36 Points Not Enough In Loss To Hounds

Anthem score six tries through six different finishers in their best attacking display of the season; maul and dominant scrum showcase Cuca’s evolving side at SeatGeek Stadium

Sunday, May 10 2026 – Chicago, IL – Written by Dan Brooks

Twice in the first half Anthem Rugby Carolina hauled themselves back to within a single converted score of the only unbeaten side in Major League Rugby. Twice in the second they did it again. And while the eventual margin of defeat, 61-36 at SeatGeek Stadium on Sunday night, will be the line that goes into the record books, those who watched Anthem score six tries through six different finishers will have left Bridgeview with a different headline ringing in their ears.

This was the most attacking performance of Anthem’s season. It was also their most balanced one, six tries spread between forwards and backs, the front five contributing two; the midfield, the wing and the bench getting the others. Dom Akina opened the scoring in the third minute, the new arrival from Houston dotting down at the end of a patient set in only his second start. Captain Johan Momsen, granite-jawed and immense for 80 minutes, crashed over twice from close range and finished as the joint second-highest points scorer on either side. Malacchi Esdale, the right wing, finished a sweeping move in the corner shortly after half time. Marques Fuala’au, the burly back-rower introduced from the bench, found space off a quick-hands link to score his first Anthem try. And rookie hooker Campbell Robb burrowed over from a driving maul for his fourth try of the campaign, a remarkable rate of return for a No.2 still in his first MLR season.

That kind of distribution speaks to the depth Agustin “Cuca” Cavalieri has built. There is no longer a sense, when Anthem score, that it is going to be one of two or three usual suspects.

But this was the league’s only unbeaten side, averaging 40 points a game and playing in front of a packed home crowd. The Hounds had too much quality across the park, eight tries from eight different starters, fly-half Santiago Videla faultless from the tee with eight conversions from eight, and the gain-line numbers reflected it: 1,146 meters of carry to Anthem’s 581, 25 clean breaks to seven.

In other words, this was a top-of-the-table side performing at full tilt, and Anthem stayed in it for 60 minutes.

The set piece was the platform. Anthem won three of their four scrum feeds, Chicago themselves did not put into a single one, such was the dominance Anthem’s pack established at the contested set piece. Their maul, which has been an evolving weapon all season, was perfect: six attempts, six wins, a 100% success rate against a Hounds side whose own maul went at 63%. Sam Golla, restored to his blindside flanker role and wearing the co-captain’s armband, was imperious in the lineout despite being sin-binned mid-way through the second half for an upright tackle, the kind of call that gets given in 2026 even when, as here, the contact was indirect and the mitigation considerable.

Around him, Will Sherman and Momsen were everywhere in the loose. Baden Godfrey, getting his third consecutive No.8 start, made one of the carries of the night in the opening exchanges, breaking the gain line three times before being hauled down ten metres from the Chicago line. Makeen Alikhan, restored at openside, played the role Cuca has been pushing him into all season: ferret-quick over the ball, all elbows and edges at the breakdown, a constant irritation to Chicago’s nine.

It was from a lineout in the 42nd minute, off the back of a long Luke Carty kick to the corner, that Anthem produced the move of their night. Carty, the fly-half whose game-management has transformed this side’s attack, took a flat ball with an advantage being played, surveyed the line, and threw a skip-pass over the top to Esdale in space. The wing dotted down with no defender within five metres of him. It was a piece of vision, and trust, that few Anthem No.10s of seasons past would have attempted. Carty had been hugely missed during his absence against Old Glory two weeks earlier. He looks, here, as if he is settling into the central role Cuca needs him to play.

Marques Fuala’au’s try followed in the 54th minute, Anthem playing with a numerical disadvantage after Golla’s card, Moni Tonga’uiha, also off the bench, breaking the line through phase play before quick hands found Fuala’au on a sharp angle. And Campbell Robb’s try in the 73rd minute, from a driving maul that Chicago could not stop, brought Anthem within 18 points at 54-36, the equivalent of three converted scores.

Chicago, with the deepest squad in the competition, simply had too much in the final ten minutes. Two late tries stretched the final margin, and the home side moved to 6-0 to tie a franchise record. But the look on the Anthem players’ faces as they made the long walk back to the changing room was not the look of a side that had been beaten. It was the look of a side that had landed punches.

Cuca’s side will travel to Seattle next Sunday looking to add to the two wins already on the board for 2026, a return Anthem could only have dreamed of at this stage in their first two seasons. There were areas where Anthem will know they can be sharper: the tackle success rate of 70% against a backline as potent as Chicago’s exposed too many missed first-up tackles, and the kicking battle, won by Anthem in metres (851 to 688) but not in territorial advantage, is somewhere Carty and his back three will look to refine. But to score six tries against an unbeaten side, to dominate the set piece and maul, and to maintain a try-bonus all the way to the final whistle is a marker. It is the kind of performance Cuca has been promising would arrive. On Sunday night in Bridgeview, in front of a packed SeatGeek Stadium and a national television audience, it did.

Scorers Anthem RC: Tries — Akina (3′), Momsen 2 (19′, 27′), Esdale (42′), Fuala’au (54′), Robb (73′). Conversions — Carty 3 (20′, 28′, 55′). Chicago Hounds: Tries — Oworu, Jones 2, O’Keeffe 2, Fourie, Webster, Wall, Kinneeveauk. Conversions — Videla 8.

Anthem RC P Telea-Ilalio (A Heaney 60), R Gurovich (C Robb 40), A Maughan (O Kane 51), J Momsen (capt), W Sherman, S Golla (capt) (A Martinez Tapia 60), M Alikhan (M Fuala’au 51), B Godfrey, Ishmaeel (Z Going 60); L Carty, M Esdale, T Pittman, D Akina (M Tonga’uiha 51), E Storti, J Roberts. Also: C Mooneyham (60).

Referee Federico Anselmi.

Match in numbers

• Maul success: Anthem 100% (6 from 6) vs Chicago 63% (5 from 8)
• Scrum: Anthem 3 from 4 (75%) — Chicago contested none
• Lineouts won: Anthem 11 of 12, Chicago 16 of 17
• Tackles made: Anthem 170, Chicago 143
• Turnovers won: Anthem 7, Chicago 4
• Kicking metres: Anthem 851, Chicago 688
• Points: Videla 16 (CHI); Momsen 10 (ARC); Jones 10 (CHI)