Nate Brakeley (born August 31, 1989) is an American former 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 who played

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

and flanker for

Rugby New York Rugby New York, originally known as Rugby United New York and officially nicknamed the Ironworkers, was a professional rugby union team based in New York City that was a member of Major League Rugby (MLR). The team played an exhibition season in s ...

(Ironworkers) of

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) and for the United States men's national team. Brakeley also played for the

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a Gentlemen's club, private social club and athletic club in New York (state), New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Pa ...

Early life and education

Brakeley began playing rugby in high school, playing four years at St. John's Preparatory School. Brakeley went on to attend

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, where he majored in engineering. While there, Brakeley was a member of the

Dartmouth Rugby The Dartmouth Rugby Football Club (or Dartmouth Rugby) is the men's college rugby team of Dartmouth College. The student-run club was founded in 1951, and competes in the Ivy Rugby Conference against its traditional Ivy League rivals. Current he ...

team that won

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 ...

s in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. Brakeley also attended

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, where he earned an

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

energy technology Energy development is the field of activities focused on obtaining sources of energy from natural resources. These activities include the production of renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel derived sources of energy, and for the recovery and r ...

. While at Cambridge, Brakeley played for the Cambridge University rugby team and participated in the 2012

Varsity Match A varsity match in Britain and Ireland is a fixture, especially of a sporting event or team, between university teams, usually the highest-level team, or varsity team, in that sport. The University Match in cricket between Oxford University an ...

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

—a 26–19 defeat to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. After returning to the United States, Brakeley played for Cambridge's touring team for one match against the Men's Collegiate All-Americans.

Club career

New York Athletic Club

After completing his studies at Cambridge and returning to the United States, Brakeley began playing club rugby for the

in 2013. He was a starter for the NYAC team that defeated the Austin Blacks 44-39 in the 2015 USA Rugby Men's Division I Club National Championship at

Infinity Park Infinity Park is a stadium in the Denver enclave of Glendale, Colorado, and was formerly the unofficial home venue of the United States national rugby union team. The stadium has a seating capacity of 5,000 people. It opened in 2007, at a cost of ...

Glendale, Colorado The City of Glendale is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in an exclave of Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 4,613 at the 2020 ...

Rugby New York

Brakeley joined

Rugby United New York Rugby New York, originally known as Rugby United New York and officially nicknamed the Ironworkers, was a professional rugby union team based in New York City that was a member of Major League Rugby (MLR). The team played an exhibition season in s ...

(RUNY) for their inaugural season as an associate member of

in 2018. Brakeley started at lock in each of RUNY's three exhibitions against the Ontario Arrows and Boston Mystics in March 2018. Brakeley maintained a full-time job as a data analyst while playing professionally in Major League Rugby. On June 19, 2022, Brakeley became the twenty-fifth MLR player to appear in 50 matches. Brakeley captained New York to the franchise's first MLR championship in the 2022 final, a 30-15 victory against the

Seattle Seawolves The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in the Seattle metropolitan area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team was founded in 2017. The Seawolves won two MLR championships in 2018 and 2019, and los ...

at Red Bull Arena in

Harrison, New Jersey Harrison is a town in the western part of Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark, and is located from New York City. Once considered "the bee ...

on June 25, 2022.

International career

USA Selects

In September 2018, it was announced that Brakeley had been selected for the

USA Selects The USA Falcons or the USA A national team, formerly known as the USA Selects, is the second national rugby team for the United States, usually used for uncapped matches and domestic club sides. The primary national team is known as the USA Eagles ...

roster for the 2018 Americas Pacific Challenge.

USA Eagles

Brakeley made his debut with the USA Eagles on February 13, 2016, starting at flanker in the Eagles' 30–22 victory over

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 ...

in the

2016 Americas Rugby Championship The 2016 Americas Rugby Championship was the first series of the Americas Rugby Championship (sometimes informally called the "Americas Six Nations", a reference to Europe's Six Nations Championship), a new annual western hemisphere rugby union c ...

. Brakeley scored his first try for the Eagles in the Eagles' 52–16 victory over Canada on July 1, 2017, in a qualification match for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

. During the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Brakeley juggled Test matches and training sessions with the Eagles with a full-time remote job for a real estate technology company in New York. In his final test match, Brakeley captained the Eagles to victory in a 42-12 win over Spain in the final of La Vila International Rugby Cup.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brakeley, Nate 1989 births Living people United States international rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union flankers Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Rugby New York players 2019 Rugby World Cup players Sportspeople from Marblehead, Massachusetts Rugby union players from Massachusetts

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...