The inaugural season of Women’s Elite Rugby came to a close with the Denver Onyx’s 53-13 win over the New York Exiles. The Legacy Cup was held in Eagan, Minnesota, at TCO Stadium.

Before the WER was founded, the next major competitive league for women’s rugby in the United States was the Women’s Premier League. The league was amateur and pay-to-play.

The WER is now the first professional women’s rugby league in the U.S. Six teams make up the current league, with the TC Gemini representing the Twin Cities.

The game was poised to be a more competitive match-up due to the Exiles handing the Onyx their only loss of the season.

However, the Onyx have five of the top 10 point scorers. While the Exiles have the top point scorer, Jetta Owens, it was not enough to compete the full 80 minutes. 

By the second half, the Onyx had begun to run away with the lead. 

The Exiles scored their last points of the match at the end of the first half. The Onyx held a 24-13 lead at the break and scored 29 in the second half on their way to the win. 

Onyx head coach Sarah Chobot said their first-half performance was uncharacteristic for them.

“I think we were trying to overplay a little bit too much in that first half,” Chobot said. “Then the second half, we got back to business and our defense started to look like it normally does.”

Jetta Owens of the Exiles said that though they hoped to come out victorious, they were still happy to represent New York in the finals.

“New York is a special team, especially in this league, it’s all U.S.-based players that are here, that have been training here,” Owens said. “To make it to a final it means, take a look at us, we have good rugby in the U.S.”

The strongest leagues and players have historically come from Australia, England and New Zealand. With a small audience in the U.S. for both men’s and women’s rugby, vice president Katherine Aversano said WER aims to strengthen U.S. women’s rugby on an international level.

“On the women’s rugby side of things, with WER, we really wanted to build a strong presence ahead of the 2033 Women’s Rugby World Cup in the United States,” Aversano said. 

The U.S. has not won the cup since 1991. With the disorganization of U.S. women’s rugby, many players opted to play in England because of their more established league. Currently, 21 of 36 players from the U.S. National Team are signed to an English team.

Women’s rugby recently gained momentum after the U.S. won the bronze medal in the 2024 Olympics after they pulled off a major upset over Australia. Neither men’s nor women’s rugby was a part of the Olympics from 1924 until it was featured in the 2016 Olympics.

Rugby is expected to be a staple in future Olympics at least until 2032, when Australia hosts.