Anthony Purpura (born November 11, 1986, in

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

) is a professional American

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who plays

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

for the USA Eagles XV side. He currently plays for the

New England Free Jacks The New England Free Jacks are a professional rugby union team in Major League Rugby (MLR) based in the Greater Boston area. They were announced in September 2018 and began to compete professionally in October 2018. They competed in their first ...

in Major League Rugby (MLR). Purpura had a successful club career for top level teams such as Old Blue R.F.C., Boston Rugby Club and Mystic River Rugby Club. Other Club affiliations include

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

and

Mid Canterbury Rugby Football Union The Mid Canterbury Rugby Football Union (MCRFU) is a rugby province in the South Island of New Zealand. History The Mid Canterbury Rugby Football Union was formed in 1904 as Ashburton Country, first as a sub-union of the South Canterbury Rugby ...

and as assistant coach at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Club rugby career

Purpura was introduced to the sport of rugby by a roommate while in school at

Avon Old Farms , motto_translation = Aspiring and Persevering , address = 500 Old Farms Road , city = Avon , state = Connecticut , zipcode = 06001 , country = United St ...

, where he was a member of the football team and standout All-Star wrestler. In 2005 he entered the

as a recruit for the football team, but give it up the sport to join the U. Maine rugby club. Between 2005 and 2009 Purpura served as co captain and president of the club and helped the Black Bears to perhaps one of their best seasons, finishing the fall ranked 7th in the country. Throughout his four-year career at Maine, Purpura led the team to a 17-2-1 record. While still in college, Purpura first transitioned to the next level of rugby with Division 1

Mystic River The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts, in the United States. In Massachusett, means "large estuary," alluding to t ...

alongside former Eagle front rower

Jake Sprague Jacob "Jake" Sprague (born December 27, 1984) is an American rugby union player and coach. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Sprague began his rugby career with the Babson College rugby union team, and later played at club level with Divis ...

. In 2007 he made the jump to

Boston RFC Boston RFC may refer to: * Boston RFC (England), a rugby union club from Boston, Lincolnshire * Boston RFC (United States), a rugby union team based in Boston, Massachusetts {{disambiguation ...

, then part of the Rugby Super League. After nearly a decade with Boston, Purpura had a short stint with Old Blue.

San Diego Legion

In March 2018, Purpura signed with the

San Diego Legion The San Diego Legion is an American professional rugby union team based in San Diego, California. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby. Home field The team plays at Snapdragon Stadium, which is located on the campus o ...

of Major League Rugby.

New England Free Jacks

Purpura signed with the

in 2019.

USA Rugby career

Purpura was selected to tour with the

USA Eagles The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

squad for the Autumn 2010 tour of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and made his international debut in June 2010 was against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. After a nearly seven-year hiatus, Purpura was again named to the Eagles roster as a starter against Uruguay on 4 February 2017. Two weeks later, he again earned a starting position in the front row and scored his first test match try in the USA's 51–34 victory y

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on 18 February in Round 3 of the

2017 Americas Rugby Championship The 2017 Americas Rugby Championship was the second series of the Americas Rugby Championship (sometimes informally called the "Americas Six Nations", a reference to Europe's Six Nations Championship), which is the top elite tournament for the Am ...

References

External links

Player Profile eaglesxv.com

Player Profile USA Rugby
1986 births Living people American rugby union players United States international rugby union players San Diego Legion players New England Free Jacks players Mystic River Rugby players Boston RFC players Rugby union props Avon Old Farms alumni {{US-rugbyunion-bio-stub