Anthem Opens MLR Account and We're There For It
Anthem Opens MLR Account and We're There For It
So they had a rugby game in Charlotte.
Anthem RC opened their Major League Rugby account. The World Rugby /. MLR /. USA Rugby funded team that evened out the numbers will serve as a development vehicle for the USA national team. So, young players, or players working their way toward the Eagles, all under a Head Coach, Alama Ieremia, who has only recently arrived in town to work with them.
Oh, and they were playing the defending champs, the New England Free Jacks.
GRR chatted briefly with Ieremia on Saturday and he understood the task ahead for his players. After all, 19 were making their Major League Rugby debut ... against the defending champions.
What he wanted was for the players to stay in the fight the whole way.
Tyren Al-Jiboori speaks with GRR about that @AnthemRugby debut. @usmlr @USARugby pic.twitter.com/xlltdWhT8l
— Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) March 5, 2024
Well, they did that. They lost, of course, but Anthem did get tries from Tyren Al-Jiboori and Mateo Gadsden and a penalty from Oscar Koller in a 44-13 loss. It was a real rugby game. Anthem played hard and had some real scoring opportunities. They were in trouble in the scrum and gave up an interception try that hurt them, but they were in the fight, as Coach Ieremia wanted.
So here at GRR we don't cover the MLR deeply. We talk about the draft and discuss the league periodically, but others cover it day-to-day. However, this Anthem team is a national team development project. It's a project that will provide much-needed professional minutes for young American rugby players.
Minutes on the field is a crucial component of building depth at the national team level. This was the first step, and it was a successful one. This group is only going to get better.
Oh, and one more thing. We at GRR keep talking about getting more American players on rosters in MLR, and we think it helps bring in fans. Anthem proved we weren't delusional (at least about this topic). Over 2,300 fans showed up to cheer a team they had never seen before. They were drawn to the game because Charlotte has a strong rugby community; they were drawn because these are American rugby players; they were drawn because local product Chase Suznevich was starting at scrumhalf.
And that is all just step 1.
