Blaine Hansen Scully (born February 29, 1988) is an American former

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 who played for the U.S. national team as a fullback or

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

. Scully was captain of the U.S. national team and previously served as co-captain alongside long-serving USA Eagle,

Todd Clever Todd Stanger Clever (born January 16, 1983) is an American retired rugby union player. He became the first American to play Super Rugby. At the international level, he was a member of the United States national team, served as captain, and is t ...

. Professionally, Scully last played in Wales for

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

and for the

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

. Scully also founded the United States Rugby Players Association (USRPA) with former 7s Eagle, James Gillenwater.

Early life

Scully was born in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He attended Jesuit High School in Sacramento, where he lettered in basketball, swimming, and water polo, and earned All-American honors in water polo and swimming. Scully took up rugby in college, where he played for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

for two years before transferring to play rugby with

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(Cal) for the following three years. Scully was a standout player in college, his accolades include: four time All-American, captain of the 2011 USA Rugby Collegiate All-Americans Touring Squad, and two national titles with Cal. Scully also played for the Cal rugby sevens team at the

Collegiate Rugby Championship The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC capitalized on the surge in popularity of rugby at major universities following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby sevens to the Summer Olymp ...

(CRC). Scully led Cal to a second-place finish at the 2010 CRC tournament. Scully captained Cal at the 2011 CRC, earning a place on the All-Tournament team. Scully graduated from Cal in 2011 with a degree in history. Cal v Gaels 2010 15

Club career

Leicester Tigers

In summer 2013, Scully joined the Leicester team that played in the 2013 JP Morgan 7s, and was praised highly by many observers for his hard work and defense. Due to his strong play, in the autumn of 2013 Scully received a four-month contract with the

through the end of 2013. Scully received his work visa in September 2013, and a few days later, on September 21, 2013, Scully made his debut for Leicester, where he started and played all 80 minutes at fullback, scoring a try in the process. Scully made his debut in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

on October 18, 2013, starting on the wing against Benetton Treviso, and scoring a try. On January 4, 2014, Scully signed a new deal with Leicester Tigers until the end of the season. Due to his tireless work rate Scully quickly became a fan favourite and won the Leicester Tigers Player of the Month award for February 2014. In April 2014 Scully signed an extension to remain with Leicester for the 2014–15 season.

Cardiff Blues

On March 24, 2015, it was announced Scully had signed for the

on a long-term deal after 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 ...

. Scully made his debut in a 15-26 loss to Zebre in a Pro12 match in November 2015. Scully scored his first try in his second appearance for Cardiff during their European Challenge Cup win over Calvisano. Scully won Try of the 2016-2017 Season for his diving effort against the Scarlets. He also shared "Cardiff Blues Supporters Club Player of the Year" honors with Kristen Dacey. Scully signed a contract extension with the club in late 2017. On 9 May 2019 Cardiff announced Scully was to leave the club that summer.

International career

Scully debuted for the

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States in men's international rugby union competitions. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, a ...

in June 2011, and scored his first try for the US national team in August 2011 against Canada. Scully was part of 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 ...

squad at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

. Scully played in all four pool games for the United States, including two starts at fullback. On June 14, 2014 Scully recorded his first hat trick for his country in a 29-37 loss in 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 ...

to Japan. He followed that performance up with a brace of tries the next week in a winning effort against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Scully served as Vice-Captain during the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. He also captained the United States in the inaugural game of the Americas Rugby Championship against Argentina. Scully also played for the

United States national rugby sevens team The United States national rugby sevens team competes in international rugby sevens competitions. The national sevens team is organized by USA Rugby, and was led by Head Coach Mike Friday from 2014-2024, when he resigned and was replaced b ...

on the World Series circuit. Scully also represented the US playing

rugby sevens at the 2011 Pan American Games Rugby sevens at the 2011 Pan American Games was held in Guadalajara from October 29 to October 30 at the Tlaquepaque Stadium. This was the first appearance for rugby sevens at the Pan American Games. The sport is one of two sports being contested j ...

, helping the team earn a bronze medal. Scully captained the USA team at the 2019 World Cup. He announced his retirement from professional and international rugby on 10 March 2020.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scully, Blaine 1988 births Living people United States international rugby union players United States international rugby sevens players Leicester Tigers players Rugby sevens players at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in rugby sevens 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings American expatriate rugby union players in England Sportspeople from Sacramento, California Rugby union players from California Jesuit High School (Carmichael) alumni