Major League Rugby is a professional USA league that began in 2018 and has teams in the U.S. and in Canada. Current MLR teams include Austin Elite Rugby, Glendale Raptors, Houston SaberCats, New Orleans Gold, Rugby United New York, San Diego Legion, Seattle Seawolves, Toronto Arrows, and the Utah Warriors. In 2020, teams in Atlanta, New England, and Washington, D.C. will join the league and have exhibition matches in 2019.
The Seattle Seawolves re-signed Juan-Philip Smith for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 26-year-old scrumhalf (27in March) is 6’2″ and 205lbs. JP started all five matches for the Seawolves during the COVID-19 shortened season, playing all 400 minutes and scoring two tries. In November he played for the Ohio Aviators 10s in the World Tens Series in Bermuda. During the 2019 MLR season, Smith played969 minutes in all 18 matches, scoring 6 tries. He had 51 ball carries for 352 meters, 4 line breaks, 5 tackle breaks, 5 offloads, 124 tackles and had 88 kicks for 2,819 meters. Smith…