Californian back row Drew Gaffney played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2019. He represented the San Diego Legion for his entire MLR career.

Born and raised in San Diego, CA, Drew Gaffney began playing rugby with the San Diego Mustangs Youth Rugby Club, where he played from 2011-2013. He was chosen to play with the USA U17s before enrolling at UC-Berkeley for college where he represented the Golden Bears rugby team between 2013-2017. Following his graduation from UC-Berkeley, Gaffney was able to remain in California, signing with his local MLR side, the San Diego Legion, ahead of MLR’s inaugural season in 2018.

Drew Gaffney was named as a reserve in the Legion’s first ever MLR game, coming off the bench to score a try on the road in Seattle. This would be one of Gaffney’s 3 tries for San Diego in 2018, starting 4 of his 7 games and gaining just under 200m in possession while completing over 60 tackles. He returned for a second season with the Legion in 2019, improving on his totals for the previous season almost across the board. Although Gaffney didn’t add to his 3 tries, he started 6 of his 14 appearances for San Diego and gained over 230m while completing 66 tackles on defence to help the Legion finish 1st in the regular season. Gaffney didn’t feature in the postseason, as San Diego fell to the Seattle Seawolves in the 2019 Championship Game.

Over his two seasons in MLR with the San Diego Legion, Drew Gaffney started 10 of his 21 appearances, racked up 431m gained, and completed 129 tackles on defence.