The LA Giltinis re-signed Harrison Goddard for the 2022 Major League Rugby season. The 23-year-old scrumhalf (24 in April) is 6’0″ and 185 lbs.
Harrison played 1162 minutes in 16 matches, starting 15, and scored 9 tries for the Giltinis in 2021.
Harrison was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and attended Oakhill College. Since rugby performance led to his selection in 2014-2015 for the Australian Schoolboys. In 2015 he also played in the Australian Youth Commonwealth 7s.
Harrison attended Western Sydney University in 2016, pursuing a Bachelor of Business Degree in Sports Management.
He’s played for Randwick Rugby Club since 2016, and in 2016 played for the Greater Sydney Rams in the National Rugby Championship. In 2017 he played for the Melbourne Rebels U20s in the 2017 SuperU20s and led to his representing Australia in the World Rugby U20s Championship in both 2017 and 2018.
During 2017-2018 he played for Melbourne Rising and from 2017-2019, the Melbourne Rebels, and the Australia Sevens team in 2018. In 2020 he played on the Shute Shield winning team, Gordon Rugby Club, in which the head coach was Darren Coleman, the 2021 head coach of the LA Giltinis.
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Goddard engineered one of the most important tries of the season with his blindside play for the Ryan James try that sunk the Warriors 17-13 in the Western Conference final thriller.
His slick pass and calm distribution made the Giltinis backline hum. He was a standout all season and was named in the All-MLR First XV for his impressive performances.
“I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived in LA. It turned into one of the best years and the whole team environment was really good,” Goddard said.
“I’m really excited to be back and feel this season can be even better. Getting to play with an experienced flyhalf like Matt Giteau taught me a lot about composure.”
“One of the things I wanted most in 2021 was to play more at a professional level. Playing back-to-back games throughout the season was exactly what I needed to find my groove, grow in confidence and bark a few more orders at senior guys.”
“Harrison was one of the best-performed players in the competition in his first season of MLR,” Hoiles said. There is a calming sense about him and he was definitely one of the keys to our successful 2021. He’s got a huge future so we’re very pleased he is staying in LA for another season.”
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