Free Jacks Advance to Second Consecutive MLR Final

The New England Free Jacks continued their run to a second consecutive Major League Rugby (MLR) title with a 23-17 home win against the Chicago Hounds at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy.

The Free Jacks showed true resilience and toughness by putting their bodies on the line to make try-saving stops and scoring impressive tries.  

“It has been a real testing season since we have lost some really key players. We had to dig deep and forge new partnerships which takes time. I am starting to see now in the playoffs the temperament that this team has. I love it here and I love the people,” said Head Coach Scott Mathie. 

In the first half, both teams showed a lot of strength as the defenses fought back and forth. At the 20-minute mark the Free Jacks finally broke when Reece MacDonald scored a try (conversion failed) for an early 5-0 lead. 

To build on that lead, MacDonald earned his second try of the match after catching a Hounds’ chip kick and running 80 meters down the pitch while evading multiple Hound defenders for a 10-0 (conversion failed). 

“We practice that a lot. Just happened to open up and I am lucky enough to counter it,” said player of the match MacDonald.

Just before halftime, Chicago’s Adriaan Carelse nearly matched MacDonald’s effort by breaking through the Free Jacks defense after fielding a chip kick. He was stopped short of the try line by MacDonald, but an offload to Nate Augspurger resulted in a Chicago score. Luke Carty made the conversion, putting his team on the board for the first time but trailing 10-7. 

Coming out of the half, the Free Jacks were awarded a penalty kick which Jayson Potroz successfully kicked for points, extending New England’s lead to 13-7. 

At 54 minutes, Free Jacks’ Conor Keys received a yellow card to put New England down to 14 men. The Hounds elected to go for points and Carty made a successful penalty kick tightening the score to 13-10. Following that run of play, Free Jacks were awarded a penalty in a breakdown and successfully made the kick to up the lead to 16-10.

At the 65-minute mark, Chicago’s Dylan Fawsitt scored a try and the successful conversion by Carty gave the Hounds their first lead at 17-16.

With time winding down, the Free Jacks showed true team work with a dozen phases that ended with Andrew Quattrin dotting down a try. A clutch Potroz conversion set the final at 23-17. 

“It’s pretty awesome to go back. We have put in a lot of work over the whole year so to get that result today, pretty proud of the boys and the whole franchise. A lot of preparation and a lot of recovery over the next couple of days, we will watch the game pretty closely tomorrow. Just take it one step at a time.” said MacDonald.

“I was confident after the first half. We denied them a couple of tries they should have scored and we were able to get our foot into the game,” said Mathie. “It is important that we enjoy this and learn from the few things we can learn from. It is important that we reflect on a really good campaign so far. Take all this energy into next week.”

The Free Jacks will play for a second consecutive MLR title against the Seattle Seawolves or the Dallas Jacklas on Sunday, August 4 in San Diego, CA at 4:00 p.m. ET.