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New England Free Jacks

Founded	2018
Location	Quincy, Massachusetts
Ground(s)	Veterans Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 5,000)
CEO	Alex Magleby
Coach(es)	Scott Mathie
Captain(s)	Josh Larsen
Most caps	Mitch Wilson (57)
Top scorer	Jayson Potroz (327)
Most tries	Paula Balekana (25)
League(s)	Major League Rugby
2024	Champions 1st (Eastern Conference)
Team kit
Official website
www.freejacks.com

The New England Free Jacks are an American professional rugby union team based in Quincy, Massachusetts, that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). They were announced in September 2018 and began to compete professionally in October 2018. They competed in their first season in MLR in the 2020 season. The team has won two MLR shields after defeating the San Diego Legion in 2023 and the Seattle Seawolves in 2024.

History

On September 21, 2018, Major League Rugby announced that Boston would be one of the expansion teams joining the league for the 2020 season. That same day, the Boston club was announced as the New England Free Jacks through social media. Their first match was on October 20, 2018, against the Ontario Arrows at Wanderers Grounds in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Early rosters from these matches included a mixture of veteran professional players from the disbanded PRO Rugby competition and top local talent from clubs such as the Boston Irish Wolfhounds and Mystic River.

NFL players Nate Ebner and Patrick Chung are minority owners of the Free Jacks.

Sponsorship

Roster

The New England Free Jacks squad for the 2024 Major League Rugby season is:

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Mason Koch Hooker United States Andrew Quattrin Hooker Canada Sean Ralph Hooker South Africa Kyle Ciquera Prop United States Foster DeWitt Prop Canada Kaleb Geiger Prop United States Malakai Hala-Ngatai Prop New Zealand John-Roy Jenkinson Prop South Africa Cole Keith Prop Canada Tevita Sole Prop Tonga Kyle Baillie Lock Canada Conor Keys Lock Canada Josh Larsen (c) Lock Canada Jackson Thiebes Lock United States Piers von Dadelszen Lock Canada Seta Baker Back row New Zealand Jaco Bezuidenhout Back row South Africa Wian Conradie Back row Namibia Cam Davidowicz Back row United States Ethan Fryer Back row Canada Mitch Jacobson Back row New Zealand Jed Melvin Back row New Zealand Martín Sigren Back row Chile

Player Position Union Will Chevalier Scrum-half United States Oscar Lennon* Scrum-half Wales Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti* Scrum-half Fiji John Poland Scrum-half Ireland Holden Yungert Scrum-half United States Danyon Morgan-Puterangi Fly-half New Zealand Jayson Potroz Fly-half New Zealand Gabe Casey Centre Canada Ben LeSage Centre Canada Le Roux Malan Centre Namibia Wayne van der Bank Centre South Africa Paula Balekana Wing Fiji Zach Bastres Wing United States Toby Fricker Wing United States Isaac Olson Wing Canada Mitch Wilson Wing United States Killan Coghlan Fullback United States Reece Macdonald Fullback New Zealand

• Senior 15s and senior 7s internationally capped players are listed in bold.
• * denotes players qualified to play for the United States on dual nationality or residency grounds.
• MLR teams are allowed to field up to ten overseas players per match.

Head coaches

• Josh Smith (2018–2020)
• Ryan Martin (2020–2021)
• Scott Mathie (2021–2024)
• Ryan Martin (2024–present)

Captains

• Josh Larsen (2020–present)

Leadership

Staff for 2022 Major League Rugby Season:

Owners

Records

Season standings

Notes

1. 2020 regular season shortened and playoffs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Head coaches

Coach	Nationality	Start	End	Games	Win	Loss	Draw	Win %
Josh Smith	United States	October 19, 2018	July 28, 2020	5	1	4	0	20.0
Ryan Martin	New Zealand	July 28, 2020	July 18, 2021	16	10	6	0	62.5
Scott Mathie	South Africa	September 9, 2021	present	16	13	3	0	81.2

2019 season

All games in the 2019 season were exhibition games and did not count in the league standings; the team played to a record of 1–7, losing their first seven games and winning their final match of the season.

2020 season

On March 12, 2020, MLR announced the season would go on hiatus immediately for 30 days due to fears surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven days later, MLR announced that the season was officially cancelled. The Free Jacks finished the short season 9th in the MLR, 6th in the Eastern Conference.

Exhibition

Regular season

The team accrued a 1–4 record before the season was halted.

2021 season

The Free Jacks' first game of the 2021 season was played on March 20, facing LA Giltinis in Los Angeles.

Source:

2022 season

Regular season

Source:

Post season

2023 season

Preseason

Regular season

Post Season

2024 season

Preseason

Regular season

Post Season

Entertainment

Mascot

On May 7, 2021, the Free Jacks announced a mascot, Woodgy, a furry blue creature with rugby headband tape who wears Free Jacks rugby kit.

Academy

New England Independents

On January 8, 2020, the Free Jacks announced that they would compete in two preseason matches against the New England Independents, a brand new select team of local All-Star talent representing eight clubs throughout New England. Adam Zilcoski, of the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, was selected as the head coach.

Roster

Squad for 2020 Major League Rugby Preseason:

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Blades Shields Hooker United States David McKenna Prop United States Kyle Ciquera Prop United States Sean Moran Prop United States Timmy O’Connor Lock United States Cody Davidowicz Lock United States Ryan Hargraves Flanker United States Paul Taylor Flanker United States Cam Davidowicz Number 8 United States

Player Position Union Ian Luciano Scrum-half Australia Andrew Menton Fly-half United States Adnan Kawuma Centre United States Jared Collinson Centre United States Brad Patterson Wing United States Andrew Marshall Wing United States David Buchanan Fullback United States

Regional academies

Junior Jacks

The Junior Jacks are the youth academy level for the Free Jacks.

References

1. "New England Free Jacks Roster Announced". The Runner Sports. 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
2. "Major League Rugby confirms Boston and Atlanta for 2020 - Americas Rugby News". Americasrugbynews.com. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
3. "Patriots Patrick Chung, Nate Ebner embracing roles as Major League Rugby minority owners".
4. "New England Free Jacks Expand Ownership, Introduce Nate Ebner & Patrick Chung - The Runner Sports".
5. "New England Free Jacks". Americas Rugby News. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
6. "Free Jacks Appoint Scott Mathie Head Coach and Mike Rogers Senior Assistant". Major League Rugby. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
7. "Staff". New England Free Jacks. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
8. "Leadership". New England Free Jacks. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
9. ^ "Free Jacks To Host Irish Provincial 'A' Sides". Thisisamericanrugby.com. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
10. Anonymous, "MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY SUSPENDS 2020 SEASON FOR 30 DAYS," www.majorleague.rugby, March 12, 2020 Retrieved March 14, 2020
11. "Major League Rugby cancels remainder of 2020 campaign". Yahoo! Sports. AFP. March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
12. "Standings". Major League Rugby. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
13. Banks, Doug (March 20, 2021). "Professional rugby team New England Free Jacks to debut in Massachusetts". masslive.com. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
14. "2021 Scheduled". freejacks.com. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
15. "2022 Scheduled". freejacks.com. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
16. "𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙜𝙮 – 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚍 | New England Free Jacks". Retrieved 2021-05-10.
17. "The New England Free Jacks, Boston's First Professional Rugby Team, Announce Two Free Preseason Matches In The Month Of January At Union Point Sports Complex | New England Free Jacks". Retrieved 2021-06-21.
18. “1-18-2020 New England Independents Squad”
19. "1-24-2020 New England Independents Squad”
20. "FREE JACKS LAUNCH NEW ENGLAND-WIDE ACADEMY". freejacks.com. 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-24.

External links

• Official website

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• New England Free Jacks
• Major League Rugby teams
• Rugby union teams in Massachusetts
• Rugby clubs established in 2018
• 2018 establishments in Massachusetts