Jack Reeves

English centre/wing Jack Reeves played in Major League Rugby in 2022, and again in 2025. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

Born in Bristol, Reeves began playing rugby at the age of 5 with Dursley RFC in Gloucestershire, before entering the Gloucester rugby program in 2014 and representing England at both U18 and U20 level, playing in the U20 Six Nations Championship and World Rugby U20 Championship in 2019. He continued to play in the Gloucester system, earning two Premiership Rugby Cup appearances in 2021/22 before joining the New England Free Jacks on loan, earning 12 appearances and 6 starts in the 2022 seasons the Free Jacks finished the regular season with the best record in MLR, 13-3, before falling to Rugby New York in the Eastern Conference Final, where Reeves came off the bench.

Following the 2022 season Reeves returned to Gloucester and earned his first Premiership appearance in November 2022 against the Sale Sharks. Between 2022-2024 he split his playing time between the premiership and the Championship, representing Hartpury in the Championship, and Gloucester in the Premiership Rugby Cup, Premiership, and even a handful of games in the Champions Cup. During the 2024/25 season he again represented Gloucester in the Premiership Rugby Cup, and earned his Challenge Cup debut for the club. On December 13th, 2024, the New England Free Jacks announced the return of Jack Reeves for their 2025 MLR season.

A talented athlete with four British Championship medals in Judo, Jack’s father Ross Reeves played with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL and represented Canada in bobsleigh. With his father having been Canadian by birth, this makes Jack Reeves Canada-eligible and deemed a domestic player for MLR.

achievements
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2025 – Rd 9

Slade McDowall

New Zealand flanker Slade McDowall played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2023. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

McDowall’s signing was announced by the Free Jacks in December 2021 from Otago, whom he had played with since 2017. He proved a formidable tackler during his debut MLR season, finishing 4th in the league with 232 successful tackles in 2022. After returning to New Zealand following the 2022 season, the Free Jacks announced McDowall’s re-signing in late March 2023, joining New England part way through their 2023 Shield winning season.

As of the conclusion of the 2023 season, McDowall has earned 20 MLR caps (17 starts) and scored 10 tries in total including 8 in the 2022 season, when he finished T-7th league-wide.

On 20th July 2023, McDowall was announced in a Pre-season squad for the Manawatu Turbos in his native New Zealand, and did not return to MLR. He has since been announced as returning for the Turbos for their 2024 season.

Achievements
  • 2023 MLR Champion (NE Free Jacks)
  • 4th in MLR Tackling: 2022 (232)
  • 7th in MLR Try Scoring: 2022 (8)
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 15
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Week 8
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Week 6

Cam Davidowicz

Massachusetts native Cam Davidowicz played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2025. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

A Haverhill, MA native, Cam Davidowicz began playing rugby during high school, playing with the Essex County Bulldogs before continuing the sport at Plymouth State University. He represented Mystic River at amateur level where he caught the eye of the Free Jacks organization. He played with the New England Independents development program in 2020 and earned a spot on the Free Jacks roster as a training player in 2021. Following an impressive season with the Free Jacks Squad, Davidowicz earned a full-time MLR contract in 2022 and was a regular part of the New England roster during their back-to-back Championships, starting 7 of his 27 appearances and scoring 7 tries including a high of 5 in 2023.

At the start of 2025, Cam Davidowicz announced that he was stepping back from rugby to help on his families farm, but on 21st May 2025, the Free Jacks announced that they had signed Davidowicz just before the 2025 trade/signing deadline for the remainder of the season.

achievements

Wayne van der Bank

South African centre Wayne van der Bank played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2026. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

Hailing from Pretoria, van der Bank started his rugby career with the Golden Lions XV in the Rugby Challenge between 2017-2019, and moving to the Currie Cup side later in 2019 before moving to play with the Pumas between 2020-2021.

Van der Bank joined the New England Free Jacks ahead of their 2022 season, scoring 3 tries in 16 games (14 starts) and gaining exactly 1,000m with ball in hand in his debut season in North America. He has played with the New England Free Jacks for 3 seasons in total including their Shield-Winning 2023 season. He’s earned 40 MLR appearances and scored 15 tries in MLR, 10 of which came in his standout 2024 season where he finished T-5th in MLR Try scoring and gained a PB of 1,068m and was named as Free Jacks Player’s Player of the Year, Free Jacks Player of the Year, and 1st Regiment Player of the Year (awarded by Free Jacks fans). Van der Bank also finished 6th in MLR tackling with 187 completed in 2024. That season, the Free Jacks successfully defended their title by defeating the Seattle Seawolves in San Diego by a score of 11-20 to earn back-to-back MLR titles, a game in which van der Bank started. The MLR also recognized van der Bank’s extraordinary 2024 season, selecting him for the All-MLR First XV and as the deserving winner of MLR Player of the Year for 2024.

On October 29th, 2024, the New England Free Jacks announced that van der Bank would return for the 2025 season, where he unsurprisingly took a step back from his spectacular 2024 season. He started 8 of his 14 appearances in 2025, scoring his 16th career MLR try and recording 85 tackles to pass 550 in his 57 game MLR career, as well as 3,000m gained thanks to 315m gained in possession to help the Free Jacks secure their, and van der Banks’, third successive MLR Shield. On 24th November 2025 the New England Free Jacks announced that they had re-signed Wayne van der Bank for the 2026 Major League Rugby season, where he should become US-eligible based on 5yrs of residence in the US.

achievements

Stan van den Hoven

Dutch lock Stan van den Hoven played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2024. He represented the New England Free Jacks (2022-2023) and the Miami Sharks (2024).

A Netherlands U20 player, van den Hoven moved to New Zealand in 2017 to hone his game. He played on the national championship-winning Bay of Plenty U19 Provincial Squad and was named player of the year, before training with the New Zealand U20 squad in preparation for the World Rugby U20s Championships. He made his pro debut with Bay of Plenty in the Mitre 10 Cup (now the NPC) in 2019, earning 7 appearances through 2020. The following year he was selected for the Chiefs Super Rugby squad, making appearances for the development squad but missing out on a Super Rugby debut.

Van den Hoven signed with the New England Free Jacks ahead of their 2022 MLR season, and earned 16 appearances (14 starts), completing 200 tackles and finishing T-10th in MLR in this category. He spent the MLR off-season in the NPC with Taranaki before suffering an injury that ruled him out of both the NPC and the 2023 MLR season, when his club the Free Jacks lifted the Shield after defeating the San Diego Legion 24-25 in Chicago. He played with the Manawatu Turbos in the 2023 NPC season after getting healthy, before returning to MLR this time with the Miami Sharks for their inaugural season in 2024. Van den Hoven earned another 14 starts in 14 games for the Sharks, completing another 165 tacklers alongside 2023 1st overall pick Rick Rose for much of the season.

achievements
  • MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 8
  • T-10th in MLR Tackling: 2022 (200)

Mills Sanerivi

New Zealand hooker Milleniam ‘Mills’ Sanerivi played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2023. He joined the New England Free Jacks ahead of the 2022 Major League Rugby season on a 2yr deal and played with them for his entire MLR career.

Sanerivi appeared in all 17 of the Free Jacks’ 2022 matches, and followed this up with another 12 caps in 2023, becoming an MLR Champion that same season when the Free Jacks captured their first Shield. During the MLR offseason, Sanerivi plays for the Taranaki Bulls in his native New Zealand, whom he has played with since 2020. Sanerivi was included on the Taranaki roster for their 2023 NPC campaign, and was included in the Chiefs Wider Training Squad for their 2024 Super Rugby campaign, aloong with fellow MLRer Tom Florence. This ruled Sanerivi out of that year’s MLR season.

Achievements:

  • 2023 MLR Champion – NE Free Jacks
  • Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 15
  • Team of the Week: 2022 – Week 14

Le Roux Malan

Namibian centre Le Roux Malan played in Major League Rugby between 2022-2025. He represented the New England Free Jacks for his entire MLR career.

Born in Windhoek, Namibia and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Malan played first the Paarl Boys High School First XV before signing with the Sharks in KwaZulu-Natal on a junior provincial contract for their U19 side, and made his pro debut in the 2019 Supersport Challenge before competing in the U21 Currie Cup between 2020-2021.

In 2021, Malan signed with the New England Free Jacks ahead of their 2022 MLR season, and appeared in all 17 games for the club that season (16 starts), scoring 5 tries and running for 1,383m gained in possession, finishing 5th in the League in that stat. Following the season he earned his full international test debut for Namibia against Spain, before returning to MLR to re-join the Free Jacks for their Shield-winning 2023 season, where he earned 11 further appearances (10 starts) and scored 9 tries including a Shield-winning score late in the Championship Final to give the Free Jacks a 24-25 victory over the San Diego Legion in Chicago. Coming off this high, Malan was selected for the Namibia squad to play at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but suffered a horrific ankle injury early in his first RWC game against New Zealand.

This injury sidelined Malan for months, but he made a remarkable recovery to return to the pitch for the Free Jacks part-way through the 2024 season, appearing in 14 games and starting 12 of them. His only try of the 2024 season came in the Championship Game, where the Free Jacks were victories again, this time by a score of 11-20 over the Seattle Seawolves. with his most recent try before this coming in the 2023 final, Malan is the first player in MLR history to have scored consecutive tries in back-to-back MLR finals! To date, Malan has earned 42 MLR caps with the Free Jacks, and has qualified for the post-season in every year he has played, earning a Shield in back-to-back seasons from 2023-2024.

On 30th July 2024, the Hawke’s Bay Magpies included Malan in their Squad for the 2024 NPC season, marking Malan’s first time playing professionally in New Zealand. On October 22nd, 2024, the New England Free Jacks announced the return of Le Roux Malan for their 2025 MLR season. After having a bit of a lull in 2024, Malan bounced back in 2025. He started 15 of his 17 appearances, scoring 2 tries and recording over 600m gained to take his career total over 3,400m, and also completed well over 100 tackles (123) for the first time since his debut season in 2022. On 14th November 2025, the Hollywoodbets Sharks of the URC announced the signing of Malan, who had come through their academy system. Le Roux Malan was integral in the Free Jacks’ successful threepeat, and finishes his MLR career as a 3x MLR Champion.

achievements