The 2020 Major League Rugby season was the third season of Major League Rugby, the professional rugby union competition sanctioned by USA Rugby. The regular season schedule was released on September 23, 2019, and began on February 8, 2020.
Three teams made their debut in 2020: the New England Free Jacks, Old Glory DC, and Rugby ATL. The Seattle Seawolves were the defending champions, having won their second consecutive title from the previous year.
On March 12, 2020, MLR announced the season would go on hiatus immediately for 30 days due to increasing local social distancing restrictions amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. One week later, MLR announced that the season was officially cancelled.
Teams and format With three additional teams for the 2020 season, Major League Rugby moved to a two-conference format. For the regular season, each team was to play against the other teams in their conference twice and against every team in the opposite conference once, for a total of 16 games.
The playoffs expanded from four teams in 2019 to six teams in 2020, with the top three teams from each conference qualifying. The second- and third-placed team from each conference were to play each other in the conference semifinals, with the winner moving on to play the first-placed team in the conference finals. The winners of the conference finals would have to play against each other in the final for the championship.
ConferenceClubMetro areaStadiumCapacityCoachCaptain Western ConferenceAustin GilgronisAustin, TexasBold Stadium 5,000 Brent Semmons Zinzan Elan-PuttickColorado RaptorsDenver, ColoradoInfinity Park 5,000 Peter Borlase Luke WhiteHouston SaberCatsHouston, TexasAveva Stadium 4,000 Paul Healy De Wet RoosSan Diego LegionSan Diego, CaliforniaTorero Stadium 6,000 Rob Hoadley Nate AugspurgerSeattle SeawolvesSeattle, WashingtonStarfire Stadium 4,500 Kees Lensing Riekert HattinghUtah WarriorsSalt Lake City, UtahZions Bank Stadium 5,000 Chris Latham Dwayne Polataivao Eastern ConferenceNew England Free JacksBoston, MassachusettsUnion Point Sports Complex 2,000 Josh Smith Josh LarsenNew Orleans GoldNew Orleans, LouisianaGold Mine 10,000 Nate Osborne Kyle BaillieOld Glory DCWashington, D.C.Cardinal Stadium 3,500 Andrew Douglas Thretton PalamoRugby United New YorkNew York, New YorkMaimonides Park 7,000 Greg McWilliams Dylan FawsittRugby ATLAtlanta, GeorgiaLupo Family Field 2,500 Scott Lawrence Ryan NellToronto ArrowsToronto, Ontario Alumni FieldLamport Stadium 2,5009,600 Chris Silverthorn Dan Moor
Regular season
Standings Season StandingsWestern ConferenceTeam 1 San Diego Legion 5 5 0 0 161 108 +53 21 13 3 0 23 2 Utah Warriors 5 2 1 2 125 134 -9 15 18 2 0 12 3 Colorado Raptors 5 2 0 3 98 130 -32 11 16 0 1 9 4 Seattle Seawolves 5 1 0 4 138 162 -24 15 22 2 2 8 5 Austin Gilgronis 5 1 1 3 104 155 -51 13 19 1 0 7 6 Houston SaberCats 5 1 0 4 99 116 -17 11 12 0 2 6Eastern ConferenceTeam 1 Toronto Arrows 5 4 0 1 151 89 +62 16 10 2 1 19 2 Old Glory DC 5 4 0 1 122 129 -7 13 15 1 0 17 3 New Orleans Gold 5 3 0 2 135 102 +33 19 13 3 1 16 4 Rugby United New York 5 3 0 2 136 131 +5 18 17 2 1 15 5 Rugby ATL 5 2 0 3 116 119 +6 14 12 2 2 12 6 New England Free Jacks 5 1 0 4 139 158 -19 22 20 4 1 9 If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order 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 receivedGreen background indicates teams in position for the Conference Finals Blue background indicates teams in position for the Conference Semi-Finals (CH) Champions. (RU) Runners-up. (SF) Losing semi-finalists. Last Updated: March 7, 2020
Matches The following are the matches for the 2020 Major League Rugby regular season:
AUSCOLHOUNEFJNOLAOGDCRATLRUNYSANSEATORUTAAustin Gilgronis 19–28 10–38 20–20Colorado Raptors 20–27 22–19 22–14Houston SaberCats 20–24 21–12 13–22 23–31 New England Free Jacks 34–14 New Orleans Gold 31–22 46–13 10–22 21–25 Old Glory DC 31–29 28–22 Rugby ATL 19–22 18–28 28–19Rugby United NY 49–31 San Diego Legion 49–22 30–21 24–20 33–24 Seattle Seawolves 44–29 17–39 31–33Toronto Arrows 27–22 Utah Warriors 39–33 Updated to match(es) played on March 8, 2020 Colors: Blue: home team win; Yellow: draw; Red: away team win.
Scheduled completed Week 1 (Feb 8–9)
Week 2 (Feb 15–16)
Week 3 (Feb 22–23)
Week 4 (Feb 29 – Mar 1)
Week 5 (Mar 6–8)
Cancelled schedule Week 6 (Mar 14–15)
Week 7 (Mar 21–22)
Week 8 (Mar 28–29)
Week 9 (Apr 4–5)
Week 10 (Apr 10–12)
Week 11 (Apr 18–19)
Week 12 (Apr 25–26)
Week 13 (May 1–3)
Week 14 (May 9–10)
Week 15 (May 16–17)
Week 16 (May 22–25)
Week 17 (May 30–31)
Playoffs The top three teams from each conference would have qualified for the playoffs had the season not been cancelled. The top team in each conference earns a bye week while the second and third place team play in a conference semifinal.
Player statistics Top scorers The top ten try and point scorers during the 2020 Major League Rugby season were:
Last updated: March 9, 2020
Most tries No Player Team Tries 1 Riekert Hattingh Seattle Seawolves 5 2 Dan Moor Toronto Arrows 4 Cam Dolan NOLA Gold Tiaan Erasmus Austin Gilgronis John Poland New England Free Jacks 6 Dean Muir San Diego Legion 3 Sam Windsor Houston SaberCats Doug Fraser Old Glory DC Kyle Sumsion RUNY Moni Tonga'uiha NOLA Gold
Most points No Player Team Pts 1 Sam Malcolm Toronto Arrows 60 2 Sam Windsor Houston SaberCats 57 3 Jason Robertson Old Glory DC 51 4 Carl Meyer NOLA Gold 48 5 Hagen Schulte Utah Warriors 43 6 Cathal Marsh RUNY 37 Luke Burton San Diego Legion 37 8 Brock Staller Seattle Seawolves 30 9 Kurt Coleman Rugby ATL 2910 Ben Cima Seattle Seawolves 27 Marcelo Torrealba Austin Gilgronis 27
Sanctions
PlayerTeam Red Yellow Mike Shephard Toronto Arrows 1 0 Poasa Waqanibau New England Free Jacks 0 2 Diego Magno Houston SaberCats 0 2 Brendan Daly Colorado Raptors 0 1 Malcolm May NOLA Gold 0 1 Lindsay Stevens NOLA Gold 0 1 Nikola Bursic NOLA Gold 0 1 Gordon Fullerton Old Glory DC 0 1 Saia Uhila Utah Warriors 0 1 Josh Larsen New England Free Jacks 0 1 Ben Foden RUNY 0 1 Peter Malcolm San Diego Legion 0 1 Vili Toluta'u Seattle Seawolves 0 1 Lino Saunitoga Austin Gilgronis 0 1 Potu Leavasa Jr. Austin Gilgronis 0 1 Brad Hemopo New England Free Jacks 0 1 Anthony Parry RUNY 0 1 Sione Fangaiuiha Austin Gilgronis 0 1 Maikeli Mudu Austin Gilgronis 0 1 Tomás de la Vega Toronto Arrows 0 1 Tiaan Loots Houston SaberCats 0 1 Nakai Penny Seattle Seawolves 0 1 Tim Maupin NOLA Gold 0 1 JP du Plessis San Diego Legion 0 1 Kelepi Fifita Colorado Raptors 0 1 Holden Yungert NOLA Gold 0 1 Jamie Mackintosh Austin Gilgronis 0 1 Renata Roberts-Tenana Old Glory DC 0 1 Manuel Diana Toronto Arrows 0 1 Paddy Ryan RUNY 0 1 Carl Meyer NOLA Gold 0 1 Joshua Furno San Diego Legion 0 1 Will Vakalahi Old Glory DC 0 1 Neethling Gericke Rugby ATL 0 1 Andrew Ferguson Toronto Arrows 0 1 Rene Ranger Colorado Raptors 0 1 Marco Fepulea'i Colorado Raptors 0 1 Andrew Quattrin Toronto Arrows 0 1 Rodrick Waters Austin Gilgronis 0 1 Stephan Coetzee Seattle Seawolves 0 1
MLR Virtual Following the cancellation of the 2020 season, the MLR announced they would host a tournament, with each team, playing Rugby 20. The teams would enter a pool to select which nation they would play as. The MLR also announced that all of the MLR teams would be raising money and awareness for Feeding America's COVID-19 Response Fund, and that all matches would be streamed on the league's Twitch account.
MLR Team (National Team)WinsDrawsLoses Austin Gilgronis () 0 0 0 Colorado Raptors () 0 0 0 Houston Sabercats () 0 0 0 New England Free Jacks () 1 0 5 New Orleans Gold () 1 0 0 Old Glory DC () 0 0 0 Rugby ATL () 1 0 0 Rugby United New York () 0 0 1 San Diego Legion () 0 0 0 Seattle Seawolves () 0 0 0 Toronto Arrows () 1 0 0 Utah Warriors () 0 0 0
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Playoffs First round
Semi-finals
Final
Friendlies
MLR Draft
The 1st ever Major League Rugby collegiate draft was held in 2020. Players were eligible for the draft after 3 years of college or if they had reached 21 years of age. Free agents were permitted try out to join teams at 18 years old.
Notes
References
See also 2020 MLR Draft