The Chicago Hounds signed Luke Carty for the 2023 Major League Rugby season after Chicago obtained his signing rights in the 2022 MLR dispersal draft. The 25-year-old flyhalf/inside center is 6’0″ and 205 lbs.
Luke played 385 minutes in 3 matches, starting 2, and scored 31 points (11 conversions, 3 penalty goals) for the LA Giltinis in 2022. He was injured for much of the season and returned to form late in the season.
He played for the USA National Team against Chile and in the November 2023 Rugby World Cup Final Qualifier Tournament against Kenya, Hong Kong, and Portugal. Before that tournament, he played for the USA Falcons in the Toyota Challenge in South Africa against the Toyota Cheetahs and Pumas.
Luke played 557 minutes in 15 matches, starting 6, and scored 19 points through 8 conversions and one penalty goal. He carried the ball 32 times for 193 meters (6.0 meters per carry) while adding 1,779 kicking meters on his 62 kicks. He came off of the bench in the Giltinis’ championship game win over Rugby Atlanta in 2021.
Luke made his USA National Team debut against England at Twickenham on July 4, 2021, and the last of his 9 tests came against Portugal in November 2022.
Luke is from Athlone, Roscommon, Ireland, and is qualified to play for the U.S. through his grandmother, who was born in New York.
Luke was a multi-sport athlete playing soccer, garlic football, and rugby. He graduated from Marist College Athlone in 2016 after entering in 2010. At Marist, he helped the rugby team win the Connacht Senior Cup in 2012 and 2013 and then to semi-final finishes in other years. He played club rugby with the Buccaneers Rugby Football Club and with Connacht Academy. In 2015, he was named Connacht U18 Club Player of the Year and also played with the U19s in the Interpros.
Luke played for Ireland U18s and was an injury replacement for the U20s at the World Rugby Championship in Georgia in 2017.
Luke also has gained at least 18 caps for Connacht A. He started for the Connacht Eagles in 2019 in the Cara Cup in their 38-7 win over the New England Free Jacks and as a reserve in the 44-21 win over Ulster A.
Luke signed in 2020 to play rugby with the eventual Shute Shield Champions Gordon, however COVID-19 travel restrictions precluded his participation.
After graduating from Marist College, Athlone, Luke attended NUI Galway J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics from 2016-2018, earning a Bachelor of Commerce Degree. He attended UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School from 2020-2021 for a Master’s Degree In International Business.
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