MLR Championship Recap: New England Free Jacks Win Back-to-Back Titles

Welcome back to the mountaintop, New England. The Free Jacks became the MLR's second team to win consecutive titles with a victory over Seattle on Sunday.

Aug 5, 2024 by Briar Napier

MLR Championship Recap: New England Free Jacks Win Back-to-Back Titles

Entering this weekend, there had only been one back-to-back Major League Rugby champion in league history.

At the conclusion of Sunday afternoon’s 2024 MLR Championship at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, there were two.

The Eastern Conference champion New England Free Jacks, who overcame injuries and a midseason drop in form to sweep the regular-season and playoff conference titles, completed their journey to a repeat, taking down the Seattle Seawolves by a 20-11 margin to pick up the club’s second MLR title.

Only the Seawolves had previously captured consecutive MLR titles, pulling off the feat in the league’s inaugural two seasons of 2018 and 2019. The Free Jacks — who captured this year’s crown in front of a MLR-record crowd of 12,085 fans — have done the job, as well, and against none other than Seattle.

In a match where the majority of scoring came off of the tee, 2023 MLR Player of the Year and Free Jacks fly-half Jayson Potroz was in vintage form with five penalties, while teammate Jed Melvin — a flanker who was only signed by New England in May and became arguably the best midseason acquisition in the entire league — was named Man of the Match for his play on both ends of the pitch.

"(This is) special,” Free Jacks coach Scott Mathie said after the match, per a MLR news release. “Early in the season, we suffered a lot of injuries. That was difficult, and we had to go through some struggles, but you know it means everything. It’s more rewarding, you know, because we have to go through that pain and stuff. Such a special moment."

Melvin was able to share some thoughts, too.

"We had a game plan coming in,” Melvin said. “Seattle is quite a big pack, so we wanted to run them around. I felt like in the first half, we kind of did that, had a bit of dominance. They are a quality team, so they came back. Everyone did their role, and we managed to get a team win, which was pretty good."

Going into Sunday, the Seawolves were determined to ruin the Free Jacks’ repeat dreams and extend their then-solo record of MLR titles to three. But New England ensured it was going to set the tone early and be rock-solid defensively from there.

The Free Jacks never trailed, kicking off the scoring via a Potroz penalty in the ninth minute, before Namibia international Le Roux Malan — who scored a 76th-minute try in the 2023 final to help put the Free Jacks ahead late on their way to the trophy — followed up his final heroics from a season ago with a stunning try in the 14th minute Sunday, taking a pass before somersault diving into the right corner to touch down for five points to put New England up 8-0.

New England had a dominant first half, controlling possession and preventing many chances for Seattle. For the first half-hour, a Mack Mason penalty (which was almost immediately canceled out by another Potroz boot) was the Western Conference’s champion's only notch on the scoreboard.

That was true until former World Rugby Player of the Year finalist and Seattle hooker Joe Taufete’e managed to get the Seawolves over the line in the 31st minute, with the team executing a lineout perfectly from short range and offloading to the former Lyon and Leicester Tigers man near the left corner for a score.

Another Potroz penalty just before the half put the Free Jacks up 14-8, however, leaving Seattle with a little bit of extra work to do going into the second 40.

MLR Championship Extended Highlights ⬇️

Highlights: https://t.co/Ftl06tZqoP
Full match: https://t.co/Z4x74EHDRy @NEFreeJacks | @SeawolvesRugby pic.twitter.com/pOXnKSmFJp
— Major League Rugby (@usmlr) August 7, 2024

A slower-paced second frame, however, was something that went right with New England’s plans.

Neither team scored a try in the second half — though New England almost had one in the 53rd minute that eventually was overturned on TMO review — as a Mason penalty was sandwiched between two more from Potroz in the first 15 minutes of the half.

The final 25 minutes of the match were all about the Free Jacks and Seawolves not being willing to give up an inch, though with the nine-point advantage it had, New England had no problems with packing it in and seeing through a second straight title.

The Free Jacks had several crucial stops deep in their own territory late in the match, preventing Seattle from putting extra pressure on them, and a conceded penalty from the Seawolves in the 81st minute was the final nail in the coffin for their championship hopes.

"You look at things over the course of the season, not just in a snapshot of one game,” Seattle coach Allen Clarke said. “All credit to New England today. They managed the game well. They lived off our mistakes, and I thought they got on the right side of the referee. Fundamentally for us, now is not the time for being overly analytical. It’s a time to reflect on the season in terms of the adversity that the team have had to manage and really applaud how good the boys have been to drag ourselves into the final and compete."

A team from the Eastern Conference has now won each of the past three MLR titles, dating back to when the now-defunct Rugby New York won it all over the Seawolves in 2022. The 31 combined points Sunday were the fewest scored in a MLR final.

The two most successful clubs in the history of the MLR, Seattle and New England have won two-thirds of the league’s championships since it kicked off play in 2018 with two titles apiece; the MLR did not finish the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.