Major League Rugby

[Welshdragon2000]

There's a few interesting videos on YouTube about the MLR. Rugby wrap up seems to be chatting about it a fair bit. The 1014 rugby put an interesting video up last week called 'USA rugby revolution'. I think I knew a lot of that stuff already but it was a good watch and had someone previewing the MLR sides briefly.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Good job on the table.

 

[Matt7557]

So far so good for MLR. Crowds have been decent and engaged (I've watched every match). The level of play isn't quite there just yet. But with more training and time for the teams to mesh. It will improve.

 

[die_mole]

laptop back from shop: table updated after 2.3 weeks

Week 3
May 3
Austin Elite played NOLA Gold last night winning 30-17

May 4 8:30PM Eastern
SD Legion vs Houston Sabercats
A win and Houston can sneak into first but that would need the Raptors somehow losing to Utah. Legion have been disappointing so probably lose.

May 5 3:30PM Eastern

Utah vs Glendale
Glendale gets 5 points.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I know Glendale will be big favourites for this season but it has to be promising that the points difference spread is +/- 20 points across the league after 2/3 games. Good old US sports parity - presumably a happy accident?

I have to say I found the early Pro Rugby games to be of a slightly higher standard with attacking play (at least for Ohio and Denver) - but it is very early days and perhaps it is a result of more determined defending in MLR.

 

[Matt7557]

I know Glendale will be big favourites for this season but it has to be promising that the points difference spread is +/- 20 points across the league after 2/3 games. Good old US sports parity - presumably a happy accident?

I have to say I found the early Pro Rugby games to be of a slightly higher standard with attacking play (at least for Ohio and Denver) - but it is very early days and perhaps it is a result of more determined defending in MLR.

The parity is no accident it was by design. The teams are set to a very stringent $350,000 annual salary cap paid out by the league office. This was done to ensure that all the clubs adhered to the said cap.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Looks like Corbisiero is scrum coaching at SD Legion
Good to see him involved in the game at pitch level still

 

[Welshdragon2000]

What's people's thoughts on the competition so far? Only seen one game so far but I've been watching rugby wrap up's summaries of the game weeks.

 

[Matt7557]

I think its been good. There haven't been run away victories, some game have been real nail biters. The level of play isn't great, but the competitive level really is.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

it's a good start and something to build on which is the most that can be asked of really.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Washington D.C. getting a side.
Planning to join the league in 2020, with exhibition games starting next season

 

[die_mole]

Washington D.C. getting a side.
Planning to join the league in 2020, with exhibition games starting next season

Makes sense. We have four d1 teams in the area, although that will change with USA rugby screwing things up next year.

A lot of really solid high school programs, 2 of which are top 10 year in and year out.

Hopefully they'd start an inner city academy, really need to make rugby accessible to kids other then prep school or rich suburban public schools.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

There's a few teams planning on joining it seems. New York side next season, two Canadian sides i think i heard and now a side from Washington D.C as you say. Glad to see sides joining and hopefully we won't see any teams dropping out for financial reasons.
There's a lot of teams in the west so teams in Washington D.C and New York will be good.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

I have been looking into American universities and while i did that i was looking into their sports teams (in particular their rugby teams). The NCSA (college sports organisation) does not have rugby as one of its sports yet and when they do (i think it is a case of when and not if), it will be an important step in growing the game.

 

[die_mole]

I have been looking into American universities and while i did that i was looking into their sports teams (in particular their rugby teams). The NCSA (college sports organisation) does not have rugby as one of its sports yet and when they do (i think it is a case of when and not if), it will be an important step in growing the game.

NCAA sponsors women's rugby.

The consensus is that people don't want the corrupt and awful organization near our sport. They have made the women's college game a joke by having competing championships.

More and more schools are promoting the sport to some type of fully funded status. We just need them to start offering scholarships, which some do, for the sport to really take off.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

NCAA sponsors women's rugby.

The consensus is that people don't want the corrupt and awful organization near our sport. They have made the women's college game a joke by having competing championships.

More and more schools are promoting the sport to some type of fully funded status. We just need them to start offering scholarships, which some do, for the sport to really take off.

Thanks.
Yes, only a small number of colleges offer scholarships and the sport just needs some initial funding to increase growth and awareness.

On tier 2 threads I always talk about the need to increase 'growth and awareness' because, for me, these are the foundations a country requires to challenge tier 1 nations. Obviously funding is very important too but that comes once there is interest in the sport. You can pump a shed load of money into a sport only to find that no one understands the game and is not interested. I believe the USA are about 10-15 years away from reaching the status of 'tier 1 challengers', I hope it is sooner.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

So the play-offs are confirmed:
San Diego vs Seattle Seawolves
Utah Warriors vs Glendale Raptors
Glendale were unbeaten up until this last weekend where they lost heavily to San Diego 23-5 which is very good for the competition because the last thing you want is for a team to run away with the league in the first season. All the internationals are back this weekend so you would expect Seattle and Glendale to win their games and meet in the final.

I've really really enjoyed the MLR this season, I've followed it as much as I can and it's great to see the Eagles benefitting from it. I just hope that the league doesn't run out of money or something like what happened to PRO rugby. Any news on when a Canadian team is joining?

There will be a South American professional league set up featuring 10 teams (Argentina 4, Uruguay 2, Paraguay 1, Chile 1, Brazil 2). There's talk that this league will somehow join with the MLR which would be great imo. This South American league is meant to be kicking off in 2019 so hopefully the fitness levels of Uruguay's players will increase for the RWC and Argentina can build some depth while also developing rugby in smaller rugby nations. That's a lot of teams for a first season, but I really hope this works out as South America is a market with so much potential.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

New team confirmed! LA Coast Rugby is joining for next season. This one is a bit out of nowhere as I hadn't heard much on an LA side joining. No news yet on Canadian teams joining but it seems that Ontario Arrows are the most likely candidate to join. Hopefully there will be 10 teams next season (there was 7 this year).

In terms of results, Seattle Seawolves beat San Diego Legion 38-24 and Glendale Raptors beat Utah Warriors 34-21 to set up the final next week in San Diego.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

LA makes sense.

Could see it being a really good draw for some players.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

LA makes sense.

Could see it being a really good draw for some players.

Crowds in LA in the past have been disappointing which is the worry. There is huge potential in LA for rugby to do well, I'm just worried about the crowds. Utah Warriors and Seattle Seawolves have had sold out crowds all the time which is excellent!