New Zealand scrum-half Connor McLeod represented the Utah Warriors in Major League Rugby’s 2023 season.

McLeod represented the Hawke’s Bay Magpies in New Zealand’s NPC for 3 seasons before heading stateside, and was a member of the Hurricanes’ Super Rugby Development Squad from 2020-2021. McLeod appeared in all 16 regular season games for the Warriors in his inaugural MLR season including 13 starts, and scored 5 tries.

McLeod recorded a hattrick in the Warriors’ 26-36 road win over Dallas in Week 13 of the 2023 season. He dotted down 3 times within the first 19 minutes of the game to set a new record for the fastest hattrick to start a game in league history! His 3 tries in a 13 minute span (6th, 8th, and 19th mintues) is also the 2nd shortest 3-try span in league history, follow a James Malcolm hattrick in a 9 minute span for the Seattle Seawolves in 2021.

On July 10, 2023 McLeod was included in an updated Hawke’s Bay squad for their 2023 NPC season. It is unknown if he will return to MLR for the 2024 season.

Achievements:

• Fastest hattrick to start a MLR game – 19 minutes
• MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 13
• MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 8
• MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Week 7