Old Glory DC signed Declan O’Donnell for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. The 29-year-old wing is 6’2″ and 220 lbs.
Declan is from Thames, New Zealand and is of Irish-Maori descent tracing roots through Ngati Tuwharetoa and Ngati Porou. He attended Hamilton Boys’ High School from 2004-2008 and was a standout in rugby at the school.
Declan played in six tournaments for the New Zealand Sevens Team from his debut at the 2010 Dubai Sevens through 2016. In 2011 he had a hat-trick at the Wellington Sevens against England. He played for the Maori All Blacks at the RFU Championship in Doncaster, England in 2012. He also represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and helped the team win a silver medal, losing narrowly to South Africa.
He played in the ITM Cup, which later became the Mitre 10 Cup, since 2011. First, he played with Waikato from 2011-2015 and then with Taranaki from 2016-2018, before returning to Waikato in 2019. Declan also played Super Rugby with the Chiefs, making one appearance in 2012. He then signed with the Highlanders in 2013 but suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during a preseason match. In 2016 he played twice with the Blues and in 2017 twice with the Chiefs.
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