External links
- Joe Johnston at ItsRugby.co.uk
 | This biographical article relating to New Zealand rugby union is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
| Date of birth | 31 January 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 101 kg (15.9 st; 223 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Joe Johnston (born 31 January 1998) is a New Zealand rugby union player, currently playing for the New England Free Jacks of Major League Rugby (MLR). His preferred position is flanker. [1]
Johnston attended Kings College for his last two years of High School in 2015 and 2016. Johnston made an immediate impact at the historically strong school team, helping the Auckland Boys’ School to a top four national finish in 2015 and captaining the side in his final year. Johnston’s performances caught national attention and in 2016 he earned selection for and captained the New Zealand Schools Barbarians side that won the Trans-Tasman shield. [2]
Johnston signed for Major League Rugby side New England Free Jacks ahead of the 2021 Major League Rugby season. [3] He had previously represented Bay of Plenty in the 2019 and 2020 seasons of the Mitre 10 Cup, [4] while he was also selected to play for the China Lions in the 2020 Global Rapid Rugby season. [5]
Johnston would appear in 14 games during the 2021 season and 17 games during the 2022 season. Scoring 3 tries both seasons. Then during the 2023 season Johnston would appear in 17 games for the free jacks scoring 2 tries. Being a key part of helping the team win their first ever MLR championship. He would then join Waikato to finish out the 2023 season. [6]
During the 2024 season Johnston would join Bay of Plenty scoring 8 tries in 12 games helping them get all the way to the NPC final where they would ultimately to fall to Wellington. [6]
In 2025 he would rejoin the frees jacks and claim his 50th cap for the team on February 3rd. [7] Captaining the team Johnston would help the free jacks win their 3rd straight MLR championship appearing in 19 games and scoring 2 tries.
New England Free Jacks
Bay of Plenty
Johnston’s mother grew up in Boston and his father played rugby in New England. [8] His brother Alex also plays rugby professionally. [9]
After the 2023 MLR season Johnston made the decision to go back to New Zealand and finished his degree in business management, and worked construction. He would eventually return to the sport playing club rugby and winning the Baywide Championship with Te Puke. [8] This would lead to him going back to pro rugby with Bay of Plenty and his eventual return to the USA.
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