Boston find a Galway Leader

A Galway man has been unveiled as a key squad member of Boston’s first ever professional rugby team.

Tadhg Leader, from Castlegar in the city, has been signed by newly formed New England Free Jack’s, and will play in the side’s inaugural season in 2020 in America’s Major League Rugby.

Leader, a former Connacht Academy and Galwegians player, who went to school at ‘The Bish’, made his international debut with the USA rugby team – known as the Eagles – in the 2019 Americas Rugby Cup earlier this year.

Leader’s current team is San Diego Legion; he captained the team in the 2018 inaugural Major League Rugby, when they reached the semi-final of the competition in which he was the top points scorer.

He is one of two out-halves announced in Boston’s newly assembled squad, which includes players from 11 different countries. Training commences in December, with their first competitive game in February next year.

A brother of Connacht full-back and winger, Darragh Leader, Tadhg moved to the US in 2015 and was on scholarship for a number of years before becoming US-qualified, by the residency rule, last September.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.