The 2021 Major League Rugby final was the third Major League Rugby championship match, held at the conclusion of the 4th season of the rugby union club competition in North America. It was played on August 1, 2021, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, between the LA Giltinis and Rugby ATL.
Background With the 2020 Major League Rugby season being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no Championship match, or series, held in 2020. Instead, the Championship series returned for the 2021 season, which featured the arrival of the LA Giltinis, and the departure of the Colorado Raptors,Petersen, Will, "Updated: Colorado Raptors withdraw from Major League Rugby," 9news.com, April 10, 2020 Accessed March 27, 2021 leaving 12 teams to take part over two conferences; the East and West.
The format for the regular season ensured that the top two teams of each conference would compete in a Conference Final, with the victors of each taking part in the Championship Final. The regular season ended with the LA Giltinis and the Utah Warriors as the top two teams in the Western Conference, and Rugby ATL and Rugby United New York as the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. This marked the first time in MLR history that the Seattle Seawolves would not contest the Championship Final.
On July 24, Rugby ATL ground out a narrow win over RUNY, 10–9, to become the Eastern Conference Champions. They also became the first Eastern-based team to make it to the Championship Final (previous finals only had teams that would later be from the Western Conference.)
On July 25, LA Giltinis were able to secure the victory in the final few minutes, with a try by Ryan James in the closing 5 minutes. Their 17–13 score means that they would become Western Conference Champions, the first time a debuting franchise would claim the title. This also ensured that the Championship Final would be contested against solely expansion franchises for the first time.
Venue The venue was decided by which of the Conference Champions was ranked highest across both conferences. LA, with 63 points, ranked above Atlanta on 57, and held the home advantage for the Championship Final.
Broadcasting The match was broadcast nationally on CBS. It averaged 478,000 viewers.
Match
FB 15 Luke Burton RW 14 John Ryberg OC 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper IC 12 Billy Meakes LW 11 D. T. H. van der Merwe FH 10 Matt Giteau SH 9 Harrison Goddard N8 8 Corey Thomas OF 7 Christian Poidevin BF 6 Angus Cottrell RL 5 Nathan Den Hoedt LL 4 Dave Dennis TP 3 Marco Fepulea'I HK 2 Mahe Vailanu LP 1 Charlie Abel Replacements:HK 16 Sean McNulty PR 17 Blake Rogers PR 18 Luke White LK 19 Sean O’Brien FL 20 Pago Haini SH 21 Serupepeli Vularika FH 22 Luke Carty CE 23 Ryan James Coach: Darren Coleman FB 15 Austin White RW 14 Jeremy Misailegalu OC 13 Ryan Nell IC 12 Bautista Ezcurra LW 11 Rory Van Vugt FH 10 Kurt Coleman SH 9 Rowan Gouws N8 8 Johan Momsen OF 7 Matthew Heaton BF 6 Vili Helu RL 5 Conor Keys LL 4 Marno Redelinghuys TP 3 Wikus Groenwald HK 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg LP 1 Alex Maughan Replacements:HK 16 Neethling Gericke PR 17 Chance Wenglewski PR 18 Will Burke LK 19 Connor Cook FL 20 Ross Deacon SH 21 Ryan Rees FH 22 Robbie Petzer WG 23 Mark O'Keeffe Coach: Scott Lawrence
References