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Josh Larsen will captain the New England Free Jacks in their inaugural Major League Rugby campaign. The 6’5″ (1.96m) lock joined the Boston franchise from Austin Elite (now Gilgronis) in the off-season before representing Canada at the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Born in Nanaimo, BC, but raised in New Zealand, Larsen played for the Taieri club and attended Otago University before earning a senior provincial contract with Northland. He featured for the Taniwha in the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup. Larsen missed the 2017 season with injury but recovered to play with the Otago Razorbacks in 2018.
Larsen represented Canada at under-20 level before making his test debut against Georgia in November 2017. The 25-year-old has since earned 15 caps including 12 starts. His older brother Travis was a teammate at Austin last season and is now at Old Glory DC.
The selection is somewhat of a surprise given that Larsen has yet to play for the Free Jacks having missed both of their preseason matches. He does have recent leadership experience, however, having acted as vice-captain in several games for Austin last year. Tadhg Leader captained New England during their exhibition campaign in 2019.
