Mike Petri

Michael Zachary "Mike" Petri (born August 16, 1984 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American rugby union scrum-half who has played for Newport Gwent Dragons, Sale Sharks, and Barbarians FC (2009).

Petri began playing rugby as a freshman at Xavier High School in New York City. Petri's father, also Mike, played rugby as a youth at St. Francis Prep and encouraged his participation in the sport.

He then attended Penn State University where he was a four-time College All American. He graduated with a degree in Life Sciences and a minor in Business. He was on the Deans List, the Alpha Epsilon Delta National Pre-Health Honors Society, and the Phi Eta Sigma National Honors Society.

Petri captained the USA U19 and College All-American Squad as well as won the 2006 Doug Edwards Award, which is awarded to the most outstanding collegiate rugby player.

Petri has over 50 test caps for the United States national rugby union team and has represented the USA at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, and the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. He is currently captain of NYAC in New York City and has led them to National Championship titles in 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2015. He also won a National Championship title with Belmont Shore RFC in 2007 while living in Long Beach, CA.

Petri during the 2011 World Cup

Outside of rugby, Petri worked at his family’s plumbing business and in construction. He also worked with a UBS wealth management team. He became more involved in portfolio analysis and trading but quit the job to pursue rugby full-time in England. Currently he is a Physics, Biology, and Algebra teacher at Xavier High School.

Petri married Lauren Birckhead on June 25, 2011. Mike also published a children's book, R is for Rugby: An Alphabet Book, in June 2015.