Here are the 40+ players that will suit up for Utah Warriors this season


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HERRIMAN — There were more than 40 players on the Utah Warriors' rugby roster settling into preseason training camp, including 15 internationals from across the globe, including Australia, Canada, Samoa, New Zealand and Ireland, among other countries.

But for a handful of Warriors, new and old, donning the crest of the eight-year-old club means just a little more.

There's Sione Mahe and Tomasi Tonga, two Herriman natives who grew up near the shadow of the club's home pitch at Zions Bank Stadium — close enough to pedal a bike or rent one of the motorized scooters scattered across the Salt Lake Valley — if they wanted to. The fullback and center, respectively, debuted a year ago, only to suffer heartbreaking ACL injuries that curtailed a rookie campaign.

Both were back on the roster Wednesday morning, when the Warriors revealed a revamped lineup for the 2025 season of Major League Rugby that kicks off Feb. 23 in Chicago.

There were several adopted local rugby stars, including Paul Lasike — the former BYU star-turned-NFL-fullback who has returned to the Wasatch Front and also coaches the BYU women's rugby team — and Bailey Wilson, the Australian native who moved to Alpine in his youth and prepped at Lone Peak before a brief college try at Utah Valley prior to signing his first pro contract.

Then there's Cole Semu, one of five players identified through the club's Pro-ID camp last fall who earned a contract for the 2025 season. The former BYU All-American hails from Auckland, New Zealand, but has played rugby since he was 12 years old, including with the California Grizzlies U23 side where he grew into a touches with the USA Rugby junior national team.

The 5-foot-10, 195-pound center was delighted to sign a contract to stay "home" to begin his pro career, he told KSL.com, especially while his wife finishes college at BYU. The commute from Provo to Herriman or Sandy isn't as bad as, say, playing in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Miami or anywhere else in the 11-team league, it turns out.

Here are the 40+ players that will suit up for Utah Warriors this season
Photo: Courtesy, Utah Warriors

"Man, it's sweet. It's been a dream to be a professional athlete," Semu told KSL.com. "I switched from rugby to football and back to rugby — but to finally be here from day one, getting paid to do what I love, it's a dream. I'm so happy to be here."

Semu looked up to several players during his time at BYU, including Lasike and Calvin Whiting, the former BYU All-American who spent some time with the Warriors. He also got to spend some time around Joel Hodgson, the Warriors flyhalf entering his fourth year in Utah who also coached at Utah Valley for a short spell.

"It's a blessing to have a team this close, to be able to keep school, family and rugby all within some 45 minutes of each other," Semu said.

The Warriors' 2025 roster is a blend of youth, experience and international rugby talent coming to the United States, Utah and MLR in an emerging rugby country set to host the Rugby World Cup in 2031 and Women's World Cup two years later. That includes New Zealand internationals Liam Coltman, Aki Seiuli and D'Angelo Leuila, and Irishman Gavin Thorbury.

They'll add a flush of local talent, including Payson's Tesimale Niupulusu, Herriman's Mason Baker and Tielu Sagala, and Salt Lake City's Papa Matelau. The club is bringing back several seasoned leaders like Lasike, Wilson, Hodgson, Matt Jensen, Angus MacLellan and Joe Mano — the league's leading try scorer in 2024.

"We have set about saying, we're happy with the talent we've got here. But I think we're focused pretty heavily on the people," Warriors coach Greg Cooper said. "That's say nothing against the people that we once had, because I can tell you I've never coached a bad person. The hardest part of my job is to let really good people go. But we've tried to look at the mix of the talent, character mold and model that we think is best going forward."

Cooper admits it was a high turnover rate — but one that followed a 5-11 campaign a year ago that left Utah eight points in the standings behind Dallas for the final playoff spot from the Western Conference, and just three points ahead of RFC Los Angeles for last place in the division.

Change can be hard, but it was also necessary.

"We received a punch in the nose last season," Cooper said. "When you get punched in the nose, it opens your eyes. I think 5-11 was a disappointing result, and you've got to start really searching and understanding why it happened.

"For us, it was a very thorough review. It started with us needing to understand who we are, and our identity ... then aligning yourself to that."

Utah opens the 2025 season Feb. 23 at Chicago. The home opener is scheduled for March 1 against NOLA Gold at Zions Bank Stadium.

Utah Warriors unveiled the complete roster for the 2025 Major League Rugby season on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
Utah Warriors unveiled the complete roster for the 2025 Major League Rugby season on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (Photo: Courtesy, Utah Warriors)

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