Anthem RC vs. NE Free Jacks — Week 5 Preview

ANTHEM HEAD TO FORT QUINCY HOPING TO KEEP A SLEEPING BEAST IN SLUMBER

Written by Dan Brooks

A Sleeping Beast

Anthem Rugby Carolina (2-2) travel north this weekend for a meeting with the New England Free Jacks (0-3) at Veterans Memorial Stadium, a venue so fiercely defended it has earned the nickname “Fort Quincy.” And while the league table says these are two teams moving in opposite directions, Head Coach Agustin “Cuca” Cavalieri isn’t buying the narrative.

“It’s a beast that is sleeping,” Cuca said this week. “I hope that we’re going to go there and try to make them continue to sleep. I don’t want to wake them up. I want them to sleep at least one more round, because I’m sure that when they wake up, they’re going to turn it. They’re going to get the first win, and they’re probably going to arrive at the end. They have a great roster, a great coaching staff and a great organization. They won the last three championships.”

The three-time defending champions have opened 2026 with losses to California Legion (43-5), Old Glory DC (21-19) and Chicago Hounds (50-26). But Cuca has been in their shoes, he took over Anthem’s head coach role during the last five games of the 2025 season, and he knows better than anyone how quickly an MLR side can turn a slow start into a title run.

The Storylines

For Anthem, the trip to Quincy comes off the back of a 31-14 home defeat to Old Glory DC. Cuca’s view is that Anthem “missed completely the first half,” conceding 26 unanswered points before steadying and winning the second half 14-5. The absence of USA Eagles fly-half Luke Carty, who was ruled out in the warm-up, and openside flanker Makeen Alikhan, both carrying short-term knocks, certainly seemed to take a while for the team to adjust to.

Both return this weekend. “He’s okay,” Cuca confirmed of Carty. “We saw last weekend, when we lost him at the warm-up, how important he is for us.”

Carty’s influence on this Anthem team has been transformative. With 27 points through three starts and a calm command at fly-half that this squad has never previously had, the former NOLA Gold pivot has given the side a genuine game-driver. Alikhan, meanwhile, brings the kind of mental edge Cuca prizes in his back row, the openside was one of the players of the match in Anthem’s first-ever home win over Seattle in Week 3.

Around them, Baden Godfrey gets his second consecutive start at No. 8 after a try-scoring debut against Old Glory, a sign Cuca is settling on a back-row balance with Alikhan at openside, Tesimoni Tonga’uiha at blindside, and the Australian providing ball-carrying weight at the base. Dom Akina also keeps the 13 jersey for his second Anthem appearance after debuting last week against DC, with the former Houston midfielder beginning to bed in alongside Carty in the playmaking spine.

Cuca has also rotated his back three to keep Anthem’s options versatile. With Connor Mooneyham unavailable, USA Eagle Erich Storti, described by Cuca this week as one of the most complete players on the Anthem roster, shifts from fullback to the left wing, where his speed and aerial ability give Anthem a genuine weapon out wide. Julian Roberts, who has been excellent on the wing through the opening four rounds, slots in at fullback. And on the right, Malacchi Esdale earns his first start of the season after coming off the bench to score a key try against DC.

“He’s someone that plays whatever is needed,” Cuca said of Storti this week. “I think Eric is a very complete player… that can be a weapon for him moving forward.”

Expect the scrum to be a battleground Anthem will target. Through four games, the Carolina pack has won 100% of its own feeds and generated penalties on roughly half of its attacking scrums, a remarkable turnaround for a side that won zero games in its first two seasons. “The scrum is going to be a good opportunity for us,” Cuca said. “We need to go with the right mentality there, generate penalties, get into their territory, and start playing our game.”

Know The Opponent

The threats are clear from Martin’s Free Jacks. Fly-half Joel Hodgson’s kicking game has been New England’s most reliable weapon through three rounds, and dangerous edges in Mitch Wilson and Sione Tupou punish broken-field opportunities. Cuca highlighted the Free Jacks’ 50-22s and contestable kicking as specific concerns Anthem has been preparing for all week.

For a franchise still celebrating two wins in its first five matches of 2026, after 32 straight losses to open its MLR existence, the chance to take a scalp at Fort Quincy would be historic. Anthem’s head-to-head record stands at 0-4 in favor of New England. Even a losing bonus point against the reigning champions would represent a fifth-week continuation of the most significant progress Anthem has ever made as a club.

But Cuca isn’t framing it as a measuring-stick game. He’s framing it as an opportunity, one made more dangerous by the Free Jacks’ hunger to end their own losing streak at home, in front of a Quincy crowd that has turned Veterans Memorial Stadium into one of American rugby’s most intimidating venues.

The beast is sleeping. Anthem is hoping it doesn’t wake up on Sunday afternoon.

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