolves |
| Mathew Turner | Fullback | Seattle Seawolves |

## Attendances

| Team | Stadium | Capacity | Total Attendance | Average Attendance | % Capacity |
| Austin Elite | Dell Diamond Toyota Field | 11,500 8,296 | 4,560 1,000 | 894 1,000 | 7% 12% |
| Glendale Raptors | Infinity Park | 5,000 | 19,704 | 2,463 | 49% |
| Houston SaberCats | Constellation Field Dyer Stadium Aveva Stadium | 7,500 6,000 4,000 | 3,900 1,000 5,382 | 975 1,000 1,794 | 13% 17% 45% |
| New Orleans Gold | Gold Stadium | 3,000 | 12,857 | 1,428 | 47% |
| Rugby United New York | MCU Park | 7,000 | 14,184 | 1,773 | 25% |
| San Diego Legion | Torero Stadium | 6,000 | 30,425 | 3,043 | 51% |
| Seattle Seawolves | Starfire Stadium | 3,800 | 29,873 | 3,734 | 98% |
| Toronto Arrows | York Lions Stadium Lamport Stadium | 3,700 9,600 | 7,655 9,953 | 1,913 2,488 | 51% 26% |
| Utah Warriors | Zions Bank Stadium | 5,000 | 19,448 | 2,431 | 49% |
Notes: