2020 Major League Rugby season

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 the regular season itself began on February 8, 2020.

2020 Major League Rugby season
Countries United States (11 teams)
Canada (1 team)
Matches played30
Tries scored188
(average 6.3 per match)
Official website
majorleague.rugby

Three teams made their debut in 2020: the New England Free Jacks, Old Glory DC, and Rugby ATL. The Seattle Seawolves are the defending champions, having won their second consecutive title last 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.[1] Seven days later, MLR announced that the season was officially cancelled.[2]

Teams and format

With the addition of three 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 each and against every team in the opposite conference once each 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 the played against each other in the final for the championship.

Locations of teams in Major League Rugby
          Western Conference          Eastern Conference
Conference Club Metro area Stadium Capacity Coach Captain
Western Conference Austin Gilgronis Austin, Texas Bold Stadium 5,000 Brent Semmons Zinzan Elan-Puttick
Colorado Raptors Denver, Colorado Infinity Park[lower-alpha 1] 5,000 Peter Borlase Luke White
Houston SaberCats Houston, Texas Aveva Stadium 4,000 Paul Healy De Wet Roos
San Diego Legion San Diego, California Torero Stadium 6,000 Rob Hoadley Nate Augspurger
Seattle Seawolves Seattle, Washington Starfire Stadium[lower-alpha 2] 4,500 Kees Lensing Riekert Hattingh
Utah Warriors Salt Lake City, Utah Zions Bank Stadium 5,000 Chris Latham Dwayne Polataivao
Eastern Conference New England Free Jacks Boston, Massachusetts Union Point Sports Complex 2,000 Josh Smith Josh Larsen
New Orleans Gold New Orleans, Louisiana Gold Mine 10,000 Nate Osborne Kyle Baillie
Old Glory DC Washington, D.C. Cardinal Stadium 3,500 Andrew Douglas Thretton Palamo
Rugby United New York New York, New York MCU Park 7,000 Greg McWilliams Dylan Fawsitt
Rugby ATL Atlanta, Georgia Lupo Family Field 2,500 Scott Lawrence Ryan Nell
Toronto Arrows Toronto, Ontario Alumni Field
Lamport Stadium
2,500
9,600
Chris Silverthorn Dan Moor

Regular season

Standings

Season Standings
Western Conference
Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1San Diego Legion 5500161108+5321133023
2Utah Warriors 5212125134-915182012
3Colorado Raptors 520398130-321116019
4Seattle Seawolves 5104138162-241522228
5Austin Gilgronis 5113104155-511319107
6Houston SaberCats 510499116-171112026
Eastern Conference
Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1Toronto Arrows 540115189+6216102119
2Old Glory DC 5401122129-713151017
3New Orleans Gold 5302135102+3319133116
4Rugby United New York 5302136131+518172115
5Rugby ATL 5203116119+614122212
6New England Free Jacks 5104139158-192220419
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order
  1. number of matches won
  2. the difference between points for and points against
  3. the number of tries scored
  4. the most points scored
  5. the difference between tries for and tries against
  6. the fewest red cards received
  7. the fewest yellow cards received

Green 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:

    Home \ Away AUS COL HOU NEFJ NOLA OGDC RATL RUNY SAN SEA TOR UTA
    Austin Gilgronis May 17 Apr 26 19–28 Mar 28 Mar 14 Apr 4 10–38 20–20
    Colorado Raptors Mar 21 Apr 18 20–27 May 2 May 30 May 23 22–19 22–14
    Houston SaberCats 20–24 21–12 13–22 May 23 23–31 May 16 May 2 Apr 11
    New England Free Jacks May 9 Apr 4 Mar 14 Apr 25 Apr 18 May 30 34–14 May 16
    New Orleans Gold May 23 May 9 31–22 46–13 10–22 Apr 18 21–25 Mar 28
    Old Glory DC Mar 15 May 24 Apr 11 31–29 Mar 29 28–22 Apr 26 May 3
    Rugby ATL Mar 22 Apr 5 May 17 19–22 Apr 26 May 10 18–28 28–19
    Rugby United NY 49–31 Apr 25 May 1 May 30 May 9 Apr 10 Mar 14 Mar 22
    San Diego Legion May 3 49–22 Apr 5 30–21 Mar 22 24–20 33–24 May 25
    Seattle Seawolves May 31 Mar 29 Mar 21 44–29 May 17 Apr 12 17–39 31–33
    Toronto Arrows 27–22 Apr 12 May 3 May 31 Apr 19 May 22 May 10 Apr 4
    Utah Warriors Apr 18 May 9 May 30 39–33 Mar 14 May 16 Mar 28 Apr 25

    Updated to match(es) played on March 8, 2020
    Colors: Blue: home team win; Yellow: draw; Red: away team win.

    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)


    Week 6 (Mar 14–15)


    Bye/s: Rugby ATL, Toronto Arrows

    Week 7 (Mar 21–22)


    Bye/s: NOLA Gold, Utah Warriors

    Week 8 (Mar 28–29)


    Bye/s: Houston SaberCats, New England Free Jacks

    Week 9 (Apr 4–5)


    Bye/s: Old Glory DC, RUNY

    Week 10 (Apr 10–12)


    Bye/s: Austin Gilgronis, Colorado Raptors

    Week 11 (Apr 18–19)


    Bye/s: San Diego Legion, Seattle Seawolves

    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:[5]

    Last updated: March 9, 2020

    Sanctions

    Player Team Red Yellow
    Mike Shephard Toronto Arrows10
    Poasa Waqanibau New England Free Jacks02
    Diego Magno Houston SaberCats02
    Brendan Daly Colorado Raptors01
    Malcolm May NOLA Gold01
    Lindsay Stevens NOLA Gold01
    Nikola Bursic NOLA Gold01
    Gordon Fullerton Old Glory DC01
    Saia Uhila Utah Warriors01
    Josh Larsen New England Free Jacks01
    Ben Foden RUNY01
    Peter Malcolm San Diego Legion01
    Vili Toluta'u Seattle Seawolves01
    Lino Saunitoga Austin Gilgronis01
    Potu Leavasa Jr. Austin Gilgronis01
    Brad Hemopo New England Free Jacks01
    Anthony Parry RUNY01
    Sione Fangaiuiha Austin Gilgronis01
    Maikeli Mudu Austin Gilgronis01
    Tomás de la Vega Toronto Arrows01
    Tiaan Loots Houston SaberCats01
    Nakai Penny Seattle Seawolves01
    Tim Maupin NOLA Gold01
    JP du Plessis San Diego Legion01
    Kelepi Fifita Colorado Raptors01
    Holden Yungert NOLA Gold01
    Jamie Mackintosh Austin Gilgronis01
    Renata Roberts-Tenana Old Glory DC01
    Manuel Diana Toronto Arrows01
    Paddy Ryan RUNY01
    Carl Meyer NOLA Gold01
    Joshua Furno San Diego Legion01
    Will Vakalahi Old Glory DC01
    Neethling Gericke Rugby ATL01
    Andrew Ferguson Toronto Arrows01
    Rene Ranger Colorado Raptors01
    Marco Fepulea'i Colorado Raptors01
    Andrew Quattrin Toronto Arrows01
    Rodrick Waters Austin Gilgronis01
    Stephan Coetzee Seattle Seawolves01

    MLR Virtual

    Following the cancellation of the 2020 season, the MLR announced they would host a tournament, with each team, playing Rugby20.[6] 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 Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund. All of the matches would be streamed on the league's Twitch account.

    MLR Team (National Team) Wins Draws Loses
    Austin Gilgronis ( Fiji)000
    Colorado Raptors ( New Zealand)000
    Houston Sabercats ( Ireland)000
    New England Free Jacks ( Wales)105
    New Orleans Gold ( United States)100
    Old Glory DC ( France)000
    Rugby ATL ( Japan)100
    Rugby United New York ( Australia)001
    San Diego Legion ( South Africa)000
    Seattle Seawolves ( England)000
    Toronto Arrows ( Canada)100
    Utah Warriors ( Uruguay)000

    Round 1

    Round 2

    Round 3

    Round 4

    Round 5

    First round

    Semi-finals

    Final

    Friendlies

    Notes

    1. Infinity Park is in Glendale, Colorado, a home rule municipality in the Denver metropolitan area.
    2. Starfire Stadium is in the Seattle suburb of Tukwila, Washington.[3]

    References

    See also

    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.