MLR Player Updates – January 2021

Travis Larsen Signs with San Diego Legion

Nanaimo born Travis Larsen has signed with the San Diego Legion for the 2021 MLR season. DJ Coil had this to say in his article:


San Diego Legion signed Travis Larsen for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 29-year-old back-row (30 in June) is 6’3″ and 242 lbs.

Travis played 226 minutes for Old Glory DC in five matches, starting four, during the truncated MLR season.

Travis played with Austin Elite Rugby along with his brother Josh during the 2019 MLR season. Travis played 1056 minutes, starting 13 of 15 matches, and scored one try. He carried 159 times for 915 meters, which led the team in carrying meters, as well as ball carries, had 2 line breaks, 11 tackle breaks, 9 offloads, and made 157 tackles (96% completion), which also was a team-high. He was third on the team in lineout takes with 14 with only his brother Josh and Ben Mitchell having more. When Travis and Josh played in Austin, it was the first time that they played on the same team.

San Diego Legion Signs Travis Larsen – Article on DJ Coil Rugby

The signing at San Diego will make him a teammate of fellow Canadian Josh Thiel.

A look through our story database shows Travis in 2016 with Canada A performances against Ulster A and Glasgow. In 2017 he showed up in James Bay match reports and also in regional matches where he played for the Island Tide. He also played for the BC Bears that year and one of his loose forward teammates was Nakai Penny who now plays for the Seattle Seawolves.

Travis was the blindside flanker in the 2017 Canadian Rugby Championship win for BC over the Ontario Blues. He was chosen man of the match in that performance.

In 2017 he also represented Canada in the Americas Pacific Challenge against an Argentina XV, USA Selects and Tonga A.

In 2018 he returned to James Bay in the BC Premier. He became part of the centralized player program that announced it’s players would be unavailable for BC Premier club play starting March 2018. He was however loaned out to the Bays for a couple of games in April 2018 during the Premier playoffs.

In May 2018 he played for the Ontario Arrows, the precursor to the Toronto Arrows, when they played Canada A.

Travis again played for the BC Bears in 2018 and then went on to play for Canada A in the 2018 Americas Pacific Challenge.

In 2019 he shows up with the Austin Elite in the MLR and became part of Canada’s long list for the World Cup. He played in the warmup match versus Leinster along with brother Josh, Josh was second row and Travis was blindside flanker.

In 2020 Travis showed up with Old Glory of the MLR, the Washington DC team, along with Doug Fraser and Ciaran Hearn. The season of course was aborted due to COVID.

So a new journey begins for Travis in San Diego, we wish him the best for 2021 and beyond.

Kawakawa mates Jack and Josh face off at World Cup – NZ Herald

Posted in MLR.