NOLA Gold’s Pat O’Toole returns for the last year of the two-year contract he signed through the 2022 Major League Rugby season. The 26-year-old hooker (27 in February) is 6’0″ and 240 lbs.
pat played 828 minutes in 16 matches, starting 13, and scored 7 tries for NOLA Gold in 2021.
Following the 2019 MLR season with the Houston SaberCats, Pat signed a short-term contract with the Glasgow Warriors and then played with Garryowen in the All-Ireland league in 2020. He also played with the Ohio Aviators at the World Tens Series in November.
In 2019 Pat played 1153 minutes in his 16 starts with the SaberCats. He scored 3 tries, carried 71 times for 507 meters, had 3 linebreaks, 2 tackle breaks, 5 offloads, and made 184 tackles. In 2018 he played 148 minutes in 4 matches, starting once, for the San Diego Legion.
O’Toole is from Louisburgh, Ireland, and studied Energy Systems Engineering at NUI in Galway and also at Sancta Maria College in Louisburgh.
During the 2018 Major League Rugby season, he played with the San Diego Legion and will join the Houston SaberCats for 2019.
O’Toole advanced through the Connacht Rugby Academy and was offered a senior side contract in 2017. “Pat O’Toole will add further competition to the hooker position next season with Tom McCartney, Dave Heffernan, and Shane Delahunt all vying for the number 2 shirt. 22-year-old O’Toole from Louisburgh in County Mayo started playing rugby with Westport RFC at six years of age. The former Gaelic footballer was capped at Ireland U19 level and completed two years in the Academy, playing with both the Connacht Eagles and Corinthians RFC.”
“Former Academy Manager and now Backs Coach for the new season, Nigel Carolan, added: “Pat has come right through our pathway from under-15’s level when he was part of our regional development squad in Westport. He is the epitome of our vision of Grassroots to Green Shirts and his move into the senior squad will provide inspiration for so many of our young lads looking to succeed.”
More on Pat O’Toole and Sports
Pat attended a school that did not include rugby, so he began playing rugby for Westport RFC at age six. He also played soccer and Gaelic football. During his time in youth rugby, he played back row, prop, and then concentrated on hooker when reaching the U-18 level. for the Under-18s, he played against Munster in the Inter-Pros. He then was selected to the Irish Under-19s and joined the Connacht Rugby Sub-Academy in 2014.
In a 2017 article by Connacht Rugby, it says that Westport RFC is proud of both Pat O’Toole and Jamie Dever saying that “Jamie Dever and Pat O’Toole are two former Westport men enrolled in the Connacht Academy and the club is hopeful a few more of its underage stars will follow suit in the coming years.” “Mayo is a Gaelic football stronghold and the GAA club is preparing for an All-Ireland intermediate final, but the rugby club also holds an important place in the community.”
Pat O’Toole & USA Rugby National Team
Pat O’Toole was selected to play for the USA Rugby Selects in the 2018 Americas Pacific Challenge against Tonga A, Uruguay A, and Argentina XV.
“The 23-year-old hooker O’Toole, a native of Mayo, came through Connacht’s Academy and moved onto a senior contract for the 2017/18 season but never got the opportunity to win his senior debut for the province.
An Ireland international at U19 level, O’Toole made the move to San Diego Legion at the end of last season and is understood to qualify to play for the US through his family.”
Other Articles
DJCoil Rugby articles by Doug Coil are also available on Facebook. Other Social Media sites to follow or subscribe to include Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for interviews.
