San Diego Legion signed Devereaux Ferris for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. The 24-year old (25 in October) scrum-half is 5’9″ and 180 lbs.
Dev is from Auckland, New Zealand and is of Mãori descent. He attended King’s College, began playing youth rugby at age 3, which he received encouragement to do so by his father Adriaan Ferris and his five uncles who played rugby. After high school, he played with Mid Northern Rugby Football Club.
The Rugby Republic interviewed Dev in 2016 and it is an article that is worth the read. Two years after he completed King’s College, his club, Mid Northern RFC had a few players from San Diego came to play with his club for a season. Following the season they invited Dev to come to play with the San Diego Old Aztecs. Dev played one more season in New Zealand before moving to San Diego where he played one season with the Old Aztecs before returning to New Zealand.
Dev then joined his father in San Francisco in 2015 and has played with Life West Gladiators since then. He played representative rugby for the NorCal Pelicans and also with the USA Islanders where he was the vice-captain.
In 2016 he helped Life West win a National Division 2 Championship and also played professionally for PRO Rugby’s San Francisco Rush in their only year of existence.
It was during that season that I met Dev following a post-match loss to the Ohio Aviators. At a BBQ between teams, it provided an opportunity to meet players and coaches in a more informal setting. Unfortunately for the Rush, the team arrived that morning from a red-eye flight and it appeared to have affected their performance. That did not affect them after the match, as both team’s enjoyed the post-match festivities.
Dev has recently been named the Life West Gladiatrix Women’s Head Coach WPL team for 2019. The team has won back-to-back USA Rugby Division I national titles. The team moved into the Women’s Premier League this season and currently are tied for first place in the Western Conference.
Dev has excelled for Life West since he has been with the club. The team won the 2017 California Cup and Dev was named the MVP. The team has also been among the best teams in the Pacific Rugby Premiership. Dev also helped the team advance to the USA Club 7s Nationals, most recently in 2019.
USA National Team
Dev was selected to the USA Selects as a nontraveling reserve for the 2017 Americas Pacific Challenge. The following year he was selected to the team and made his debut with the Selects on October 6 against Tonga. He also was selected to the Eagles extended roster for the Americas Rugby Championship in 2018.
He made his debut with the Eagles on November 10, 2019, coming off the bench in the Eagles 30-29 win over Samoa. He is Eagle #528 and is proud of that accomplishment, but wants to improve as a player and join the National team in the future.
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