When New England hosts Old Glory on Saturday, the two back rows will share a pitch, a position group, and an almost identical résumé, built not on tries or moments of individual brilliance, but on tackles made, breakdowns contested, and the quiet accumulation of things that win games.
Different Roads, Same Destination
Joe Johnston's path to professional rugby was conventional by MLR standards. A New Zealand kid, Bay of Plenty NPC, age-grade system, followed the game across the water. Cory Daniel was not. He didn't pick up a rugby ball until after college, where he was an NCAA Division I wrestler at UNC Chapel Hill. He saw an MLR game, got interested, and made his debut for Old Glory in 2021.
The coaching staff noticed quickly. Head coach Simon Cross has reportedly used Daniel's wrestling tapes as breakdown teaching material, showing his squad how grappling leverage translates directly into jackal technique. For a player who came to rugby late, it is a remarkable shortcut to credibility.
Johnston earned his own nickname the old-fashioned way. Five years of grinding, high-tackle, no-fuss back-row performances earned him the label "The Mechanic." His 50th cap for New England last season put him in company with John Poland, Josh Larsen, Mitch Wilson, and Kyle Ciquera, the short list of players who define what the Free Jacks look like over time.
The Numbers
Strip the context away, and the stat lines look almost identical.
Johnston: 793 tackles across 68 MLR appearances. Daniel: 842 across 59. The difference in rate, Daniel edges it, reflects the wrestling background as much as anything else. He led the league in tackles in 2024 with 246. He finished in 2025 with 238.
Johnston's 2025 was the season he showed he could do more than tackle. He posted 224 successful tackles, while carrying for 362 meters and adding two tries. The year away from MLR, finishing his degree and plastering walls in New Zealand, had clearly done something for his drive.
This season, one week in, they're level: 20 tackles for Johnston, 16 for Daniel, each playing 80 minutes in their respective openers.
What They Mean to Their Teams
Johnston captained New England numerous times through 2025 and is back wearing the armband again in 2026. His head coach, Ryan Martin, who first coached him in his debut Free Jacks season back in 2021, returned to Quincy this year. There's a thread of continuity there that matters. Johnston was part of the 2023 championship-winning squad.
Daniel occupies a similar role at Old Glory, a stalwart on a team that has been steadily building. Three consecutive playoff appearances, Eastern Conference finalists in 2023, semi-finalists last season.
Saturday
Neither player will be trying to out-stat the other. That's not how either of them thinks about the game. But the contest between two of the most prolific tacklers in MLR history will be worth watching closely.
Johnston's teams tend to feel his absence more than they feel his presence. Daniel's opponents tend to notice him too late. On Saturday, they'll be doing the same job from opposite sides of the line.
New England Free Jacks vs Old Glory DC | Saturday, April 11 | 4PM ET
That's the matchup.