Old Glory DC signs James King

Old Glory DC signed James King for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 24-year-old hooker, who played this past year in the Hong Kong Premiership, is 5’10” and 216 lbs.

James was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, and began playing rugby when he was six years old. He attended The Kings School in New South Wales, Australia, a school with eight rugby pitches and whose program’s history began in 1870. There he played in the backline, however coming from a rugby family where his brother an father played at high levels in both South Africa and Australia, James has played anywhere in the scrum.

After finishing The King’s School, he joined Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Club and played in the Intrust Super Shute Shield from 2015-2020 and helped the club advance to two grand finals during the playoffs in 2018 and 2019. At first, he played for Eastern Suburbs 2nd grade before advancing to the 1st grade in 2019.

In 2020 he made his debut for Valley Rugby Football Club in the Hong Kong Premiership, one of the leading league clubs. The club advanced to the Saxo Markets Grand Championship final in February, losing in double overtime to Hong Kong RFC.

With only ten international non-U.S. or Canadian spots on the team, his U.S. citizenship is a huge find for Old Glory.

Old Glory DC Comments

“I am extremely excited to join Old Glory DC,” said King. “As a still relatively new team in the league, and having won the last four games in a row before the season was canceled, it’s easy to see why I would be so excited to join this team. The team is a force to be reckoned with – especially entering the 2021 MLR season.”

“I am thoroughly looking forward to meeting a new bunch of blokes in a brand new city and hopefully bringing my rugby skills to the table in order to help OG succeed. Under great coaching and administration guidance, why would I want to play anywhere else?”