The 2016 PRO Rugby season was the inaugural and only season of the

PRO Rugby Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof may also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African retire ...

, contested by teams from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The season ran from April to July 2016. This was the first season of professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. PRO Rugby contracted 102 players for its five teams. Of these 102 players, 54 have played international rugby, including 36 for the

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

. About 30 players were picked from Pacific Rugby Premiership teams and 15 from Midwest Rugby Premiership teams.

Competition format

Each team played a twelve match schedule with six matches at home and six away. Most matches took place on Sunday to give clubs and schools the chance to play on Saturday and Friday. The league had a lighter schedule on June 5 and 12 (the 12th being during the three-week June international window). Those days had just one match. There was however a full slate on June 19 and 26 (both during the international window) and teams lost players to the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

or other national teams during this time.

Broadcasting

Matches were available for the 2016 inaugural season to stream through prorugby.org or on cable through ONE World Sports or Time Warner Cable Sports Channel. Initially selected matches were available free to all online through www.aol.com but this came to an inexplicable abrupt end. Through the league's official website all matches were streamed free to all viewers. ONE World Sports was offered by multiple cable and satellite providers and covered a range of sports, most notably a large selection of soccer.

Teams and officials

Match officials

PRO Rugby named the following five referees and three assistant referees to handle the regular-season games for the 2016 season. ;Referees * Leah Berard * Scott Green * Nick Ricono * Derek Summers * Kurt Weaver ;Assistant referees * Jamie Miller * Marc Nelson * George O'Neil

Standings

Ladder progression

Players

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps.

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Updated: July 31, 2016

Overall points scorers

Updated: September 6, 2016

Team of the season

The following shows the team of the season, as selected by various media outlets.

Player development

The following list shows PRO Rugby players who earned their debut cap for the U.S. national rugby team during the 2016 season: *

Angus MacLellan Hugh Angus MacLellan II (born August 24, 1992) is an American rugby union player whose usual playing position is prop. He plays for the Utah Warriors in Major League Rugby (MLR) and has played for the United States national rugby union team. You ...

(June 25 vs Canada) *

Langilangi Haupeakui Langilangi Haupeakui (born 3 July 1989) is a United States international rugby union player who currently plays for Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby (MLR). His regular playing position is either No. 8 or Flanker. He previously played for the ...

(June 25 vs Canada)

Attendance

By team

These are the attendance records of each of the teams at the end of the home and away season. The table does not include finals series attendances.

By week

Regular season

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Season transfers

Denver Stampede

Ohio Aviators

Sacramento Express

San Diego Breakers

San Francisco Rush

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:PRO Rugby season

Season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

2016 in American rugby union 2016 rugby union tournaments for clubs