Bill Meakes (born 23 February 1991) is an Australian professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player currently playing for

RFCLA Rugby FC Los Angeles (RFCLA) is an American professional rugby union team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team began play in 2020 Major League Rugby season, 2020 as Rugby ATL, based in Atlanta, Geo ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

(MLR). He also has represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in rugby sevens. His usual position is

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. Meakes was previously contracted to the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

in Perth and

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

in the English Premiership. He also played for the

LA Giltinis The LA Giltinis were a Major League Rugby team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. The team was announced in 2020 and entered the league in the 2021 season as an expansion franchise. Owned by Adam Gilchrist and Loyals Rugby, the t ...

and Chicago Hounds in the MLR.

Early life

Meakes was born in Manly on Sydney's Northern Beaches. He attended

St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill St Joseph's College (abbreviated as SJC and commonly called ''Joeys'') is an independent Catholic secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Marist Brothers tradition, located in Hunters Hill, a suburb on the Lower North Sh ...

and during his final year there in 2008 was selected to represent New South Wales at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships.

Rugby career

Meakes played his club rugby at

Northern Suburbs Northern Sydney is a large metropolitan area in Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the north shore of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River. The region embraces suburbs in Sydney's north-east, north and inner north west. Northern Sy ...

and then

Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...

. In 2011 he played for the Australia U20 team that finished third at the

IRB Junior World Championship The World Rugby Under 20 Championship (known as the IRB Junior World Championship until 2014) is an annual international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 12 men's juni ...

, defeating

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

by 30–17 in the third place playoff. He was also capped for

Australia sevens The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Sydney Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, and on ...

, playing in the

2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series The 2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 13th annual series of the IRB Sevens World Series tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999� ...

. In 2013, Meakes moved to England as he played for Clifton RFC, a local rugby union club based in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. In early 2014, Meakes linked up with

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was formed in 1873 and since 1891 has played its home matches ...

having played for Clifton since his arrival in the UK as a non-contracted player. He did enough to earn an academy contract for the 2014–15 season. On 15 January 2015, Meakes signed his first professional contract with Gloucester since his move to the English club became permanent. In 2016, Meakes was released from his contract with Gloucester to make his debut in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

with Perth-based

from the 2017 season. Following a year with Western Force, Meakes signed with rivals

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria that competed in the Super Rugby competition. The Rebels made their debut in SANZAAR, SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. T ...

for both the 2018 and 2019 Super Rugby seasons. He signed a one-year contract extension with the Rebels for the 2020 Super Rugby season. On 28 October 2020, Meakes returns to England to sign with Premiership side

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

on a short-term deal until the end of January 2021 as injury cover. He joined

side

following his time at London Irish. He competed for

at the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth and final edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in Sep ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. Meakes has never played for the Wallabies.

Super Rugby statistics

Honours

; RFC Los Angeles * All Major League Ruby first team (2025)

References

External links

Gloucester Rugby Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meakes, Bill Living people 1991 births Australian rugby union players Gloucester Rugby players Australian expatriate rugby union players in England Perth Spirit players Western Force players Melbourne Rebels players Melbourne Rising players London Irish players Australian expatriate rugby union players in the United States Australian rugby sevens players Rugby union centres LA Giltinis players Chicago Hounds (rugby union) players Clifton RFC players Northern Suburbs Rugby Club players Randwick DRUFC players People educated at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill 21st-century Australian sportsmen