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Max Malins
Maxim Hugo Malins (born 7 January 1997) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a wing for Premiership Rugby club Bristol Bears[1] and the England national team.[2] Early lifeMalins' first participation in rugby was at his local rugby club, Saffron Walden, aged 6.[3] His rugby then moved to his new club, Bishop's Stortford RFC, where he remained playing until the age of 16. While at Bishop's Stortford he participated in the winning of 7 age-group tournaments.[3][4] Malins attended Felsted School from a young age, and his rugby highlights included reaching the final of the NatWest Schools Cup U18 Vase.[4] While playing a school game for Felsted he was identified by Saracens' scout Matt Davies, before being invited to join the Saracens junior academy at 17.[3] Whilst at school Malins was also a promising cricketer and field hockey player, representing the school 1st XI at both sports from the age of 15 and top scoring in the 2014 Cape Town international Hockey Festival.[5] As of 2018 Malins was studying a business and finance degree at the University of Hertfordshire.[3] Club careerOld AlbaniansDuring his time in the Senior academy Malins held dual registration with Old Albanian. He played 19 games for them with a high scoring rate of 11 points per game.[6] His performance during the 2015/16 season aided significantly in returning the Old Albanians to National League 1 via the play-off mechanism.[7] SaracensMalins made his first team debut in January 2017, coming on as a substitute against the Scarlets in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.[8] Since then he has played 29 games across all competitions, with a particular focus in the Anglo-Welsh and international breaks, which caused the absence of Owen Farrell and Alex Lozowski.[9] He has scored 104 points in these games. However while his try rate (7 in 29) has been high, his place-kicking success rate has been fairly low (63%).[6] With reasonable success in his games in the 17/18 season, and an increased likelihood of both Saracens' first choice fly-halves missing games due to international duty, Malins was offered and accepted a two-year contract extension, to the end of the 2019/20 season.[9] In March 2019, Malins scored all nine points for Saracens in their 9-23 defeat to the Northampton Saints in the final of the 2019 Premiership Rugby Cup.[10] He helped Saracens win the Premiership title in 2023, scoring a try in the final as Saracens defeated Sale Sharks.[11] BristolHe agreed a further contract extension which saw him join Bristol Bears on loan until the end of the 2020-21 season along with fellow teammate Ben Earl.[12] In October 2020 Malins scored a try as Bristol defeated Toulon in the final of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.[13] During his spell at Bristol Malins has played primarily at fullback and has a high try scoring rate of 11 tries from 11 starts (+2 appearances off the bench) as of 21/04/21.[14] Malins returned to Bristol ahead of the 2023-24 Premiership Rugby season. International careerEngland U18Malins' England Under-18 debut game occurred in February 2015, where he scored a try. He also participated in the victory against Scotland shortly afterwards.[4] Malins was selected for the 3-month tour to South Africa by the U18 England team in the summer of 2015.[15] The 3-month tour, as well as a number of regional games, had 3 primary games: the France U18 team and two games against South Africa U18.[15] England U20Malins participated, primarily at fullback, in England winning the 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship hosted in Manchester. He scored tries against Scotland[16] in the pool stage and in the semi-final against South Africa.[17] He started at full back in the final against Ireland.[18] The following year he was a member of the squad that completed the grand slam in the 2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship[19] and then featured at fly-half as England reached the final of the 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championship, before being defeated by New Zealand.[20][21] He was particularly noted by England U20 head coach Ian Vass as being a major figure in their success, acting as a calmer figure around which the team could bond.[20] He acted as the primary place-kicker in the latter competition for the majority of his games with a 72% success rate. EnglandIn October 2020 he was called up to the senior England squad by head coach Eddie Jones.[22] On 14 November 2020 Malins made his Test debut as a second-half replacement for Ollie Lawrence in their opening fixture of the Autumn Nations Cup against Georgia.[23] He also came off the bench in the final of that competition as England defeated France in extra-time to win the tournament.[24] Career statisticsList of international triesAs of 12 February 2023[25]
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