The New England Free Jacks re-signed Mitch Wilson through the 2024 Major League Rugby season. The 26-year-old wing/fullback (27 in April) is 5’9″ and 175lbs.
Mitch played in 15 matches with the Free Jacks in 2022, with the USA Selects, and for the USA Men’s National XVs Team in an uncapped match in July against the French Barbarians.
Mitch played 644 minutes in 9 starts and scored 20 points (3 tries, 1 conversion, 1 penalty goal). He also played with the USA Selects in the Americas Pacific Challenge in Uruguay, as well as with Mystic River during the American Rugby Premiership Fall season.
Following his senior year with Life University and as a Collegiate All-American, Mitch demonstrated his versatility in the starting XV for the Free Jacks’ first four matches at fullback and left-wing. He was a key contributor to the team’s attack and his offloads assisted others in scoring. In the truncated season, he carried for more than 250 meters and broke the gain line more than 90% of the time.
Mitch is from Sydney, Australia, and grew up playing rugby league for Emu Plain Rugby League Club. Beginning at the Under 6 level, Mitch built a foundation of rugby skills at the Western Sydney club throughout his youth. At 14 Mitch made the code switch through his rugby union debut with Hawkesbury Valley Rugby Club.
When he was 15, his family moved to Oviedo, Florida, and attended Oviedo High School. He was a standout rugby player for Orlando Rugby Under-19s. He moved up the age-grade ladder, earning All-American honors in the process.
After graduating from Oviedo, he attended Life University from 2015-2019, graduating Magna cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration. The team won three USA Rugby D1A National Championships in 2016, 2018, and 2019 and he was the captain from 2017-2019.
Mitch represented the United States at the 2016 World Rugby Under-20 Trophy in Zimbabwe, was named a USA Rugby Collegiate All-American four years in a row, and captained the 2018 Collegiate All-American squad that handily defeated the Glendale Raptors. In 2017 he played for the All-Americans against Oxford University 2017.
In 2017 and 2018, Mitch represented the USA Selects in Montevideo in the Americas Pacific Challenge (APC) where they took on quality sides such as Uruguay XV, Tonga A, and Argentina XV.
Mitch also was a coach while at Life University for Atlanta Youth Rugby and is was an Assistant Coach at Dartmouth College.
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