Austin Gilgronis re-signed Will Magie through the 2022 Major League Rugby season. The 28-year-old Magie flyhalf/fullback (29 in February) is 6’0″ and 190 lbs.
Magie converted two penalty goals for the Gilgronis on his debut to beat the Lone Star state-rival Houston Sabercats in the Inaguaral Texas Cup. He signed with Austin in March and joined the squad 8 days ahead of the Texas Cup.
He entered the pitch in the 53rd minute as an injury substitute for Tongan-international flyhalf, Kurt Morath, who was also making his debut with the team. Magie drilled a tough conversion and sideline penalty goal to keep the Sabercats out of reach.
Following the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Will joined the London Scottish. He played with the Glendale Raptors during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. In 2019 he played 642 minutes in 11 matches and scored 53 points. He carried 27 times for 219 meters, had 3 linebreaks, 1 tackle break, made 2 offloads, kicked 47 times for 1551 meters, and made 70 tackles.
Magie, who is from London, attended the Merchant Taylor’s School in Northwood, a London suburb, from 2003 through 2010. He then attended the University of Leeds from 2010-2013 graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. While there he was the captain of the rugby team.
In 2012 he captained the USA Rugby Junior All-Americans (U20s) at the Junior World Rugby Trophy competition.
Magie played with several rugby teams in England. During the 2012-2013 season, he was with Otley and then signed a professional contract with the Ealing Trailfinders in the English Championship for the 2013-2014 season. For the 2014-2015 season, he played with Old Albanian in the National League 1. The 2016 year was a busy year for Magie. He played with the Denver Stampede and after the season returned to the Ealing Trailfinders, now part of the Greene King IPA Championship. In October, he started at flyhalf in the British & Irish Cup against Yorkshire Carnegie. He then finished the 2016 year training with Western Force in Australia in preparation for joining the Eagles.
During the 2018 Major League Rugby season, he was the MLR leader in conversions attempted (31) and in conversions completed (24), 5th in penalties attempted (10) and 4th in penalties made. He also ranked 3rd in scoring with 77 points.
In addition to Magie’s leadership, he is an accurate kicker, who will punish the opposing teams when they draw penalties. His kicks for territory have also led to lineout set pieces that have resulted in numerous tries.
USA Rugby Eagles XV
Will Magie debuted for the Eagles against Uruguay on February 4, 2017, at San Antonio, Texas at the Americas Rugby Championship and is Eagle #507. His most recent of his 26 caps was earned against France on October 2, 2019, at the Rugby World Cup.
Austin Gilgronis Comments
“In April, Magie swapped kicking tee for a joystick and sweated out the club’s first championship in the MLR Virtual Competition and brought home the club’s second trophy in as many months.”
“We had success with the virtual cup and Texas Cup,” says Magie. “We firmly believe we’re going to bring the MLR Shield to Austin next year,” says Will Magie.
After season cancellation, Magie held up in Round Rock and worked on his golf game. He was twice featured on the RugbyWrapUp YouTube show, once from the fairway. In April, Magie helped the league reach over a million Twitch viewers and raise over $10,000 for Feeding America.
Magie then defeated 3x Super Bowl Champion New England Patriot Patrick Chung in a Twitch-streamed the NHL video game match. This offseason, Magie joined the Athlete Collective as a brand ambassador and player client for the rugby specific high-performance program.
Magie returns to Austin to compete in a deep playmaker unit with Kurt Morath and Zinzan Elan-Puttick.
Welcome back, Money Magie!
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