Americas Rugby News 04.27.18

MLR Notes – SaberCats add former Patriots fullback

The Houston SaberCats have added former New England Patriots fullback Joey Iosefa to their Major League Rugby roster. At 245 lbs (112kg) the 26-year-old will cast an imposing figure in the midfield. Iosefa played college football at the University of Hawaii. Hailing from American Samoa, he is not new to rugby having played in high school.

A few other notables jumped on MLR rosters this week. Eagles lock Siaosi Mahoni, heavily rumored for Utah, has in fact landed in San Diego and was spotted at Legion practice this week. Austin Elite have picked up Irish scrumhalf Marcus Walsh who is the third Rugby United New York player to arrive in recent weeks following Mike Brown and Ross Deacon.

EDIT: San Diego have now confirmed the addition of Eagles openside flanker Tony Lamborn.

The Seattle Seawolves have brought in South Korea international Andre Coquillard from the NEC Green Rockets in Japan. Formerly of the UCal Golden Bears, he has been a center or fullback but at 6’5″ (1.96m) will now make the conversion to the back row as a blindside flanker.

Also joining Seattle is a new coach to man the sidelines in the form of Brandon Sparks, who is currently Director of Rugby at Legacy Rugby Academy and Head Coach of the Women’s Collegiate All-American Sevens side. He will work with Phil Mack during training sessions.

Three-week suspensions have been handed out to Glendale Raptors pair Ben Landry and Connor Cook after both were sent off for dangerous tackles in the season opener against Austin Elite on Saturday. With Glendale having two bye weeks immediately after, they won’t suit up again until June 3 against NOLA.

Utah’s Fetu’u Vainikolo was also red-carded on Friday evening in the match against the Prairie Wolf Pack but appears to have escaped further sanctioning.