The LA Giltinis has John Ryberg back for the second year of his contract through the 2022 Major League Rugby season. The 29-year-old wing (30 in March) is 5’11”, and 235 lbs.
John played 1178 minutes for the Giltinis in 16 matches, starting 15, and scored 9 tries, which was tied for third in the MLR. He also played for The Team, in the inaugural United States professional sevens league, the Premier Rugby Sevens in Memphis, Tennessee on October 9, 2021.
John started all five games on the right-wing in 2020 and was the leading try-scorer in MLR in 2019 with 13. In 2019 he played 1073 minutes in 14 matches, carried the ball 138times for 1567 meters, made 87 tackles, and kicked twice for 65 meters. He also had 25 linebreaks, 28 tackle breaks, and made 11 offloads. In 2018 he played 133 minutes in 4 matches, starting twice.
John is from Houston, Texas, but later moved to Iowa. He attended Xavier High School, which served the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area.
Following his graduation in 2010, he attended the University of Iowa, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He began playing rugby at 21 with the University of Iowa Rugby Club.
After graduating from Iowa in 2015, he moved to Denver and began playing with the Glendale Raptors in the Fall of 2015 and has played with the team ever since. In 2016 he helped the team win their second consecutive Pacific Rugby Premiership Championship.
The team branded the Glendale Raptors name in 2017 ahead of the 2018 Major League Rugby season with the amateur club named the Glendale Merlins. John has played for both.
John’s inaugural MLR season was disappointing, as he missed most of the season with a hamstring injury. The physical wing was back again by the Raptors Fall 2018 exhibition season and will be a force in 2019.
Those who don’t know John may find it interesting that “he has lived in Paris and London, and once had a pet goose named Dominique that he raised from a gosling and taught to fly.” If you meet him and get to talk, he may share some of these experiences.
LA Giltinis 2021 Comments
The LA Giltinis have continued to secure homegrown American talent with the exciting signing of power-running winger John Ryberg for two years.
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