Round 1 of Major League Rugby 2019 is in the books. And, ho boy, it was an intense one. Four fixtures on opening weekend, including our first look at the two expansion teams, did not disappoint. Every contest was down to the wire, delivering excitement that met even the highest expectations.

This is the Greatest Show

For those hoping this season will continue to increase the rugby footprint in the USA, Round 1 could not have gone better. There are many ingredients that go into a successful rugby product, of course. But the main ingredient must be parity. The matches have to be competitive. Every contest needs to have real stakes. That was a strength in MLR 2018 and early indications suggest it will be even more so this year.

With four matches in the books, the aggregate point differential was a mere 10 points. That is an average margin of victory of 2.5 points a game. Doesn’t get much closer than that.

That type of competitive tension is exactly what will be needed to convert new rugby fans. But was it just good luck? Did the schedule give us four evenly-matched fixtures to start the season that gave the appearance of greater parity than really exists? Only time will tell. But so far, it has been some show.

A League of Their Own

One thing that must inevitably occur in the maturation of any league is the discovery of its own character. It doesn’t happen overnight and the nuances may be subtle. But, sooner or later, Major League Rugby will establish its own brand of rugby.

In Round 1 of MLR’s second season, we may be starting to see that brand emerge. These teams are built to attack and they are endeavoring to do so in creative, ambitious ways. In risky ways, even. Which also means a higher error count than a more conservative game plan would generate.

While the raw number of mistakes remains high, as it was last year, the nature of the mistakes were more encouraging in this Round 1. Last year, unforced errors were just a sign of the overall quality of play. This weekend, most of the errors came when players were trying to execute difficult attacking maneuvers. It may be a sign of the budding MLR style, featuring dynamic, flashy attacks and high levels of physicality. It’s an offensive mold more reminiscent of Super Rugby in the southern hemisphere than the more system-based European character. And the big hit defense may be purely American. As this season progresses, it will be interesting to track whether this style or any unique style takes hold.

New Kids on the Block

Two new teams played their first MLR matches this weekend. Toronto came up just short, losing to a NOLA Gold team that came into the year with all cylinders firing. New York stole one from San Diego in a back-and-forth battle.

Much has been written and said about these expansion teams in the lead up to the season. Now, with a week under our belts, we can arrive at some conclusions.

Firstly, neither of these teams are going to run away with the league, as some suspected. They may very well both be playoff teams when the smoke clears, but they’ll need to grind for it.

But secondly, these teams are good. They aren’t going to be classic expansion team pushovers. They looked none the worse for wear from having missed MLR season one.

Which means, basically, that neither the best case scenarios or the worst case scenarios for these teams look likely. After the first week, they look somewhere in the middle. Good sides who will have to compete for playoff spots.

Midas Touch

NOLA Gold, who finished second to last in 2018, came out to play in the season opener. Facing a solid Toronto side, their attack exploded back into action.

New additions Cam Dolan and Scott Gale created plays from inside out, drawing in Toronto defenders and creating easy overlaps along the touchlines. With JP Eloff and Tim Maupin getting the ball in space repeatedly, good things are going to happen.

Toronto, for its part, took some time to adjust defensively. They were also able to storm back and bring the game nearly even. Both of those are good signs for the Arrows.

But NOLA’s attack looked right up there with the best in MLR during the first week. If this team can get its defense reasonably sorted, they look like a playoff contender.

Be Prepared

With the season length doubled and the opening weekend moved back to January, there was not much chance for a preseason. The impact of that absence was mixed.

Some teams did start slow, notably Toronto and San Diego. But by and large, the teams played without any overt signs of offseason rust. Shape of play was there. Structure was there. That speaks well of the coaching staffs, broadly expanded over the offseason. They got their sides to fighting weight without the benefit of meaningful preseason schedules.

That stands in contrast to last year, when Houston led the league with a long exhibition schedule before disappointing in-season. One wonders if the short preseason won’t become the norm, given that the negative side effects were minimal.

The Champ is Here

The week ended with a grudge match between last year’s top two sides. Seattle managed what they could not in 2018, they beat Glendale in a regular season fixture. In what was probably the most chaotic match of the weekend, both of these teams played fast and angry from the opening kick. Both wanted to make a statement. That led to a fierce, if sometimes sloppy, contest.

Brock Staller’s chip and chase try was the best-looking score of the week. Fittingly, Seattle’s revered scrum finally earned a penalty, giving Staller the chance to put his team ahead for good with a penalty goal. That same scrum was under pressure on the last play of the match when Glendale almost pushed the Seawolves off the ball. But Seattle managed to extract it and send it into the stands for the opening round victory.

Round 1 Results

NOLA 36 – Toronto 31

Austin 20 – Houston 21

San Diego 23 – New York 25

Seattle 20 – Glendale 18

Standings