Bjorn Basson

South African winger/fullback Bjorn Basson played in Major League Rugby between 2021-2022. He represented the San Diego Legion for his entire MLR career.

Basson began playing rugby young, graduating Dale College in 2005 and playing youth rugby with the Border Bulldogs U19 between 2005-2006 before joining the Griquas in 2007. He began his senior career with the Griquas in the Vodacom Cup and Currie Cup competitions between 2008-2010, scoring an incredible 47 tries in 56 appearances, including a single-season Currie Cup Premier Division record of 21 in 2010, when he was also named the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year. Unsurprisingly, Basson’s talents had attracted the attention of Super Rugby teams, and he earned his debut with the Cheetahs in 2009, scoring 6 tries in 9 appearances. In 2011 he joined the Bulls whom he represented through 2016, scoring 29 tries in 86 Super Rugby appearances, while also playing with the Blue Bulls, scoring 21 tries in 26 games. Basson also briefly travelled to Japan to play with the Honda Heat during their 2015/16 season.

Basson left the Bulls and spent the 2017 Super Rugby season with the Stormers, scoring 3 tries in 6 games and also scoring 4 tries in 6 additional games with Western Province. Later that year he joined Oyonnax in the French Top 14 as a medical joker, before returning to South Africa to represent the Southern Kings for the 2018/19 PRO 14 season, also returning to play with the Griquas in 2019 before heading to Russia for the Russian Rugby Championship with Enisei-STM.

The San Diego Legion announced the addition of Basson in September 2020, ahead of their 2021 season. He continued his prolific try scoring during his debut season in North America, scoring 10 tries in 15 appearances (14 starts), finishing 4th league-wide, and gaining 1,121m. Across his 2 seasons with the Legion, he scored 14 tries in 28 appearances (27 starts), and gained just over 2,000m with ball in hand.

achievements:

4th in MLR Try Scoring: 2021 (10)
3rd in MLR Meters Gained: 2021 (1,121m)
1,000m+ season: 2021

Cameron Clark

Josh Thiel

Tira Patterson

Fijian winger Tira Patterson played in Major League Rugby during the 2020 season. He represented the San Diego Legion for his entire MLR career.

Patterson played with the Fiji U20 side at the 2018 World Rugby Under-20s Trophy, and the Fijian Warriors (also known as Fiji A) at the 2019 Pacific Challenge, before signing with the San Diego Legion ahead of the 2020 MLR season.

Patterson appeared in 3 games (all starts) for the Legion in 2020, scoring 3 tries before the season was cut short after only 5 rounds due to the Global COVID-19 pandemic. Patterson finished as T-6th in League try scoring, along with teammates Ma’a Nonu and Dean Muir, as the Legion sat 5-0 when the season was scrapped. Patterson did not return to MLR for the 2021 season.

achievements

T-6th in League Try Scoring: 2020 (3)

Tevita Tameilau

California native Tevita Tameilau played in Major League Rugby in 2018, and again between 2020-2025. He represented the Utah Warriors (2018) and the San Diego Legion (2020-2025).

Tameilau is a capped USA Eagle and has earned 16 caps for his country since his debut against Canada in the Americas Rugby Championship in 2016. In March 2018 the Utah Warriors announced that they had signed Tameilau for the inaugural MLR season. He appeared in all 8 games for the Warriors (6 starts), scoring 2 tries during the 2018 season, as well as their Semi-final against the Glendale Raptors, a 34-21 loss. Following the MLR season, Tameilau was picked up by the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland on a 2yr deal in the Pro14 (now the URC).

Approaching the 2019 playoffs, the San Diego Legion announced on social media that they had signed Tameilau for the playoffs, but this was seemingly blocked by the league and Tameilau played no part in their 2019 campaign. He was signed by the San Diego Legion ahead of the shortened 2020 season and has represented the Californian club ever since. Tameilau became the 50th player in MLR history to reach 50 total caps in the competition on 6th May, 2023. He has 56 total MLR caps as of the conclusion of the 2023 season, earning 45 starts to date including a high of 15 in the 2022 season, the same season he scored 4 of his 9 MLR tries, also a personal best. As of the conclusion of the 2023 season, Tameilau was the 5th most capped player in Legion history, with 47 appearances (37 starts) for the club including 3 in the Championship Series. He has Captained the Legion 3 times.

On 2nd October 2023, the San Diego Legion announced the return of Tevita Tameilau for the 2024 season as part of a bumper announcement of 7 returnees from their record breaking 2023 squad. Tameilau scored his 10th MLR try in 2024, starting 8 of his 14 games to take his total MLR appearances to 70, with 53 starts. He recorded over 500m gained for the 4th season in a row and passed 3,000m gained in his career which also completing 75 tackles on defence.

On January 16th, 2025, the San Diego Legion announced the return of Tevita Tameilau for their 2025 MLR campaign, his 6th season in San Diego and 7th in MLR. The 35yo played a depth role in the 2025 season, starting 2 of his 8 appearances for the San Diego Legion as they missed the MLR postseason by a single point. On 27th June, 2025, Tameilau and the San Diego Legion announced his retirement. The capped USA Eagle started 55 times in 78 MLR appearances including 69 for the Legion across 6 seasons. Tameilau scored 10 tries in total including a high of 4 in 2022, and completed 483 tackles while running for over 3,100m in possession.

Achievements:

2023 MLR Runner-Up: San Diego Legion
50th MLR player to reach 50 games played in MLR
MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Round 9
MLR Team of the Week: 2021 – Round 5

Ma’a Nonu

Legendary New Zealand born Samoan centre Ma’a Nonu played in Major League Rugby in 2020, and again between 2022-2024. He represented the San Diego Legion for his entire MLR career.

A Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) and Wellington native, Nonu played with the Wellington U19 side in 2001 before joining the senior side in the Air New Zealand NPC competition (now known as the Bunning’s NPC, formerly known as the Air New Zealand Cup, ITM Cup, and Mitre 10 Cup. He played with Wellington between 2002-2010 and earned his Super 12 debut (now Super Rugby) in 2003, the same year he earned his All Blacks debut against England despite not being selected for the 2003 Tri-Nations. Nonu was included in the All Blacks’ 2003 Rugby World Cup squad and played in pool games against Canada, Italy, and Tonga. His first test try came against Canada. This would be the first of 3 RWCs that Nonu would play in, and the only one in which he did not finish as a World Champion.

Nonu played with the Hurricanes between 2003-2010, during which time he played against the British & Irish Lions in 2005. He missed out on All Blacks selection for the 2007 RWC and briefly switched to Rugby League, playing with the Junior All Blacks before returning to Union in 2008, when he became the All Blacks’ first choice centre. In 2011, Nonu was selected for the All Blacks’ RWC squad, appearing in the final in which NZ defeated hosts France 8-7 to lift the Webb Ellis Cup. Following the World Cup, Nonu made a move to Japan to play with the Ricoh Black Rams (now Black Rams Tokyo) in the Top League (now League One) for the 2011/12 season returning to the Super 12 to play with the Blues in 2012. Nonu moved to the Highlanders in 2013 and alternated seasons between the Blues and Hurricanes until 2015. His return to New Zealand made him eligible to represent the All Blacks at the 2015 RWC in England playing in every knockout game and scored a sensational try in the final to help win his 2^nd World Cup as New Zealand became back-to-back Champions.

Following the 2015 RWC, Nonu made a high-profile move to Toulon in the French Top 14, where he played alongside Wallabies legend (and future MLR teammate) Matt Giteau. Nonu played in France between 2015-2018, before returning to New Zealand with the Blues once more for the 2019 Super Rugby Season. Nonu made the move stateside ahead of the 2020 MLR season, signing with the San Diego Legion. In his debut MLR season, Nonu scored 3 tries in 4 games (all starts) before the season was cancelled after only 5 rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonu then returned to Toulon, signing as a medical joker between 2020-2021 before returning to the Legion in 2022.

In his first two full seasons with the Legion, Nonu has earned 28 MLR caps (27 starts) and scored 3 tries. He appeared 13 times (all starts) during the Legion’s historic 15-1 regular season in 2023, and started both of their Championship Series games, scoring a drop goal in their Western Conference Final victory over the Seattle Seawolves, and attempted another in the Championship Final as the Legion fell 24-25 to the New England Free Jacks in Chicago. On 13^th January 2024, the San Diego Legion announced the return of Ma’a Nonu for the 2024 season where he was a regular in the starting lineup once again. He scored another 2 tries and started all 12 of his appearances, adding 365m gained to pass 1,500m in his MLR career. In total, Nonu scored 8 tries and started 43 of his 44 MLR appearances for the San Diego Legion, completing over 300 tackles in defence.

Nonu did not return as a player for the San Diego Legion in 2025, but was still heavily involved with the team and in March 2025 the team announced that Ma’a Nonu had joined the ownership group of the Legion. That same year, a 42yo Ma’a Nonu returned to Toulon as a medical joker in the French Top14 and became the oldest player ever to play in the Top14. Toulon re-signed Nonu for the 2025/26 campaign, so is still setting records with every game he plays. With the San Diego Legion merging with Rugby FC LA to create the California Legion in July 2025, it is unknown if Nonu remains a part of the ownership group of the Legion.