LA Giltinis signed Zach Bonte for the remainder of the 2022 Major League Rugby season. The 27-year-old flanker (28 in April) is 6’2″ and 230 lbs.
Zach is from Santa Margarita, California, and went to Santa Margarita Catholic High School. He played football and won a state championship in 2011 and graduated in 2012.
He played rugby for Back Bay Sharks in 2012 won the SoCal Championship. He also played for SoCal at Rocky Mountain Challenge, and USA U19s, as a High School All-American in 2012.
Zach attended UCLA from 2012 to 2016, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. He was a Collegiate All-American playing for the USA in 2013 at the Junior World Cup in France, the 2014 IRB Junior World Trophy, and in 2016 Collegiate All-American tour to Queensland, Australia.
At UCLA he played in Varsity Cup, multiple Collegiate Rugby Championships, and won West Coast 7s in 2013.
He played with the Santa Monica Dolphins at the USA Club 7s Nationals in 2014 and 2015.
He attended Life West from 2017-to 2020, earning a Doctorate of Chiropractic Degree. He helped the rugby team finish second in the 2017 California Cup and won the 2018 Pacific Rugby Premiership over Belmont Shore. He also played in the 2019 RugbyTown 7s with the team.
Previously, he played at the RugbyTown 7s with the Ramblin Jesters in 2016 and 2018, and with Tiger Rugby in 2017. He also played with Tiger Rugby at the Las Vegas Invitational in 2017 and the Hong Kong Tens in 2018.
In 2021 he spent six months attending DPT School at South College, before joining the LA Giltinis Senior Academy for 2021-2022. He plans to resume school soon. He also played for Belmont Shore in 2022, as well as the LA Giltinis Senior Academy from 2021 to 2022.
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