New England Free Jacks

The New England Free Jacks are an American professional rugby union team based in the Greater Boston area 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.

Josh Smith would be hired as the team first head coach in 2018. In 2019 the Free jacks would play a season full of exhibitions going 1-7 in those games. In 2020 during their first official season they went 1-4 before the season rest of the season was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Smith did not come back for the 2021 season and was replaced by Ryan Martin.

Martin would lead the free jacks to their first winning season going 10-6 but they would miss the playoffs. Martin would leave after just one year and be replaced by Scott Mathie.

Mathie would coach the free jacks for the next 3 years and see nothing but success. Leading the team to a 13-3 record in his first year and secure the 1 seed in the eastern conference. This would lead to the free jacks first playoff appearance and first appearance in the eastern conference championship. There season would come to an end here though losing to Rugby New York 24-16. Mathie would be named coach of the year in 2022 and Beaudein Waaka would be the first free jacks player to be named MLR player of the year. This would be the start of something special though as the following year the free jacks would set a team record going 14-2 during 2023 season. This would once again give them home field advantage for the Eastern conference championship. The free jacks would win their first conference title beating DC old glory 25-7. Punching their ticket to their first appearance in the MLR championship. They would face the San Diego Legion at Seatgeek stadium for the 2023 MLR championship. The game would be neck and neck throughout but Le Roux Malan would score the game winning try in the 76th minute giving the free jacks the 25-24 victory and securing the first MLR championship in team history. Jayson Potroz would be named Championship game MVP. On top of this he would lead the league in points which led to being named MLR player of the year. Finally Wian Conradie would be named forward of the year being the first player in team history to get the honor. Capping of a historic season for the free jacks. Mathie would go on lead the free jacks to another title the following year. As in 2024 they would go 11-5 and for the third year in a row get the number one seed in the eastern conference. This year the MLR added 2 extra playoff spots. So the free jacks met DC old glory in the first round beating them 33-29. This would once again lead them to there 3rd eastern conference title game in a row. They would play the Chicago Hounds and defeat them 23-17 to win their second consecutive conference title. They would then head to Snapdragon Stadium to play the Seattle Seawolves for the 2024 MLR championship. Jayson Potroz would lead the way by scoring 5 penalty’s as The free jacks would win the game 20-11. Making them the second team in MLR history to win back to back titles. Jed Melvin was named the championship game MVP. Potroz would once again lead the league in points, Reece McDonald would be named back of the year and Wayne van der Bank would be the third free jacks player in a row to be named MLR player of the year. Mathie would also be named coach of the year for a second time. This would be his final year though as would leave after the 2024 season taking the job as attacks and backs coach at Edinburgh Rugby. His short stint left a huge impact in free jacks history. As he finished with a overall record of 38-10 and went 5-1 in the playoffs.

In 2024 it was announced that former free jacks coach Ryan Martin would be coming back as head coach for a second stint.

Honors

Championships

MLR Championship shield
- Champions: 2023, 2024
- Appearances: 2023, 2024
MLR Eastern Conference Championship
- Champions: 2023, 2024
- Appearances: 2022, 2023, 2024

individual awards

MLR Player of the year

Beaudein Waaka : 2022
Jayson Potroz: 2023
Wayne van der Bank: 2024

MLR Forward of the year

Wian Conradie: 2023

MLR Back of the year

Reece McDonald: 2024

MLR Coach of the year

x2 Scott Mathie: 2022, 2024

MLR Championship game MVP

Jayson Potroz: 2023
Jed Melvin : 2024

MLR points leader

x2 Jayson Potroz: 2023, 2024

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.

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 tenures

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

Captains

Josh Larsen (2020–present

Leadership

Staff for 2025 Major League Rugby Season:

Owners

Records

Season standings

Notes

Head coaches

Stadium

The Free jacks play their home games at Veterans Memorial stadium located in Quincy Massachusetts. The stadium has also been referred to as Fort Quincy as well. It has a capacity of 5,000 people. The stadium has hosted the MLR eastern conference championship 3 times in 2022, 2023 and 2024. The Free jacks also hold numerous festivals here throughout the season.

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.