The Utah Warriors signed James Mocke to a four-week Major League Rugby contract ahead of their March 6 preseason match against Rugby ATL. The 25-year-old lock (26 in April) is 6’5″ and 265 lbs.
James played for the Warriors Selects during Fall 2020 and was part of the Warriors training squad. In the supplemental MLR draft, consisting of six college athletes and former Dallas jackals players. He was drafted by another MLR team, but not signed, which left him to sign with the Utah Warriors.
James in from Table View, Western Cape, South Africa. He attended Krugersdorp High School and Monument High School. While in high school he played water polo and rugby and in 2013 he played with the Golden Lions U18s Academy.
He then served as a volunteer on a mission in Ghana from 2014-2016 with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2016 he attended Brigham Young University – Idaho, where he played rugby. He continued his education on the main campus in Utah from 2017-2020, playing rugby and earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architecture. While at BYU he was honored as a USA Rugby Collegiate All-American, was D1A Rocky Mountain All-Conference, and was the 2018 BYU Forwards MVP.
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