Alan "AJ" MacGinty is an Irish-born professional rugby player, who represents the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in international competition. He primarily plays as a fly-half. MacGinty plays club rugby for

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

team

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

Early life

A graduate of

Blackrock College Blackrock College () is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became al ...

, MacGinty played with the

Blackrock College RFC Blackrock College Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club located in Blackrock, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The club was founded in 1882 by former pupils of Blackrock College. Their senior team currently plays in 2024–25 All-Irela ...

academy before moving to New York on a visa where he began playing with NYAC. In 2012 MacGinty moved to Marietta, Georgia, where he began a master's degree in Sport Health Science and excelled on the rugby pitch at out-half for the Life Running Eagles.

Club career

Connacht

Following his participation in the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

, MacGinty was signed by Connacht for the 2015–16 Pro12 season. Connacht head coach

Pat Lam Patrick Richard Lam (born 29 September 1968) is a rugby union coach and former player. He is currently Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears in England's Premiership Rugby. Born in New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in schools and under-21 ...

said the province had been following MacGinty since the

Pacific Nations Cup The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Canada, Japan and the United States. First held in 2006, the tournament is intended to strengthen the Tier 2 rugby teams by providing competitiv ...

earlier in the year. MacGinty made his domestic debut for Connacht appearing off the bench in their 33–19 win over Benetton Treviso on 6 November 2015. MacGinty made his European debut on 14 November 2015 in the first match of the 2015–16 Challenge Cup, starting at fly-half and scoring nine points. MacGinty led Connacht to a 28–23 bonus point win over Edinburgh in March 2016 and "controlled matters expertly" to manage Connacht's fifth consecutive win and maintain first place in the Pro12. He was pivotal in Connacht's Pro12 final win securing the team's first ever silverware.

Sale Sharks

In May 2016 it was announced that MacGinty would join English Premiership side

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

when his deal with Connacht finished in the summer, with n-capped Marnitz Boshoff taking his place at the province. MacGinty was signed as a replacement for outgoing international

Danny Cipriani Danny Cipriani (; born 2 November 1987) is an English former professional rugby union player. He most recently played for Premiership Rugby side Bath and previously played for Gloucester, Sale Sharks and Wasps in the Premiership and Melbourn ...

Bristol Bears

On 10 November 2021 it was announced that MacGinty would be joining Bristol Bears at the end of the 21/22 season.

International career

Having qualified through residency rules, MacGinty made his debut for the in July 2015 against during the

. In the U.S. team's last match of the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup against , MacGinty scored all of the team's points, including a last minute drop goal, to win the match 15–13. MacGinty was the U.S. team's leading scorer throughout the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup, scoring 44 points in three matches. Following his performances in the Nations Cup, MacGinty was named in the American squad for the

. He featured in three of the team's four games, starting in each of his appearances and scoring 25 points.

International tries

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacGinty, AJ American rugby union players United States international rugby union players Irish emigrants to the United States Connacht Rugby players Rugby union fly-halves Life University alumni Blackrock College RFC players 1990 births Living people People educated at Blackrock College Irish rugby union players Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Irish expatriate rugby union players in the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States Naturalised rugby union players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate rugby union players in England 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players