The Utah Warriors has Matt Jensen returning for his fourth Major League Rugby season for 2021. The 28-year-old lock (29 in April) is 6’7″ and 275 lbs.
Matt started all five matches during the truncated 2020 MLR season.
He played 1262 minutes in 2019, starting in all 16 matches and scoring 1 try. He carried the ball 62 times for 283 meters, made 140 tackles, had 68 lineout takes with 6 steals. In 2018 he played 518 minutes, playing in all 9 matches, starting seven, and scoring one try.
Jensen is from Scranton, Pennsylvania, but spent time living in Utah and Wyoming. He graduated from Pocono Mountain East High School, where he was a team captain for the football team and made All-Star teams for both the offensive and defensive line. Jensen also lettered in track and field, winning Districts in the Javelin.
After High School, Jensen moved to Utah and played rugby for the first time under Coach Larry Gelwix at Highland. The following year, Jensen attended Brigham Young University and where he was a walk-on for the Cougars Football team as a defensive tackle. He then served a two-year mission in Paraguay before returning to BYU and devoted his attention to playing rugby exclusively.
Jensen won two National Championships while at BYU and was selected for the All-Americans tour to Queensland, Australia in 2016. In 2016 he was honored as a first-team Collegiate All-American, an honor that he would earn again in 2017. In October 2016 Matt was selected for the USA Selects for the Americas Pacific Challenge. Jensen then was selected to the Eagles squad as a reserve against the NZ Maori All Blacks,
On February 4, 2017, Jensen debuted for the Eagles against Uruguay in the Americas Rugby Championship in San Antonio, Texas. and has since earned his 7th cap against Uruguay on March 3, 2018. He is Eagle 506.
Matt continued his high-performance matches in 2017 playing for the Collegiate All-Americans against Oxford University on September 16 and then participated in the Americas Pacific Challenge for the USA Selects.
During 2018, Matt played for the Utah Warriors, in the Americas Rugby Championship for the Eagles, and in the Americas Pacific Challenge for the USA Selects.
Matt is an excellent lock, whose lineout prowess provides the team with a target to initiate their attack in the red zone.
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