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John Poland
Date of birth	21 November 1996 (age 28)
Place of birth	Ballinora, Cork, Ireland
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	80 kg (13 st; 180 lb)
School	Presentation Brothers College
University	University College Cork
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Position(s)	Scrum-half
Current team	New England Free Jacks
Amateur team(s)
Years	Team
2001–2015	Sundays Well
2015–2017	Cork Constitution
2017–2019	UCC
Senior career
Years	Team
2018	Munster
2019–	New England Free Jacks
–	Manwatu Turbos
	Correct as of 30 December 2020
International career
Years	Team
2016	Ireland U20
	Correct as of 18 March 2016

John Poland (born 21 November 1996) is an Irish rugby union player. He plays as a scrum-half for the New England Free Jacks in Major League Rugby (MLR) in the United States. John recently played in the NPC with the Manwatu Turbos. Making 8 appearances and scoring 2 tries.

Early life

Born in Ballinora, County Cork, the second eldest of four children, Poland first played rugby for Sundays Well, where his father had also been a player, and attended Presentation Brothers College, captaining the team during the Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup. He also played hurling and football for Ballinora GAA, where he played on several inter-county development sides. Initially, he played as a fly-half or centre, before converting to scrum-half. Poland has been capped at under-19 and Under-20 level for Ireland, and joined the Munster sub-academy in July 2015.^[1]

Club rugby

Poland played his club rugby with Cork Constitution during the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons, winning several trophies while there. He moved to UCC ahead of the 2017–18 season and was an integral part of the side that was promoted to the division 1A of the All-Ireland League for the 2018–19 season.

Professional career

Munster

Poland was an integral part of the Munster A team that won the 2016–17 British and Irish Cup. He was used as a replacement in round 1 against London Welsh, missed the round 3 clash against Rotherham Titans due to exam commitments, was used as a replacement again in round 4 against Rotherham, before starting against Doncaster Knights in the rescheduled round 2 and round 5, Ulster A in the quarter-final, Ealing Trailfinders in the semi-final and Jersey Reds in the final.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] Poland made his senior competitive debut for Munster on 10 February 2018, coming off the bench in the provinces' 33–5 win against Zebre in the 2017–18 Pro14.^[10]

New England Free Jacks

Poland joined American Major League Rugby side New England Free Jacks in October 2019 upon concluding his degree in finance at University College Cork, in time for the sides inaugural season in 2020. He scored four tries in the 5 regular season games and had 4 try assists. Poland scored a brilliant individual try which was awarded try of the week in week 4. ^[11]