Here’s Round 1’s Stories Behind the Stats Presented by Koa Labs, highlighting all the things you might have missed.

The 2025 Major League Rugby season has barely drawn its first breath, and already, the Free Jacks are delivering high drama, defensive carnage, and the kind of rugby that makes you clutch your head and shout ‘WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!’ 

If you’re learning the game, or the kind of discerning rugby aficionado who likes to get deep into the numbers, to sift through the blood, sweat, and tackle counts, to understand the game on a level beyond what the scoreboard says—then you, my friend, need to be reading the Round by Round Programs.

At Program.FreeJacks.com, we’re serving up two must-read offerings each week:

• The Round Rundown, a pre-match saga filled with storylines, history, and what to watch for
• The Round Recap, where every stat, every hit, every break is dissected like a high-stakes forensic report.

  Bookmark it. Devour it. You’ll thank us later.
  
  The New England Free Jacks kicked off their season with a 24-17 victory over LA RFC, let’s dive into the stories behind the stats. 

VAN DER BANK, THE ESCAPOLOGIST

If there was a Houdini Award for Escape Artistry, it would already be sitting on Wayne Van Der Bank’s mantelpiece. The human highlight reel beat 12 defenders on just 8 carries, in less than 13 minutes of actual attacking play. 

Van der Bank was slipping, sliding, and evading like a man possessed, sending LA defenders into existential crises every time his hands touched the ball. One minute he was here, the next he was gone, and all that remained were LA Jerseys in his wake. 

The 2024 MLR MVP walks away with the Quincy College Player of the Match. Wayne is back and he’s badder than ever.

JOE JOHNSTON: THE MECHANIC’S MASTERCLASS

They call Joe Johnston “The Mechanic,” but after Saturday’s performance, he might need a rebrand as “The Junkyard Wrecker”—because for 80 minutes, he wasn’t fixing LA’s attack, he was dismantling it piece by piece. 

Joe made 28 tackles in just 22 minutes of defensive gameplay—that’s one devastating hit every 46 seconds while LA had the ball in open play. 

At some point, LA must have been searching for a pause button, because Johnston was everywhere, cutting down attacks like a rugby Terminator—which couldn’t be more fitting, considering RFC LA is heading to Fort Quincy on April 22nd and  …  HE’LL BE BACK!

PAULA BALEKANA’S ‘FREE JACKS SUPER MAN’ 

Some players make an impact. Others explode off the stat sheet. Paula Balekana not only picked Le Roux’s kick out of the air and flew across the line like Clark Kent in spandex, he also added 4 carries, 4 tackles, 4 defenders beaten and 3 line breaks. That’s what you call a super human performance. Someone get Paula a cape. 

Jed(i) Melvin ‘the force is strong’ 

And then there was Jed Melvin, or as his teammates call him, “The Jedi.” After this performance, there’s no doubt—the Force is strong in this one. Jed was a defensive master, racking up 25 tackles, stripping possession with 3 turnovers, and still finding time to carry the ball 11 times for 55 meters.

But the real Jedi mind trick? He used The ability of foresight to read a looping pass, intercepted it and crossed the white line for 5 points. 

A BATTLE OF POSSESSION

LA had the ball for 62.7% of the game. That’s 21 minutes and 40 seconds of attack time compared to the Free Jacks’ 13:15. But New England made their time count, proving that it’s, ‘Not how much you have, it’s what you do with it’. 

THE BIG HIT PARADE

Defense wins championships, well two actually and the Free Jacks proved it by putting on a tackle clinic:

• 235 tackles to LA’s 111.
• Sam Caird (26 tackles) and Jed Melvin (25 tackles) joined Johnston in ensuring LA felt every blade of grass at UCLA. 
• Even with all those hits, New England still had a higher tackle success rate (82.8%) over LA’s (81.6%). 

CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE

And yet—this was no cakewalk. LA came to play, and at the heart of their attack was the silky-smooth, telepathic connection between scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou and fly-half Christian Leali’ifano. The 9 and 10 were clockwork, of ballet, and jazz, controlling the tempo, feeding their forwards and launching attacks. Leali’ifano, the maestro, pinged 486 meters worth of pinpoint kicks, stretching the field and pulling strings like a man who’s done this all before. Bertranou, quick as a flash, kept the Free Jacks’ defense on high alert, always ready to pounce, always sniffing out an opportunity. LA will win a lot of games this season. Just not this one.

Final Thoughts

Despite LA holding the ball for longer and making nearly double the carries, it was the Free Jacks’ defensive resilience, clinical finishing, and explosive counter-attacks that secured the win. Van Der Bank weaved magic, Johnston shut the door on LA’s attack, and Balekana made sure the scoreboard ticked over.

A gritty, hard-fought win—just the way New England likes it. Bring on the next round! 

Want more? Get the full list of stats, storylines, and insights at Program.FreeJacks.com and stay ahead of the game.

LET’S RIDE. 🏉🔥

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