march 11
take on
34
final score
31
new
england
FREE JACKS
•
washington
d.c.
OLD GLORY
STARTING XV
FREE JACKS
OLD GLORY
Kyle Ciquera
1
Quentin Newcomer
Andrew Quattrin
2
Nic Souchon
Cole Keith
3
Kyle Stewart
Josh Larsen
4
Collin Grosse
Jesse Parete
5
Tevita Naqali
Sam Fischli
6
Lautaro Bavaro
Joe Johnston
7
Cory Gilliland-Daniel
Wian Conradie
8
Jamason Fa'anana-Schultz
John Poland
Danny Tusitala
Jayson Potroz
10
Joaquin Diaz Bonilla
Paula Balekana
11
William Talataina-Mu
Wayne van der Bank
12
Fermin Martinez
Ben LeSage
13
Thretton Palamo
Mitch Wilson
14
Marcos Young
Reece MacDonald
15
Kurt Baker
RESERVES
free jacks – old glory
Kianu Kereru-Symes 16 Facundo Gattas
Tevita Sole 17 John Iscaro
Joel Hintz 18 Ramiro Herrera
Conor Keys 19 Fintan Coleman
Cam Davidowicz 20 Alejo Daireaux
Holden Yungert 21 John LeFevre
Spencer Jones 22 Michael Debulas
Taniela Filimone 23 Owen Sheehy.
INJURIES
FREE JACKS
–
Foster Dewit
Le Roux Malan
Mitch Jacobson
Reegan O’Gorman
Semisi Paea
letter from tom kindley
Dear Free Jacks,
Thank you so much for being with us today to celebrate our 2023 St Patrick’s Day Home Opener.
Thank you so much for being with us today to celebrate our 2023 St Patrick’s Day Home Opener.
It is surreal to look back at how far we have come since our first Major League Rugby game in 2020, a journey which many of you embarked on with us and have since been there every step of the way.
Today, we are not only here to enjoy a game of rugby, but also a well rounded festival experience, equipped with kids activations, stout tasting, live music, and of course your New England Free Jacks as the main event!
We are privileged to have made our home in the great city of Quincy, and gorgeous Veteran’s Memorial Stadium. Thank you to the city of Quincy for embracing us as your own.
We are honored to play in front of the most passionate, caring and engaged supporters, members, and rangers in the league. It truly makes Veteran’s Memorial stadium a very difficult place for opposition to come and play us, and often wills us over the try-line.
Today marks our 4th season within MLR, and 41st game within the competition. Since the beginning, our primary objective has been to be hungry, represent the club with humility, and have a boatload of fun along the way. I’m sure you are going to bear witness to that out on the hallowed Veteran’s Memorial Turf today.
Today marks a very special occasion with our club captain and Free Jacks #1 Josh Larsen making his 50th Major League Rugby appearance. A tireless leader, Josh has led from the front every step of the way. A lot of you will be familiar with not only his on field exploits, but also his efforts to grow the game and connect with the New England Community. Please make a lot of noise for our captain as he takes the pitch!
As always, thank you and – let’s ride!
rugby 101
Rugby is a full-contact, free flowing sport. The game is made up of 2 40-minute halves. A team wins by moving forward and scoring more points than the other team. Watch the video and check out the terms below.
There are 15 players on the pitch; 8 forwards and 7 backs. The number on the back of your jersey indicates your position.
- Tight head prop
- Hooker
- Loose head prop
- Second row
- Second row
- Blind side flanker
- Open side flanker
- Number 8
- Scrum-Half
- Fly-Half
- Left Wing
- Inside Center
- Outside Center
- Right Wing
- Full Back
MOVE FORWARD PASS BACK
In order to make your way down the field, the ball must be passed either sideways or backwards. The ball can only move forward if kicked or carried by a player.
NO PADS?!
Unlike American football, rugby players do not wear pads. This actually makes the game safer as it encourages proper tackle technique with arms and shoulders and not heads. Any contact to the head will be penalized with either a penalty, yellow or red card.
HOW TO SCORE POINTS
Players score by either physically touching the ball down in the “Try zone”, or scoring a penalty kick off of the other team’s infringement.
TRY
The main objective of the game; to touch the ball down in the opponent’s end-zone (Try-zone) area for a score worth 5 points. The ball must be touched down to the ground under control for the score to count!
CONVERSION
After scoring a try, a team will kick for an additional 2-points from the line that the try was touched down
SCRUM
Used to restart play after a technical infringement. All 8 forwards join to compete for the ball.
LINEOUT
Used to restart play after the ball goes out of bounds. Forwards assemble in a straight line across from each other, where one team’s Hooker throws the ball down the middle. Each team uses various formations to lift players and compete for the ball.
KNOCK-ON
An infringement when a player loses, drops, or knocks the ball forward from their hands, resulting in a scrum to the other team.
festival schedule
player spotlight
free jack number one earns fifty mlr caps
Today we celebrate Josh Larsen and his 50th Major League Rugby Cap.
Josh joined the free jacks at the inception in 2019. Josh was the first …
captain and the first person to earn a cap for the Free Jacks
Josh Larsen looks to drive the Free Jacks forward as Captain of the squad. The powerful second row has quickly become a standout in the MLR as well as the steadfast leader of his own pack. Born in British Columbia, Larsen grew up in New Zealand, where he started playing rugby at six years old. In 2017, Larsen earned a spot on the Canadian Senior Men’s Team against the Maori All Blacks in Vancouver. From there on, he has accumulated international 20 caps and in 2019 was selected for the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
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