Quick Facts
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Sam Johnson (born 19 June 1993) is an Australian-born Scotland international rugby union player who plays for Glasgow Warriors as a centre.
Rugby union career
Amateur career
Johnson first made a name for himself at schoolboy level, representing Queensland Schoolboys and Australia Schoolboys A after winning the Associated Independent Colleges (AIC) competition with St. Edmund's College in 2011. His first rugby union club was GPS in Brisbane. He was then to switch codes to Rugby League.
On moving to Scotland, he played for Stirling County when not in use by Glasgow Warriors.
Johnson was drafted to Ayr in the Scottish Premiership for the 2017-18 season.
Johnson has been drafted to Glasgow Hawks in the Scottish Premiership for the 2018-19 season.
Professional career
He returned to rugby union for the 2013–14 season, when he joined the Queensland Reds wider training squad, and returned to his former club GPS.
Johnson impressed the Queensland Reds coaching staff in 2014 as a regular in the midfield for Reds A and GPS, which led to him making his Queensland Reds debut off the bench against the Western Force in Perth.
He then went on to play five matches for Queensland Country in Australia's National Rugby Championship in the season 2014–15.
Johnson made two Super Rugby appearances for the Reds in total and was named on the bench a further three times.
On 28 April 2015, it was announced that Sam Johnson would be joining the Pro12 champions Glasgow Warriors in an initial contract to May 2017.
International career
In October 2018, after qualifying to play for Scotland on residency grounds, he was called up to the senior squad for the Autumn Internationals. He was then named in the squad for the 2019 Six Nations tournament and started in the opening game, a 33–20 win against Italy, to claim his first cap. He scored his first international try in the 13-22 loss to Ireland the next week.
Rugby league career
Johnson played Rugby League for the Gold Coast Titans under-20s after school. His favoured position in rugby league was as a forward in the back row but he was often played at as a back at centre instead and was tagged a utility player. He sometimes played for the Gold Coast Titans feeder club Tweed Heads Seagulls in New South Wales at this time.