Diego Maquieira

Diego Armando Maquieira (born March 12, 1991) is an American professional rugby union player who currently plays hooker for the New England Free Jacks in the Major League Rugby competition. Prior to playing with New England, he also played with the Houston SaberCats (MLR), Mystic River (Div I) and was a standout player at Northeastern University in both fifteens and sevens.

Collegiate athletic career

Originally from Queens, New York, Maquieira enrolled at the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts in 2007 and was a member of the football team. Upon graduation in 2009, he continued to play football briefly at Bucknell University as a walk-on linebacker before returning to Massachusetts to attend Northeastern University. While at Northeastern, Maquieira was introduced to rugby. The university ended the football program in 2009 and Maquieira was quickly able to transfer his skills from the grid iron on the rugby pitch, eventually becoming team captain and holding the post as president of the club, known as the "Maddogs". He participated in both Northeastern's fifteens and sevens teams and was selected for the East Coast Rugby Conference All Conference team in 2013 and 2014.

During his junior year of college in 2013 Maquieira sustained a broken neck after being thrown from a car while home on break. However, after several months of rehabilitation, recovery and strength training, Maquieira returned to the rugby field that June, helping the Maddogs to a 17–12 victory over Virginia Tech in the Bowl Division of the 2013 Collegiate Rugby Championship. That year also earned Maquieira an invitation to the Northeast Rugby Olympic Development Academy (NRODA), a high performance sevens camp set up to identify potential players for the USA national sevens team. In 2014, Maquieira was a member of the Northeastern squad that finished third in the Atlantic Coast Rugby League 7s championship and go on to compete at the 2014 CRC tournament.

Senior rugby career

Mystic River Rugby

After college, Maquieira spent some time with the Middlesex Barbarians prior to their merger with Mystic River in 2014. Maquieira quickly became a key player with the Mystics, in both their fifteens and sevens programs. While with the Mystics, Maquieira continued to be selected for high performance teams such as NRODA and the Stars Rugby 7s, an invitational sevens team. In 2015, Maquieira played a key role in helping the Mystics to reach the final four of the Division 1 championships. The following year, he came off the bench to make an impact in Mystic River's 45–33 victory over the Austin Blacks in the 2016 USA Rugby Division 1 national championships.

Houston Sabercats

In July of 2017, it was announced that Maquieira had signed with the Houston Sabercats for the inaugural season of Major League Rugby, then known as the Houston Strikers. Though he was the second choice hooker to Houston's Lindsay Stevens, Maquieira was a regular starter for the Sabercats during throughout pre-season. He got a taste of "test match" rugby when he was named to the starting line up against the world ranked Uruguay national team. Maquieira played in seven league games for Houston, including one start, for a total of 143 minutes of playing time.

New England Free Jacks

Maquieira signed with the New England Free Jacks in October of 2018.