NEWS

REFRESHED AFTER A YEAR ON THE TOOLS – MEET NEW ENGLAND’S JOE ‘THE MECHANIC’ JOHNSTON

Written By Joe Harvey | Photos by Brendan Buckley

A refreshed Joe Johnston is enjoying his New England Free Jacks reprieve in 2025.

Between 2021 and 2023, the flanker was part of the furniture at the Massachusetts club and helped the team to their first Major League Rugby title.

During his first spell with the club, Johnston won the Minuteman Award in 2021 and lived up to his nickname, ‘The Mechanic,’ thanks to his workmanlike and dogged performances on the field.

It is an attitude that the New Zealand-born forward has recaptured. As a result, he has been named to USA Rugby’s Extended Player Squad for the first time and could represent the country of his mother’s birth in the months after this season ends.

Captaining the team numerous times, the 27-year-old knew he would not be back for the 2024 season after the confetti fell at SeatGeek Stadium after the 2023 Championship Final.

Instead of returning to Boston to help the side secure a second Shield in as many years, Johnston spent his time back home in New Zealand, finished his degree in business management, and worked on building sites.

“I was getting a bit homesick, I wanted to spend time at home, and I wanted to do something new, to be around my family and partner (Hannah),” Johnston told MLR.

“I thought something new would be refreshing and get my drive high again. Also, in the back of my mind, I knew rugby would not last forever, and I had eight papers to finish on my degree.

“I worked. I was working on the tools, building, and plastering. It was a nice change-up. There are different expectations and different pressures. It was refreshing.

“I finished my degree; I played club rugby with a lot of my mates, we won the comp (Baywide Championship with Te Puke), then got an NPC contract (with Bay of Plenty) and played the best footy I have in a long time (as the Steamers finished as runners-up). 

“I’d had an excellent season and was happy to return to America.”

COMING BACK TO NEW ENGLAND

After making the decision to return to MLR, Johnston did not take long to decide that New England was the place to go back to. 

Upon his resignation, the team’s fanbase celebrated the return of one of their most popular players and humbled Johnston in the process.

Not only is the 27-year-old a crowd favorite at Veterans Memorial Stadium, but he also gets to represent the city his mother grew up in weekly.

Upon his resignation, the team’s fanbase celebrated the return of one of their most popular players and humbled Johnston in the process.

Against the Seattle Seawolves in Week 4, the back-row forward even celebrated his 50th appearance for the club on a return to New England that has delivered.

“I enjoyed my three years here, so coming back I kind of knew what I was expecting, and everything lived up to what I remembered,” he said.

“It’s been nice. There’s a couple of new faces and a couple of old faces, but the Free Jacks standards are still the same.

“I thought it would be nice to go to a club confident I was going to have a good time, be treated well, and be around good players. 

“On top of that, even though I’d only been done a year, it felt new again and after a year of work and stuff, you feel pretty grateful.

“I have just been enjoying it, enjoying the things that might get overlooked if you’ve just been going through the motions.”

Those old and new faces extend beyond the playing group.

Ryan Martin is back in the driving seat as head coach and was the first coach to lead Johnston in a Free Jacks in 2021.

Martin’s return to Quincy has added to the feel-good factor, as he has a longstanding relationship with his fellow New Zealander, which stems from the New Zealand Barbarians’ Schools team.

“The last time I had him was here with the Free Jacks and you can see the growth he has had,” Johnston said.

“He brings his own flavor and his own style. It has been good. It catches on. He brings something new, something edgy, and gives us license to pull the trigger.

“He’s mixed the old with the new as well. Kept some things from what we have been good at as a Free Jacks team but has integrated his take on things. He’s done that quite well.”

The start of New England’s back-to-back title defense has been far from perfect.

Coming into Week 9, the team sit third in the Eastern Conference with a 4-3 record. The start of 2025 has seemed uncharacteristic of a side that has looked so self-assured for much of the past three seasons.

Hosting a San Diego Legion team in the midst of a two-game losing streak this weekend, the Free Jacks have a newfound confidence after wins against the Utah Warriors and the Miami Sharks in their past two outings.

“We spoke about it being a little bit of adversity,” Johnston said. “By no means did any panic buttons get pushed or anything like that.

“I think we were just finding our feet, with new combinations and getting our discipline right. We were racking up 18 penalties in a game and yellow cards. That has been our downfall.

“We just flushed the frustration of snowballing penalties and the past couple of ames we have gotten better and a bit more proud of our performances.

“We’re quietly confident in what we can do. We know we’ve got to hold ourselves pretty accountable to make sure that we cross all the i’s and dot all the t’s when we play.

“We’re happy where we are, and we’re really keen to get a few more games under our belt and get a roll on.”

The visit of San Diego to the Free Jacks will certainly stir up memories of the 2023 Championship Final and Johnston’s last game for the team before his hiatus.

Two years later, not much changed for either time, as much as the names on the team sheet altered with the test of time.

Since returning from their first bye week Legion have been on the back of losses to the Chicago Hounds and the Houston SaberCats, making this contest all the more interesting.

But even with all the outside noise and form books being poured over, there are some goals that take precedence.

“Obviously, we’ve got the title on the horizon, the motivation of the three-peat, but we focused on the jobs at hand,” Johnston said.

“We’ve had a bit of adversity to start the season. Every team is out to get us and wants to play their perfect game against us. They are keen to come out and beat us.

“They see us as a good team and a team that they need to beat. There will be a little bit of pressure to perform and for us to perform to our standards so that we win games.”