John Poland (born 21 November 1996) is an Irish

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. He plays as a scrum-half for the

New England Free Jacks The New England Free Jacks are an American professional rugby union team based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). They were announced in September 2018 and began to compete professionally in October 2018. They co ...

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) in the United States.

Early life

Born in

Ballinora Ballinora or Ballynora ( or ''Baile Nóra'') is a small rural parish and townland near Cork city and Ballincollig in County Cork, Ireland. The townland, which lies in the civil parish of Kilnaglory, is home to several education facilities and sp ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, the second eldest of four children, Poland first played rugby for

Sundays Well Sunday's Well () is a suburb of Cork city in Ireland. It is situated in the north-west of the city, on a ridge on the northern bank of the River Lee. Sunday's Well is part of the Dáil constituency of Cork North-Central. The area's former 19th ...

, where his father had also been a player, and attended Presentation Brothers College, captaining the team during the

Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup The Munster Schools Senior Cup or Munster Senior Cup is the under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Munster Branch of the IRFU. The trophy is named after Garrett Fitzgerald former CBC coach, Munster coach and Munster CEO. ...

. He also played hurling and football for Ballinora GAA, where he played on several inter-county development sides. Initially, he played as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

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 ...

, before converting to scrum-half. Poland has been capped at under-19 and Under-20 level for Ireland, and joined the Munster sub-academy in July 2015.

Club rugby

Poland played his club rugby with

Cork Constitution The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the '' Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lo ...

during the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons, winning several trophies while there. He moved to

UCC The initialism UCC may stand for: Law * Uniform civil code of India, referring to proposed Civil code in the legal system of India, which would apply equally to all irrespective of their religion * Uniform Commercial Code, a 1952 uniform act to ...

ahead of the 2017–18 season and was an integral part of the side that was promoted to the division 1A of the All-Ireland League for the 2018–19 season.

Professional career

Munster

Poland was an integral part of the Munster A team that won the 2016–17 British and Irish Cup. He was used as a replacement in round 1 against

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

, missed the round 3 clash against

Rotherham Titans Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a rugby union club from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the third tier of the English rugby union league system, following their promotion from the National League ...

due to exam commitments, was used as a replacement again in round 4 against Rotherham, before starting against

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Knights Rugby Football Club ''(formerly, Doncaster RFC)'' are a professional rugby union club representing the city of Doncaster, England. The club play in the 2nd division of English rugby, the RFU Championship. Being the most prom ...

in the rescheduled round 2 and round 5, Ulster A in the quarter-final,

Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the reigning RFU Championship champions of 2024–25 but were considered ineligible for promotion to Premiership Rugby a ...

in the semi-final and

Jersey Reds Jersey Reds was a rugby union club based in Jersey, Channel Islands. On 28th September 2023, the club ceased trading and shortly thereafter went into liquidation following the withdrawal of financial support from a key investor. Until seaso ...

in the final. Poland made his senior competitive debut for Munster on 10 February 2018, coming off the bench in the provinces' 33–5 win against

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning " Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by t ...

in the

2017–18 Pro14 The 2017–18 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Pro14, Celtic League. It is the first season to be referred to as t ...

New England Free Jacks

Poland joined American

side

in October 2019 upon concluding his degree in finance at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

, in time for the sides inaugural season in 2020. He scored four tries in the 5 regular season games and had 4 try assists. Poland scored a brilliant individual try which was awarded try of the week in week 4. He would help lead the free jacks to their first championship in 2023 scoring 37 points. Then being named to the All MLR second team. He would get injured 3 games into the following season but would still be part of another championship team. Then in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

he would win a 3rd straight championship scoring 4 points in 5 appearances. During the 2023 season Poland would become the first player in Free jacks history to reach 50 caps.

Manwatu

After the 2023 MLR season John would play in the NPC with the Manwatu Turbos. Making 8 appearances and scoring 2 tries.

Ireland

Poland was capped for Ireland U20 during the

2016 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2016 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was a rugby union competition held in February and March 2016. Wales won the tournament, the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam. Final table Results Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Ro ...

, earning the

Man-of-the-Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

award during the sides opening 35–24 loss to Wales U20 on 5 February 2016.

Honours

; New England Free Jacks * Major League Rugby Championship: 3x

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* All Major League Rugby second team: 2023

Munster A

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009� ...

: **Winner (1): 2016–17

Cork Constitution

* All-Ireland League Division 1A: **Winner (1): 2016–17 * Bateman Cup: **Winner (2): 2015–16, 2016–17 * Munster Senior Cup: **Winner (2): 2015–16, 2016–17 *All Ireland U20 League: **Winner (1): 2016–17

University College Cork

* All-Ireland League Division 1B: **Winner (1): 2017–18

References

External links

New England Free Jacks ProfileMunster A ProfileU20 Six Nations Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poland, John Living people 1996 births Rugby union players from County Cork People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork Irish rugby union players Sundays Well RFC players Cork Constitution players University College Cork RFC players Munster Rugby players New England Free Jacks players Irish expatriate rugby union players in the United States Rugby union scrum-halves Manawatu rugby union players