The Utah Warriors signed Jackson Kaka for his third season with the club. The 27-year-old flanker is 6’5″ and 240 lbs.
Jackson played 280 minutes in 6 matches in 2019 for the Warriors. He scored 1 try, carried the ball 26 times for 183 meters and made 54 tackles.
Jackson is a former Brigham Young University All-American and USA Rugby Selects Flanker and played the inaugural 2018 Major League Rugby season. His time was cut short last year as he suffered a should injury in a preseason match against the Glendale Raptors.
Kaka is a native of Aotearoa, New Zealand and later lived on the Australian Gold Coast before moving to Hawaii where he attended Kahuku High School. In high school, Kaka played both basketball and Football, lettering in both sports. Kaka played tight end and defensive line for the Red Raiders and He was voted to the East team for the East versus West All-Star game.
He then went to New Mexico State on a football scholarship in 2011. After one season, Kaka returned to New Zealand to serve an LDS mission in Wellington. Post-mission, Kaka transferred to BYU in January 2015 and spent a year with the Cougars’ football team playing in four games, but suffered a season-ending injury.
After recovering from a broken elbow, Kaka joined the BYU Rugby team and was named an All American and in 2017. Based on his performance, he was selected for the USA Rugby Selects for the Americas Pacific Challenge in Montevideo, Uruguay against Samoa A where he started at No.8.
This past summer, Kaka played 7s for the first time with the Rugby Utah Selects and helped the team win back to back USA Club 7s National Championships.
Currently, Jackson Kaka has been playing with his local rugby club, Humless Rugby that competes in Rugby Utah’s Men’s Premier Division. Kaka’s contribution to the Humless rugby club has seen them as top contenders in the local tournament.
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