Background & HIstory

Rugby Football Club Los Angeles (Rugby FC LA or RFCLA for short) came to be when a new ownership group bought the Rugby ATL franchise, announcing that the team would relocate to Los Angeles for the 2024 MLR season. Due to the significant change that the franchise went through between Rugby ATL and LA, this site treats the two teams as separate entities. This franchise is no relation to the previous LA franchise, the Giltinis.

Between August and December of 2023, fans would hear nothing about the club apart from the odd rumour, or spark of activity on the MLR trade wire. The ownership group of the LA franchise has some overlap with the Tel Aviv Heat who compete in the Rugby Europe Super Cup, which explains why there is a significant number of Heat players on the LA roster during their inaugural season. A number of Rugby ATL players moved with the franchise to LA for their inaugural season where they finished at the bottom of the Western Conference with a record of 5-1-10. Although they finished 6th in the West, they finished on the exact same number of points as fellow 2024 expansion side the Miami Sharks, 32, and only 3pts behind the Utah Warriors on 35. If nothing else, RFCLA were a competitive team in their first MLR season which for an expansion team, is a good result. Following their 2024 season, RFCLA announced that the contact of Head Coach Steve Brett (who had followed the team from Atlanta) ‘would not be renewed’ beyond the 2024 season.

For RFCLA’s sophomore season in 2025, they went with a remarkably Giltinis inspired look. The team brought in ex-Giltinis Shield-winning Head Coach Stephen Hoiles as both Head Coach and Director of Rugby, and ex-Giltinis Captain Dave Dennis as Assistant Coach. RFCLA also made some huge splashes in the player market, signing veteran Pumas scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou and veteran Super Rugby Fly-half Christian Leali’ifano, who has been test capped by both Australia and Samoa. RFCLA also shook things up with huge moves within MLR, bringing 2021 & 2022 MLR Back of the Year Billy Meakes back to Los Angeles, and signing reigning MLR Player of the Year Reece MacDonald from the New England Free Jacks. These signings, along with a supporting cast from the famous Randwick club in Australia (Hoiles’ former club as both a player and coach), ensured RFCLA took a huge step forward in the 2025 season. LA recorded victories over the Chicago Hounds and 2025 Runners-up the Houston SaberCats during the regular season, finishing 3rd in the Western Conference with a 8-1-7 record and 51pts, earning a spot in the postseason for the first time in team history. They faced the Houston SaberCats in the Western Conference Semifinal and, despite putting in a valiant effort, fell 27-21, ending a solid second season for RFCLA.

In July 2025, following the MLR season, rumours began to circulate that Rugby FC LA would be merging with their California rivals, the San Diego Legion, for the 2026 season. On July 29th, 2025, this was confirmed true as the news was relayed to players and staff for both teams, and the following day on 30th July 2025, RFCLA, the San Diego Legion, and MLR announced that the two California clubs had merged to form the California Legion for the 2026 MLR Season. For the purposes of this site, and given the changes to the organisation from top to bottom. The California Legion is treated as a separate franchise to both Rugby FC LA, and the San Diego Legion. You can find the California Legion team page here.

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Records

all time

Top Scorer: Christian Leali’ifano (95pts)
Top Try Scorer: Jason Damm (14)
Top Playoff Scorer: Christian Leali’ifano (6pts)
Top Tackler: Jason Damm (371)
Top Meter Eater: Andrew Coe (1,639m)
Most Capped Player: Tas Smith (32)
Most Starts: Jason Damm (29)

single season

Top Scorer: Christian Leali’ifano (95pts)
Top Try Scorer: Semi Kunatani (10)
Top Tackler: Jason Damm (199)
Top Meter Eater: Semi Kunatani (1,126m)

historical performance

2024: 5-1-10 (-106) – 32pts: 6th in Western Conference
2025: 8-1-7 (+4) – 51pts: 3rd in Western Conference (Conference Semifinalist)

Overall Regular Season Record: 13-2-17
Overall Championship Series Record: 0-1
Championship Series Appearances: 1 (2025)

head coach & captain

head coach

• Steve Brett (2024)
• Stephen Hoiles (2025)

captain

• Niall Saunders (2024)
• Jason Damm (2025)

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Logo & Jersey

The name, logo, and venue were unveiled on 21st December 2023, and were not received particularly well by the MLR fanbase. While the colours went down well and the acorn outline was something new, fans could not understand how an acorn represented LA or Southern California, and found the ‘L’ and the ‘A’ to make up an unfortunate shape within the acorn outline. RFCLA CEO Pete Sickle stated on Episode 3 of TRN’s Rugby Rundown show that the oak tree had been present in LA long before people, and was a symbol of strength, stability, solidity, & nurture. Sickle also stated that the font chosen was reminiscent of early Hollywood ‘art deco’ style, while the larger A was a tribute to the Rugby ATL franchise that was the foundation of the club. The name of Rugby Football Club Los Angeles was chosen as a more ‘classic’ team name reminiscent of clubs throughout the world, as well as at the professional level in the United Kingdom and Ireland. However, MLR fans thought this name was clunky and lazy, especially after having waited so long to hear any news at all about the team.

RFCLA’s inaugural jerseys instill the sand and beaches of LA, with subtle wave designs throughout. The jerseys are primarily dark blue (home) and light blue (away), with yellow accents similar to the logo. While some fans thought this was also rather dull, it fits in very well with Los Angeles.

Venue

During their inaugural MLR season in 2024, RFCLA played at Dignity Health Sports Park, the 27,000 seat home of MLS franchise LAFC. The stadium had hosted 1 MLR game prior to 2024, a San Diego Legion game against the Utah Warriors in April 2021. It also hosted 3 USA Eagles test matches between 2013-14, and is a planned venue for the 2028 Olympic Rugby Sevens tournaments. For their 2nd season in 2025, RFCLA relocated from Dignity Health Sports Park to the UCLA campus, playing most of their home games out of Wallis Annenberg Stadium, a 2,145 seat soccer stadium.

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