John Quill (born March 10, 1990) is a retired Irish-born 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 its m ...

player who played flanker for

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

(RUNY) in

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) and the United States men's national team. Quill has previously played for the Glendale Raptors (MLR),

Sacramento Express The Sacramento Express were a professional American rugby union team that played in the short lived PRO Rugby competition. They were based in Sacramento, California, and played their home games at Bonney Field. History In early November 2015, P ...

(

PRO Rugby Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof may also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African retire ...

), and

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) 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, ...

Club career

Quill began his rugby career at Dolphin RFC and played for the

Munster A Munster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Mumhan) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Iris ...

setup. He was the Dolphin's top try scorer for two seasons and club "Player of the Year" in 2012. He moved to the United States in 2012 to play with

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 ...

where he became a stand-out player in D1 US rugby. Quill joined the London Irish Academy in July 2013 with the hope of gaining a full-time contract. Quill battled through injury during his time at the academy and after a few months he returned from London to link up with his former club,

Dolphin RFC Dolphin Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Cork. It was founded in 1902, by members of Dolphin Swimming Club seeking to find a wintertime activity. They play in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League. Former Irish Coach, Declan Kidn ...

where he put together an impressive string of performances. Quill signed with

of the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

in February 2014. He was released by London Welsh at the end of his first season with the club after helping them achieve promotion to the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

International career

Quill played for the

Ireland Schools The Irish Schoolboys rugby union team is the national team for secondary school students and under-18 school players in Ireland. There is an equivalent Ireland under 18 clubs side that play international rugby. Role The Irish Schoolboys side re ...

team. Although Quill is Irish, he qualified to represent the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

through his American mother. Having impressed during his time with

, Quill was called into the USA squad for the 2012 Autumn internationals during which he made his debut against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Quill was selected for the USA Eagles's 2015 World Cup squad. He was also selected for the USA Eagles'

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 match ...

squad, and was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in the opening defeat (45-7) against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, after delivering a shoulder to the head of

Owen Farrell Owen Andrew Farrell (born 24 September 1991) is an English professional rugby union player, currently captain of Gallagher Premiership side Saracens. Farrell has played international rugby for England since 2012. Farrell is one of the top poi ...

, the first red card of the tournament. Following the 2019 World Cup Quill retired from international rugby.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quill, John 1990 births Living people American rugby union players American Raptors players Rugby New York players United States international rugby union players Rugby union flankers Irish emigrants to the United States Rugby union players from County Cork Sacramento Express players Munster Rugby players Dolphin RFC players London Irish players People from Youghal