FORMER MUNSTER SCRUM-HALF John Poland is one of five Irish players named in the New England Free Jacks’ preliminary squad for their inaugural Major League Rugby [MLR] season.
The Boston-based club have announced a 35-man roster for the start of their pre-season preparations in December, including Cork native Poland, former Connacht out-half Tadhg Leader and ex-Ireland U20 hooker Sean McNulty.
Second row duo Conor Kindregan, who was formerly part of the Connacht academy, and Ronan McCusker are also included in the squad having impressed for the Free Jacks in the Cara Cup competition earlier this year.
22-year-old Poland, who made one senior appearance for his native Munster, will link up with the Free Jacks once he graduates with a degree in Finance from University College Cork this October.
The former Ireland U20 international was a regular in the Munster ‘A’ side in recent years but failed to make the breakthrough at the southern province, despite coming off the bench to make his debut against Zebre back in February 2018.
Leader, meanwhile, will hope to continue the impressive form he showed for the San Diego Legion during the inaugural MLR season in 2018, when he captained the side to the semi-finals.
The Galway native, and older brother of Connacht fullback Darragh, moved to the States in 2015 on a scholarship offer from Lindenwood University in Missouri, subsequently joining the St Louis Royals club as a player/coach.
Having qualified to represent the USA Eagles through the three-year residency rule, Leader last January made a try-scoring international debut against Chile in the Americas Rugby Championship and will be a key player for the Free Jacks next term.
USA-qualified McNulty, who spent three years in the Leinster academy, joined Rugby United New York for the second half of the 2019 MLR campaign and adds to the strong Irish connection at the Free Jacks under head coach Josh Smith.
“We are bringing together this group of incredibly talented and humble players from around the region, the country, and the world to ignite New England with professional rugby,” Smith said.
“Our goal this off-season was to put together a complete team top to bottom leveraging the resources and quality pool we had locally. It will be very exciting to bring the new guys in to be embraced by the community and create a really dynamic competitive team environment.
“We can’t wait to see what they can do in 2020.”
The Free Jacks are due to announce additional players in the coming weeks, with the MLR season scheduled to get underway in February.
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Would be great for the league of Ireland if they progresed
FH looked an average loi team who got a goal against the run of play last week. We were the better team but they might have been keeping it tight.. but if they play like they did last wed and we play like we can then we will advance.. i firmly believe we will score tonight. Garts is a massive loss in the centre of defence but barrett is a good replacement… we are playing FH for €1.2m and a guaranteed 4 more games minimum in Europe.
Who’s we ?!
“We”… Are Ireland’s number one. The Black & White army.
Not doubting you. They really are Ireland’s number 1. Just asked for the craic because my uncle always mocks me when I use ‘we’ when talking about cork city lol
Massive game for Fundalk given the money at stake , great for the town and club . Really well run club these days with a super manager leading the team. Cmon da town !!
Get the name right pal. They’re fun to watch but I wouldn’t go that far
Says the plastic Irish supporter. Take down that Irish cover photo please if your not willing to support your own Irish league.
I’m supporting them no doubt.
Disappointed there isn’t a LIVE ticker thread for this game. It’s only the champions of Ireland playing in the world’s most lucrative competition. RTE not broadcasting it is a disgrace. And they claim to be supporters of domestic football. (Yes I know it’s on Eir Sport).
Dundalk playing some nice football here, they’ve been the better team so far, unlucky to be behind. Horgan & McMillan are doing very well. They’re just lacking a bit of composure in the final third.
Still nothing up about the match tonight disgraceful from the 42
And still nothing. Surely a live ticker wasn’t beyond them. They are the champions of Ireland and our only representatives in champions league. Fair dues to Eir for covering it, super game and even better performance from Dundalk.