San Diego, California native Nathan ‘Nate’ Sylvia played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2025. He has represented his local MLR team, the San Diego Legion, in every MLR season to date.

Sylvia was playing for the San Francisco Golden Gate in the Pacific Rugby Premiership prior to joining the Legion ahead of MLR’s inaugural season in 2018. He appeared in 6 of the Legion’s 9 games that season (4 starts), scoring 2 tries. Sylvia is the Legion’s most capped player, earning 76 MLR caps for the California club through 7 seasons with the club (33 starts), scoring 4 tries including 2 in the Legion’s record breaking 2023 season that saw them advance to the playoffs after a league-record 15-1 regular season, only falling 24-25 in the Championship Final to the New England Free Jacks.

On 10th October 2023, the San Diego Legion announced the return of Nate Sylvia for the 2024 MLR season, along with 3 other members of their 2023 squad. Sylvia took a step back in 2024 but so did the Legion as a whole. He added 8 further appearances (2 starts), and was announced as returning for his 8th season with San Diego on 1st November 2024, he was the first returnee announced by the club.

Achievements:

• MLR Runner-Up: 2023 (San Diego Legion)
• MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Round 13
• MLR Team of the Week: 2023 – Round 5
• MLR Team of the Week: 2022 – Round 13
• MLR Runner-Up: 2019 (San Diego Legion)
• MLR Team of the Week: 2018 – Round 8