Rugby United New York signed USA international Nick Civetta for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 31-year-old lock is 6’8″ and 260 lbs.
Nick was born in White Plains, NY, and grew up in Scarsdale. He attended Scarsdale High School, graduating in 2007. He was a tackle and defensive end in football for three seasons and was the New York Section 1 Division 1 third-ranked wrestler in the 215-pound weight category in 2007.
He attended the University of Notre Dame from 2007-2011, graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering. He also began to play rugby when he was 18 and his Junior and Senior years were selected as a Collegiate All-American.
Nick pursued his Master of Science Degree in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley from 2012-2013. He played rugby with San Francisco Golden Gate in 2012 in the Rugby Super League. He also played for the USA Selects in three matches in the 2012 Americas Rugby Championship.
After obtaining his Master’s Degree, he moved to New York and played for New York Athletic Club in the US Elite Cup in 2013. He then moved to Rome and played professionally with Lazio in the National Championship of Excellence during the 2013-2014 season, making 19 appearances and scoring 2 tries. The following season he played Rugby Viadana in Parma, Italy making 9 appearances.
During the 2015-2016 season, Nick played with I Medicei Rugby in Florence. In 2016 he made his Senior National Team debut against the Maori All Blacks on 4 November and his first test (Eagle #498) against Romania at Bucharest on 12 November. In 2019 after playing in the Pacific Nations Championship, Nick was selected for the USA Team for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. He started three matches against England, France, and his last test was against Tonga on 13 October.
There is more to Nick’s professional rugby resume. He signed a two-year contract with the Newcastle Falcons in 2016 and made his Premiership debut off the bench against the Ospreys in the European Challenge Cup. He played A games for the team and in 2017 was loaned to the Doncaster Knights, making 12 appearances. He then signed with the team for the 2018-2019 season and made 15 appearances and scored 3 tries.
Following the conclusion of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Nick signed with RC Vannes in the French Pro D2 as a medical joker for the 2019-2020 season but has opted to become a part-time student at the University of Oxford in a Master of Science Degree in Energy Systems (2020-2022) instead. He will play for the Blues this Fall and wants to play in the Varsity Match to earn his Blue. The match was postponed from its traditional December time due to COVID-19 with March 2021 the likely date.
Photo: University of Oxford
Nick now joins Rugby United New York for the 2021 Major League Rugby season and will pair with fellow USA National team lock/back-row, Nate Brakeley, as well as Charlie Hewitt, who is on the U.S. national team radar at lock. The team has made significant strides in improving the team and RUNY should be formidable in both scrums and lineouts with an improved attack with the addition and return of both forwards and backs.
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