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

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 its m ...

player currently playing for

Chicago Hounds The Chicago Hounds were a minor league, minor professional ice hockey team in the United Hockey League (UHL) for the 2006–07 UHL season. They played their home games at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The new UHL team was approved ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

(MLR). He also has represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

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 Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

in Perth and

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

in the English Premiership. He also played for the

LA Giltinis The LA Giltinis are a former 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. The Giltinis, named for a yet-to-be-released ...

in the MLR.

Early life

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

St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill , motto_translation = Strive Strive for better things , established = , type = Independent single-sex secondary day and boarding school , educational_authority = New South Wales Department of Educati ...

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 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 Sydney ...

and then Randwick. In 2011 he played for the Australia U20 team that finished third at the IRB Junior World Championship, defeating

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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 o ...

, 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 Clifton Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club founded in Clifton, Bristol. Over the years the club's home games have been played in a variety of locations in northern Bristol, though never in Clifton itself; since 1976 they have ...

, a local rugby union club based in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. 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, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed i ...

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 previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

with Perth-based

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

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

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 which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

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 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 September. It ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Super Rugby statistics

References

External links

Gloucester Rugby Profile

Living people 1991 births Australian rugby union players Gloucester Rugby players Australian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Perth Spirit players Western Force players Melbourne Rebels players Melbourne Rising players London Irish players 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 {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub