New Orleans Gold & Nikola Bursic
New Orleans Gold Rugby Club added Chile National Team Lock/Backrow Nikola Bursic for the inaugural 2018 Major League Rugby season. Bursic is 24 years old, 6’2″, and 253 pounds.
Bursic was born in Torrance, California and resides in Santiago, Chile. He graduated from Craighouse School in Santiago and played rugby for the COBS (Craighouse Old Boys) from 2011-2015.
Bursic played 11 times for the Chile Under-20s in 2012. He was part of the U20s squad that went to the World Rugby Trophy competition that year.
He then made his debut for the Chile Men’s Rugby National Team, Los Cóndores, on November 9, 2013, against Spain in Santiago. He was selected for the Americas Rugby Championship in both 2016 and in 2017. In 2016 he played professionally with the San Diego Breakers, which were one of the five PRO Rugby teams.
The past November, he was selected for a four-match Chile tour to Hong Kong and to Germany. The first three matches were in Hong Kong, against Hong Kong, Russia, and Kenya. The last match was against Germany in Frankfurt, that culminated in a historic 22-10 win as Bursic gained his 23rd cap. The Los Cóndores went 2-2 on the tour, beating Kenya and Germany while losing to Hong Kong and Russia.
The Germany vs. Chile 2017 Match may be viewed below.
New Orleans Gold
- Tim Falcon – Owner
- Ryan Fitzgerald – General Manager
- Nate Osborne – Head Coach
- Todd Fitzgerald – Assistant Head Coach and Assistant General Manager
- Sebastián Kalm – Backrow
- Moni Tongauiha – Center
- Hubert Buydens – Loosehead prop
- Eric Howard – Hooker
- Ratu Peceli Rinakama – Flyhalf, Scrum-half, Wing, Fullback
- Bobby Johns – Center, Flyhalf, Scrumhalf
- Matt Hughston – Center, Flanker
- Jojo Tikoisuva – Wing
- JP Eloff – Flyhalf, Center, Fullback
- Holden Youngert – Scrum-half
- Michael Baska – Fullback
- Derrek Van Klein – Loosehead Prop
- Ben Tarr – Tighthead Prop
- Nikola Bursic – Lock, Backrow
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