6’8 Irish lock Gavin Thornbury played in Major League Rugby during the 2025 season. He represented the Utah Warriors for his entire MLR career.

Having attended the prestigious Blackrock College in Dublin, Thornbury entered the Leinster Academy and spent 3 years there, earning a development contract with the Irish province for the 2015/16 season. Instead, Thornbury chose to head to New Zealand, helping Wanganui lift the Meads cup in the Heartland Championship, before returning to Ireland to join Connacht, the then-reigning Pro14 Champions. Thornbury made his Pro14 debut in the 2017/18 season, and earned over 75 Pro14/URC appearances for the Irish province between 2017-2024. In 2024, Thornbury left Connacht and headed over the Irish Sea to England, where he signed a short-term deal with the reigning Premiership Champions Northampton for the 2024/25 Premiership season.

Thornbury is a former Ireland U20 player, and represented the Irish Wolfhounds (essentially the Irish ‘B’ team) in 2022. On October 16th, 2024, the Utah Warriors announced the signing of the towering Thornbury for the 2025 MLR season. Although his 2025 season was affected by injury, Thornbury started all 8 of his appearances for the Warriors, completing 78 tackles in total. He Captained the Utha Warriors during the 2025 season, leading them to their best ever reagular season finish as the best team in MLR with an 11-5 record and 58pts. Following the 2025 season, Gavin Thornbury announced his retirement from the professional game on Instagram on 25th August, 2025.

achievements

• MLR Team of the Week: 2025 – Rd 2

NARDB Player #1,303