Californian flanker Giovanni Lapp played in Major League Rugby between 2020-2021, and again in 2023. He represented the NOLA Gold for his entire MLR career.

A native of Carlsbad, CA, Giovanni Lapp grew up playing gridiron football. He played football and was a member of the Track & Field team at Carlsbad high school, before attending California Lutheran University, where he continued to play football as an offensive linesman for the CLU Kingsmen between 2008-2011. Following his graduation, Lapp moved around the US and switched to rugby, where he played his club rugby with NOVA in the DC area, the Hawai’i Harlequins, and New Orleans RFC in Louisiana.

Lapp was in Louisiana while professional rugby was getting started in the state. He signed with the NOLA Gold on an Associate Player contract for the 2019 season, but missed the vast majority of the year due to injury. He returned the following year and featured in a pre-season clash with Rugby ATL, but didn’t see any MLR action before the season was cancelled after only 5 rounds due to COVID-19. Lapp returned for the Gold for a 3rd year in 2021 where he earned his professional debut, starting 2 of his 3 appearances for New Orleans that year.

Giovanni Lapp returned to club rugby in Louisiana during 2022, but when an injury crisis hit the NOLA Gold in 2023, Lapp answered the call and was brought in as cover. He earned an additional pair of appearances that season to bring his career total to 5.