MLR Championship Final Preview: Will Seattle Or New England Prevail?

The Seawolves and Free Jacks, with three of a possible five titles between them, are due to square off to close the most cutthroat MLR season yet.

Aug 4, 2024 by Briar Napier

MLR Championship Final Preview: Will Seattle Or New England Prevail?

This year’s Major League Rugby season featured a revamped playoff format, three teams making their postseason debuts and a whole lot of chaos extending all the way through the first round of the knockouts.

But in the end, when it came down to just two squads left standing, two familiar names occupied those spots.

The Seattle Seawolves and the New England Free Jacks, who hold three of the five MLR titles in league history, are due to square off to close perhaps the most cutthroat and parity-filled season in league history this weekend to decide who leaves Southern California as the 2024 MLR champion.

Both finalists are well-deserving of their spots in the title match, and if you've been following along for the 20 weeks of play in the United States’ top professional rugby competition this year, it’s a final worthy of your attention.

It’s a classic showdown on a big stage. We couldn’t have asked for anything better to wrap up another MLR campaign.

Here’s a look at the 2024 MLR Championship, scheduled to kick off Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern, live from Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego:

New England Free Jacks

Previous MLR title: 2023

Road to San Diego: Defeated Old Glory DC in conference semifinals, Chicago Hounds in conference final

The lowdown: Has the process from winning a title to defending one changed very much for the Free Jacks?

Not really, if you ask coach Scott Mathie, who is gunning for his second league title in just his third season as New England boss. But it’s clear now after a championship victory that the Free Jacks try to carry themselves like champions in what they do.

“Process hasn’t really changed,” Mathie said earlier this week in a pre-match press conference. “I think we’ve really doubled down on standards of behavior and standards of acceptance within our environment. … What’s a Free Jack? What’s the Free Jack way? What’s the Free Jack standard of acceptance with each draw we do and each thing we get right?”

The “Free Jack way” has had another bonus as of late - hardware, and lots of it, no matter what gets thrown New England’s direction.

The Eastern Conference’s regular-season and playoff champions, the Free Jacks are looking to be just the second team in MLR history to win two consecutive league titles after their opponents Sunday, who pulled off the feat in the league’s inaugural two seasons of 2018 and 2019.

Has the journey to Snapdragon Stadium been perfect for New England? Far from it, especially after it had a stretch of losing three of five matches in midseason — with one of those defeats coming to the expansion Miami Sharks, who missed the playoffs entirely — and got battered with a host of major injuries this season, including to Namibian No. 8 Wian Conradie and veteran scrum-half John Poland.

But New England has been able to successfully rebound from adversity on multiple occasions this season, having now won six of its past seven going into the final with crucial midseason signings like flanker Jed Melvin (three tries in six starts) working wonders.

Oh, and lethal fullback Reece Macdonald and former MLR Player of the Year and fly-half Jayson Potroz still are among the best in their positions in the competition, too.

“We’ve always been confident in our depth of squad,” Mathie said. “I think that’s the model we run as a team is we’re not huge in all the big-name players, but we make sure that we get a highly-competitive squad. We go for more players than less, whereas some teams might have a little bit less, but they get bigger names. … It’s really great to see that we can handle some really key injuries and that the process and the model that we’re running is actually showing some success.”

Seattle Seawolves

Previous MLR titles: 2018, 2019

Road to San Diego: Defeated San Diego Legion in conference semifinals, Dallas Jackals in conference final

The lowdown: Obviously, a spot in the MLR Championship is not a new position for the Seattle Seawolves.

But it most definitely was not a cakewalk this time around for Seattle to get back to the league final for the fourth time in club history.

Having to take down an old rival in San Diego and an upset-minded Dallas squad that took down the top-seeded Houston SaberCats in the conference semifinals, Seattle’s consistent battles in the brutal Western Conference this season has left it standing alone at the end of it all to face the Free Jacks for what could be a record-extending third MLR title.

Coach Allen Clarke — who lost in his only other final appearance at the helm with Seattle when it was defeated by Rugby New York in 2022 — knows exactly what it takes to get to this point and fall just short, and he’s eager to try and help the Seawolves finally win it all again for the first time in five years.

“The Western Conference has been high-caliber throughout, and there have been no easy games,” Clarke said. “You’re always fighting to get a home semifinal and conference finals at a minimum because (of) the benefits of that, particularly playing in front of your own people. … Obviously, the Free Jacks have had the same, also. We’re coming in with parity and advanced preparation heading into the final on Sunday.”

Though several players on the Seawolves’ roster such as recently-capped USA Eagle and scrum-half JP Smith and back-rower Riekert Hattingh (who will miss the final due to injury) were around for Seattle’s title-winning teams, fresh faces have been the driving force for the team in its return to the final.

First-year Australian fly-half Mack Mason — in his second MLR stint after previously starring for the now-defunct Austin Gilgronis — has absolutely lit it up at the No. 10 spot for Seattle, finishing as the regular season’s top point-scorer and helping the Seawolves go 5-1 against Eastern Conference teams this season.

One of those victories happened to come against none other than the Free Jacks in Week 8, when Seattle took the only prior meeting between the two finalists this season by a 29-21 margin on the road. A

nother Seawolves rookie, Jade Stighling, didn’t play in that match, but he looks ready to embark on being a crucial part of Seattle’s attack Sunday. He has racked up 10 tries on the year.

Clarke gave plenty of respect to New England and the threat it poses in his portion of the pre-match press conference this week, but a culture he’s helped build in Seattle with talented players in tow makes it a dangerous squad coming into the final match of the MLR season.

“There are many wins that I see as a head coach, other coaches see and members of our operations-business staff that aren’t registered on the scoreboard or in MLR win-loss columns,” Clarke said. “That’s a big facet of why I’m here and what the Seawolves represent. Yes, we want to be in knockouts. We want to be in finals. We want to be winning trophies. We want to play a good brand of rugby also, and we want to grow the game from the grassroots upwards.”