The Utah Warriors re-signed Niall Saunders for the 2023 Major League Rugby season. The 24-year-old scrumhalf (25 in December) is 5’10” and 195 lbs.
Niall played 548 minutes in 10 matches, starting 7, and scored 3 tries for the Utah Warriors in 2022. He then played with the Tel Aviv Heat this Fall.
Niall is from Chertsey, Surrey, United Kingdom. He attended Epson College and represented Ireland at the U18, U19, and U20 levels. He played with Ireland’s U20 squad at the 2016 and 2017 U20 World Championships. He also played in the 2015 Oceania Junior Championship at the Gold Coast in Australia and has also played in the Six Nations U20s.
Niall played with the Harlequins Youth Academy, as well as for the Harlequins since 2019. After the 2019-2020 season, but announced his retirement briefly from rugby at age 22. He had a medical condition, Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a blood disorder, which may occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks platelets. After assessing his condition, he resumed playing rugby with the Utah Warriors in 2022.
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.
