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Superliga Americana de Rugby
The Superliga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) is a professional rugby championship in South America. It will begin on February 28, 2020 and will end in May. It will be a based on franchise model similar to Super Rugby ( where Argentina’s Jaguares team already participates) or the PRO14 with the league comprising of 6 teams from Argentina ( Ceibos ), Brazil ( Corinthians ), Chile ( Selknam ), Colombia ( Cafeeros Pro ), Paraguay ( Olimpia Lions ) and Uruguay ( Penarol ). It will be held in parallel to North Americas Major League Rugby professional competition, opening up the possibility of cross over games between the two hemispheres.
The competition will operate on a home and away format.. The first four places in the regular season will qualify for semifinals (1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3), with the winnings going onto to contest the inaugural final while the losing semi-finalists will compete for in a third place place off.
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Major League Rugby
Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is North Americas professional rugby union competition and the highest level of domestic competition for clubs. In the 2020 season it will be contested by twelve teams: eleven from the United States and one from Canada. MLR is officially sanctioned by USA Rugby, which is a member union of Rugby Americas North (RAN), and consequently part of World Rugby, the league was founded in 2017, and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
With its initial beginnings as part of established amateur rugby clubs in major North American urban areas, MLR began its first season in 2018 as an initiative of the American rugby community in partnership with private investors. Three further American clubs, Atlanta, Boston and Washington D.C, will begin play in 2020.
Major League Rugby (MLR) will be entering its third season next year. For the first two years of its existence, MLR’s format had all teams in a single table format. However there will now be two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division.
With its initial beginnings as part of established amateur rugby clubs in major North American urban areas, MLR began its first season in 2018 as an initiative of the American rugby community in partnership with private investors. Three further American clubs, Atlanta, Boston and Washington D.C, will begin play in 2020.
Major League Rugby (MLR) will be entering its third season next year. For the first two years of its existence, MLR’s format had all teams in a single table format. However there will now be two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division.
MLR – Eastern Division
The two semi-finalists from last year, the Toronto Arrows and Rugby United New York and original MLR team NOLA Gold will be joined by three new expansion teams.
These teams are Rugby ATL, Old Glory DC, and New England Free Jacks.
MLR – Western Division
All six western division teams have been in MLR since its inception. The two times defending champions the Seattle SeaWolves and last years finalist San. Diego Legion are joined by Austin Gilgronis, Utah Warriors, Houston SaberCats and the Colorado Raptors in the division.
MLR is league with playing opportunities roughly fitting into 3 distinct buckets the first is best domestic U.S and Canadian players are drawn from their respective domestic club and collegiate competition alongside USA & Canada Internationals, the second bucket is young up and coming overseas players that have been through Tier 1 academy structures and have competed in some of the rest of the worlds professional competitions thus qualifying them to play professionally in North America. The lsat group is the smallest one that is filled with marque players that bring a level of experience and cache to the league and their respective teams. Two examples of this would be;
San Diego Legions’ Ma’a Nonu is a New Zealand All Blacks superstar signing with the San Diego Legions of MLR. He has won 2 World Cups, 5 Tri-Nations/Rugby Championships and 8 Bledisloe Cups. Coach Rob Hoadley spoke about the importance of Ma’a Nonu in San Diego and MLR. “Ma’a is a huge addition for us,” Legion head coach Rob Hoadley said. “It is undeniable that he will have a major impact on the MLR this season. He is a world-class player who has proven himself to be one of the greats of the game.”
Rugby United New York’s Mathieu Bastareaud, the French international rugby star. Since making his debut for the French national team in 2009, “Basta” has made over 50 appearances representing his country, most recently during the 2019 6 Nations Championship, when he faced off against rivals Italy, Ireland, England, and France. He has captained the side on three occasions as well.
Major League Rugby Expansion 2021
There will be a Dallas team joining MLR in 2021. This would be the third Texan team joining the MLR side, with Austin and Houston already having teams. Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the USA alongside Vancouver and Halifax in Canada are also rumored to be potential expansion cities.
Major League Rugby Schedule
The schedule for the regular season will start on Saturday, February 8 where NOLA Gold will host Old Glory DC. Also, on the same day, the Houston Sabercats will host the Colorado Raptors. The MLR playoffs had the top four teams make it to the playoffs this year. Next year, this will increase to six teams. The top seed of each conference gets a bye to the conference finals. The second and third-placed teams of each conference, will then face each other. The winner of that playoff match will face the top seed of their conference. The Conference champions [semifinals winners] will then face each other for the major prize. The Americas Rugby Shield. All MLR teams will have a 16 game schedule to determine who will make the playoffs.
