Rugby Football Club Los Angeles signed Niall Saunders for the 2024 Major League Rugby season. The 26-year-old scrumhalf is 5’10” and 195 lbs.
Niall joins RFC LA after playing for the Tel Aviv Heat in the Europe Super Cup in 2023.
Niall played 289 minutes in 7 matches, starting 3, and scored 1 try for Rugby ATL after being traded by the Utah Warriors in 2023. Before the trade, he did not play during the regular season for Utah.
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 in the Europe Super Cup Final this Fall. He previously played with the Tel Aviv Heat in 2021.
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 2017. 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 in 2021.
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