New Zealand Scrum-half Luke Campbell played in Major League Rugby between 2023-2024. He represented the NOLA Gold for his entire MLR career.

Not to be confused with Canadian international forward Luke Campbell who announced his retirement in December 2022, Campbell’s move to MLR was announced relatively early in the offseason with the NOLA Gold announcing the addition in September 2022. He joined from Manawatu in New Zealand’s NPC Competition having also earned a dozen appearances for Super Rugby’s Hurricanes in 2021, before signing with Narbonne in France on a 1-year deal.

Campbell’s debut MLR season saw the then-27yo earn 11 MLR caps for the NOLA Gold including 9 starts, scoring 2 tries for the Gold in their up-and-down 2023 season. He gained 246m which is relatively high for a scrum-half. On July 26th, 2023, Campbell was included in the Manawatu squad for their 2023 NPC season, but returned to MLR with the Gold for their 2024 season in which they qualified for the playoffs for the first time in club history. In that season, he scored 3 tries and 19pts in 14 games (all starts), racking up over 350m gained. Campbell start NOLA’s first ever MLR Playoff game against the Chicago Hounds, a 21-45 home defeat where the scoreline does not really reflect how tight the game was.

Campbell would rejoin the Manawatu Turbos during the MLR offseason. The Turbos announced this on 19th June 2024.

achievements

• MLR Team of the Week: 2024 – Rd 6